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Android is for startups

blog.audobox.com

251–260 of 310 posts

Re: Android is for startups

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Two years ago the Play store yielded 1/10th the revenue of the App Store, by common metrics. One year ago it was 1/4. The most recent stat is 1/2 -- still months old. Do you see where this is going?" Yes, the Play Store revenue may be gaining on iTunes revenue. -- but per-app revenue in The Play Store has not necessarily grown. Revenue growth indicates nothing without the number of apps on each platform. Since the P…

Gotta agree. Developers are motivated by per-DEVELOPER revenue... not per-APP STORE revenue. It's just crass selfishness... but there it is.

> It's just crass selfishness... but here it is.

Are you being sarcastic?

Re: Android is for startups

#252

Lots of "Android apps are no good" chiming in going on here. I've been an iOS user since the week after the first iPhone came out and still am (due to an iPad mini). But gave up on iOS for my phone because I can't find the following apps on iOS. 1) Alternate Launcher with pretty much infinite flexibility on look and feel. 2) Swype like keyboard options. Typing anything on iOS now feels like I travelled back in time t…

So... Paid for alternate launchers and task switchers are the future of mobile operating systems?

Re: Android is for startups

#253

Semi-related rant: My sole experience with Apple Developer stuff was being forced to register as one to get some basic command-line tools on my Mac. They made me complete a questionnaire about exactly which kinds of Apple products I wanted to develop for, and "none" wasn't an option. That's kind of a weird, Apple-centric worldview. "Errrm, I'm doing web development..."

You don't need to register as a developer to get the command line tools.

Re: Android is for startups

#254

Lots of "Android apps are no good" chiming in going on here. I've been an iOS user since the week after the first iPhone came out and still am (due to an iPad mini). But gave up on iOS for my phone because I can't find the following apps on iOS. 1) Alternate Launcher with pretty much infinite flexibility on look and feel. 2) Swype like keyboard options. Typing anything on iOS now feels like I travelled back in time t…

So... Paid for alternate launchers and task switchers are the future of mobile operating systems?

I know I'm feeding a troll here (I've checked your comment history) but what the heck. What is a "task switcher"? And corollary question, do you have any idea what you're talking about?

Re: Android is for startups

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So... Paid for alternate launchers and task switchers are the future of mobile operating systems?

I know I'm feeding a troll here (I've checked your comment history) but what the heck. What is a "task switcher"? And corollary question, do you have any idea what you're talking about?

Why would I bother to answer a deliberately offensive comment from someone who's own posting is deeply partisan?

Re: Android is for startups

#256

Lots of "Android apps are no good" chiming in going on here. I've been an iOS user since the week after the first iPhone came out and still am (due to an iPad mini). But gave up on iOS for my phone because I can't find the following apps on iOS. 1) Alternate Launcher with pretty much infinite flexibility on look and feel. 2) Swype like keyboard options. Typing anything on iOS now feels like I travelled back in time t…

Android is awesome for the way it lets apps interoperate. The "share with" functionality is just one example and it's not just for photos either. For example if you have Readability installed, you can "share" the article to Readability from within both Chrome and Firefox (speaking of which, Firefox isn't available on iOS because Apple doesn't allow it). I would like to add to your list the ability to completely block…

I didn't go into details of the Tasker app (#3 on my list), but that's exactly the context dependent automation I use it for. And yeah, there' no equivalent for such a broad ranging "device-wide programming" app for iOS. Nor is there likely to be one given the fundamentally "isolated apps" model of the world wherein iOS operates.

Re: Android is for startups

#257
post #173

A lot of people seem to be missing the main point here. I don't think the article is actually advocating developing for Android and NOT iOS. I don't think it is even particularly advocating releasing on Android first. However starting your development on Android - as your first way of prototyping and finding your MVP - gives you a tremendous amount of agility and flexibility. You can create as many APKs as you want,…

None of what you said makes sense. Firstly on iOS you can send as many IPAs as I want to friends, testers, colleagues etc provided I've gone through the 30s process of adding them to Apple's list. This isn't some giant inconvenience that warrants completely switching a platform. Secondly if your app is intended to be cross platform. Then why would you start creating OS specific functionality you know will never work…

If you would developped for Android, you should have known that you don't simulate a brand.

You simulate application sizes :)

Ever developped for Android, because i doubt so.

Easier collecting feedback and faster "getting it out" iterations to improve your application.

Re: Android is for startups

#258
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Play gift cards in the US go back to August 2012, IIRC.

To clarify the parent comment, I see iTunes gift cards for sale at grocery store checkout lines. Perfect spontaneous purchases. Where do you even buy a Google Play gift card?

In Australia I've seen them in BigW (kinda a Kmart/Walmart equivalent).

Re: Android is for startups

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are not comparing Dev tools. We are comparing Dev life cycle and methodologies

We are talking about choosing iOS versus Android for prototyping. My point is that the iOS development experience is far superior to Android in particular because of the strength of the simulator. How you "get your code running" is the most important part of the dev life cycle.

How you "get your code running" is the most important part of the dev life cycle.

How you *get your code running on a device" is even better. And it's trivial with Android. It's a royal pain in the butt with iOS.

Re: Android is for startups

#260
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My company has prototyped on both platforms, and I strongly prefer Android for this purpose. Test flight is significantly more inconvenient for all parties than sending around Android apks. So is Apple's provisioning process for development (you'll certainly have to figure out how to re-provision your development devices a few times). Android's OS integration also makes for better demos of our app. Since it's a remot…

I love Android. I really only develop for Android. But to say the Android emulators are better than the iOS simulator (or even comparable) is hilarious to me. The reason everyone tests on hardware is because the emulator is %@$#ing slow. i7 @ 4.2GHz, 12 GB of RAM... the emulator still takes MINUTES to start and runs unusably slow. The iOS Simulator on the MBP work gave me (mid-2010) runs at basically native speed. I…

Did you think I said the Android emulator is better than the iOS one? I wasn't trying to say that. Maybe I confused the use of "simulator" v. "emulator".

Agreed, the Android emulator sucks and I don't use it. One of its many flaws is that it doesn't support multicast, which is pretty much a requirement for doing device discovery in a remote control app.

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