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Developers Look Past Apple's Jammed iPhone App Store - BusinessWeek
The 34-person team at Ubermind, maker of the popular iLightr app that creates a virtual flame on the iPhone screen, recently began building apps for a rival mobile-phone operating system. They're now releasing two apps a month for devices based on Android, the software backed by Google (GOOG), in addition to the five monthly apps they release for the iPhone...
Android is garnering much developer attention. In October, the number of apps in development for Android jumped 94%, from September, while iPhone app volume rose by a mere 4%, according to mobile analytics firm Flurry. The number of devices running Android is surging, too. By 2012, Android is expected to become the second-most popular smartphone operating system after Symbian, leapfrogging BlackBerry, Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Mobile, and the iPhone, according to Gartner (IT)...
With Android Market, developers can publish apps in a matter of minutes, without going through a review. And developers say it's a lot easier for users to find an app among 12,000 on Android Market than by rooting through more than 100,000 on the App Store. "We love the iPhone, but we are in this to make money," says Craig Hockenberry, principal at Iconfactory, creator of the hit iPhone Twitter application Twitterific. "It's hard to make money [in the App Store]." Hockenberry recently began investigating making apps for Android, though he hasn't turned his back on the App Store....
Larva Labs makes iPhone apps such as PhotoTwist, which lets people warp and twist photographs, but the company can no longer break even on new apps. "Every other app we wrote after [PhotoTwist] got less interest than the previous one," says Matt Hall, co-owner of Larva. "We've spent more time on unique features for these apps." Larva Labs now focuses on Android, he says...
The 34-person team at Ubermind, maker of the popular iLightr app that creates a virtual flame on the iPhone screen, recently began building apps for a rival mobile-phone operating system. They're now releasing two apps a month for devices based on Android, the software backed by Google (GOOG), in addition to the five monthly apps they release for the iPhone...
Android is garnering much developer attention. In October, the number of apps in development for Android jumped 94%, from September, while iPhone app volume rose by a mere 4%, according to mobile analytics firm Flurry. The number of devices running Android is surging, too. By 2012, Android is expected to become the second-most popular smartphone operating system after Symbian, leapfrogging BlackBerry, Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Mobile, and the iPhone, according to Gartner (IT)...
With Android Market, developers can publish apps in a matter of minutes, without going through a review. And developers say it's a lot easier for users to find an app among 12,000 on Android Market than by rooting through more than 100,000 on the App Store. "We love the iPhone, but we are in this to make money," says Craig Hockenberry, principal at Iconfactory, creator of the hit iPhone Twitter application Twitterific. "It's hard to make money [in the App Store]." Hockenberry recently began investigating making apps for Android, though he hasn't turned his back on the App Store....
Larva Labs makes iPhone apps such as PhotoTwist, which lets people warp and twist photographs, but the company can no longer break even on new apps. "Every other app we wrote after [PhotoTwist] got less interest than the previous one," says Matt Hall, co-owner of Larva. "We've spent more time on unique features for these apps." Larva Labs now focuses on Android, he says...
