Apps IOS Application Development Vs Android Application Development?

[monajessy21]

Hey guys thanks for viewing. I am in a self-debate on whether i should start iOS app development for iPhones, iPads, etc. Or if i should start Android development. The reason i am sort of struggling to pick is because i am already very familiar with the Java language and i have been programming with it for quite some time now, so doing Android development would be a lot easier for me instead of doing iOS development because i would have to learn Objective-C if I decided to chose iOS development . I know that the Apple App Store is superior when compared to the Android Market, so i know Apple development would be better for me in the long run, but for the time being, I would need to learn Objective-C. What do you suggest for me? Thank you

 

[vosg]

Wait a minute. How is the App store superior? Number of apps? Nope. Number of downloads? Nope. So please elaborate. I do agree that Apple gets more profit from app sales than Google, but that's another discussion.

I also know that an Android developer only pays a ONE TIME fee (i think somewhere around $25) for a developer account, while an Apple dev pays for every app they publish.

 

[Crashdamage]

Apple's iOS has roughly 50% of the smartphone market in the US. Android has roughly the other 50% of the market in the US. (Windows phone and Blackberry don't much matter). But Android has over 80% of the global market.

Now, ask yourself again which OS you should develop apps for.

 

[Digital Controller]

Let's not get overly upset about a question guys

Also Welcome to the forum!

In all honesty developing for both would be in your best interest. I know that the Apple market is a great app store, however, I do know there are more fees and a lot more clauses you need to meet and follow (I.E. Apple is much more strict on their app policy than Google is).

Like Crashdamage mentioned, while Apple might have half the market in the US, Android has 80% of the world wide market, meaning overall more users and more people to potentially buy your app. Plus the fee is only 25$, compared to Apple, which I don't know if it's per app, I thought it was just 75$ a year (I could be wrong).

Do what you want to do. Just remember that with the new iOS that a new platform for games is also coming out, which means a switch over in programming is going to have to take place.

Also I am going to move this thread into Application Development forum. I feel that you might get some better responses from actual Devs

 

[lunatic59]

Let's first acknowledge that you've asked this question on Android Forums, so you are more likely to get Android-favorable responses. Nothing wrong with that, but you will be better informed if you ask on an Apple forum as well and then draw your own conclusions.

First let's look at the numbers ...

In the first quarter of 2014, Android phones shipped approx. 187 million units, Apple shipped almost 44 million. While the growth numbers are fairly close, remember that it's growth based on units so Android units grew almost 45 million units while Apple grew by 7.5 million. Think of it this way ... Android's growth number is higher than Apple's total units. That's significant.

What I find even more interesting are the AOSP numbers. At 53 million, they have passed Apple all by themselves. Now, they are based on the Android core code but don't necessarily connect to Google services, so the play store app channel might not be the right delivery model for AOSP devices. But (and this is a big *but*) they most likely will be able to run Android-developed apps whereas they will NEVER run iOS developed apps.

With Android and AOSP, new unit shipments for the first quarter were 5-1/2 times that of Apple. That's quite a market.

Now let's get down to brass tacks ... or should I say "gold tacks"? It's all about the money. Apple makes a boatload of it. So much so that they've needed to buy more boats just to hold it all. Whether this trickles down to the developer, i couldn't say, but there is a much greater likelihood that an iOS user will pay for an app than an Android user.

On the other hand, a smartphone user is much likelier -- any platform -- to arbitrarily try a "free" app. The highly popular game "Angry Birds" is a good example. It was originally released for the iPhone only as a paid game. IT made Rovio a lot of money, but within a year of releasing the free (ad supported) game for Android, they were seeing more income from the free game. It's really a testament to the success of both the Apple and Google business paradigms.

So what can we conclude? Probably that you can't go wrong either way, provided you have a decent app that enough people want and you have the inclination to market it. If you are just musing with pie-in-the-sky hopes of developing that "killer app" with no real idea, I'd suggest bagging the development courses in any language and take a few marketing courses first.

 

[Promatics]

You should learn apple app development and objective C will be easy to learn for you.

 

[mr2kx]

Objective C sucks ass. if you like typing alot then go ahaid.

java ftw.

 

[lunatic59]

Let's try and be a little helpful. The OP did ask for suggestions but suggesting one over the other without your reasons or just because the other choice "sucks" doesn't add much to the conversation. We all have our opinions, but let's try to be civil about it. K?

 

[TMudder]

Monajessy,

I developed an iPhone app with a colleague and got it to the App store in 2010. It took us about 6 months. We did this completely on our own time, not getting paid, developing, testing and finally launching the app. Currently, I am now actually getting paid by my company to develop an Android app., have been at it full time just two weeks! I feel very lucky and proud to be in this position as opposed to doing something on my own and completely on speculation.

The iPhone experience was hard but worth it. LOTS of late nights and weekends completely devoted to learning the XCode environment, the IDE and Objective-C and the IOS runtime. Keep in mind this was late 2009 and 2010. Presently, I do believe the XCode environment is superior to Eclipse and the Android tools. However, the upcoming Android Studio does seem very promising - although I've just only briefly used it.

Currently, I'm working with two other developers (getting paid this time), we are using Eclipse and the Android SDK (AVD Manager, SDK Manager, etc., etc.) on a Windows system. I also have an Android development environment at home on my Mac. The Android installation process seems quite buggy particularly the latest bundle (adt-bundle-mac-x86_64-20140624, and the Windows version). In the IOS world, there was never any issue with installing XCode - in fact it came pre-configured on my Mac with iOS 10.6.8. I was experimenting and building tutorials from day-1 on the Mac.

In the IOS world, building a UI in XCode is more graphically oriented, drag-drop, and more freedom is allowed as to where to place an object. There is no horizontal or vertical restriction as to where to place a button or text entry field - if you want to move a button a little bit down and to the left, just drag it around. I don't find that capability on the Android. The Android seems to be just either horizontal or vertical alignment.

You can't beat the Apple developer documentation, it is endless and quite detailed, with code snippets and complete projects. In fact, from the XCode IDE edit window - you can hyper link to the documentation, get full running code examples (complete projects) then copy/paste, modify and move on in your code.

The Apple Push Notification Service (APNS) is quite robust and worth investigating. We used it to monitize (earn money) with the app by directing customized (location based) ads to the user. Many companies offer services you can use in this regard.

I'm still learning the Android, and I've got a long way to go. But from a developers point of view, you will spend less time configuring and loading virtual and target devices and more time designing and coding with Apple. However, Android has a larger installed base of devices (I think) - so the Android market may be larger.

Hope this helps in some way.