Why do devs pick iOS over Android?

[A.Nonymous]

This is an honest question. Not looking to start fights and bash anyone. I've been looking around on line at Christmas gift ideas which brought this up. Android has a far bigger market share than iOS. There are more Android devices sold than iOS devices. Yet when developers want to put together something cool like a remote controlled monster truck controlled by your phone or a blood pressure monitor that links to your phone or a gadget that tracks your bike rides, they all develop for iOS. None of them build these things for Android. Why, as a developer, would you build for a platform that has fewer users? Why not build for the platform that has the most users? Wouldn't that give you a bigger market to sell to? Or is it harder to build these types of things for Android for some reason?

 

[lunatic59]

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head ... one, the closed market on iOS limits the competition and more importantly iPhone/iPad apps are more likely to generate revenue.

 

[jerofld]

Well, those market share results may be skewed by the recent success by the iPhone 4S. But I think some of the old rules still apply. iOS users are more inclined to pay for apps. iOS users, I think, use their phones more than the typical Android user. Most Androids are cheap units with ancient versions of Android still built on them.

Overall, there are still many headaches for developers (hardware/software fragmentation) with Android and iOS is proven to make developers more money. Until that balances out, expect iOS to have more of the cooler apps first.

Or, maybe people just really, really hate java and eclipse

 

[sssteve72]

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head ... one, the closed market on iOS limits the competition and more importantly iPhone/iPad apps are more likely to generate revenue.

I'll second the revenue. Android users are not interested in over priced goods where Apple users tend to overlook the price in favor of what they believe is a better product. Android users want the economic deal that suits our needs and is hopefully free. You can't run a business selling free stuff and stay in business long.

 

[TxGoat]

There's less variation in hardware with the iOS so you don't constantly have to tweak and update your app. I always tend to see reviews of an app that works well with all but certain types of phones.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I can think of two reasons off the top of my head ... one, the closed market on iOS limits the competition and more importantly iPhone/iPad apps are more likely to generate revenue.

I'm very curious why that is. Also, with something like a remote controlled helicopter, wouldn't the app be free and the developer makes his money off selling the helicopter? Why would you not make something like that for Android?

 

[lunatic59]

I'm very curious why that is. Also, with something like a remote controlled helicopter, wouldn't the app be free and the developer makes his money off selling the helicopter? Why would you not make something like that for Android?

Look at yourself as an example. I just check and only 10 out of the 85 apps I have on my Nexus One are paid. Find an iPhone user with 85 apps and ask them how many they paid for. If I were developing for one or the other, I'd choose the money. The irony is that Rovio makes more money from their "free" ad supported version of Angry Birds on android than they do on the ad free paid iPhone version.

 

[mikedt]

I'm very curious why that is. Also, with something like a remote controlled helicopter, wouldn't the app be free and the developer makes his money off selling the helicopter? Why would you not make something like that for Android?

Maybe because it's much easier and consistent to interface an iOS device into whatever hardware that maybe required for this type of stuff. e.g. a transmitter for R/C models or a blood pressure sensor. The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch all have one thing in common, a standard dock connector.

Basically there is NO standard way of connecting Android devices to any type of hardware, except PCs via USB.

 

[9to5cynic]

It might be also be that the Apple App store took off before the market. Weren't all the market apps free for the first year or something like that?

 

[Yeahha]

I'm very curious why that is. Also, with something like a remote controlled helicopter, wouldn't the app be free and the developer makes his money off selling the helicopter? Why would you not make something like that for Android?

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The reasons I think most devs will opt to dev for iOS over Android would be the current version iOS is on 5 devices or so compared to how many devices running different types of GB?

From what I understand Apple provides tech support via itunes where if you release an app on the market the consumer contacts you directly for support. Since Apple plays middleman it is less chaos on the dev when there is something that needs to be fixed.

Android also has this stigma for some people that if you put an app out it will be pirated and put on warez sites. While many new apps in both the market and the Amazon Appstore include DRM these apps are still hacked and distributed via warez sites (if you doubt this find a warez site and look at SPB shell 3D or Spectral souls and see how much people have done to try to crack those apps, or just trust me and don't search out warez sites ) Since Android allows sideloading out of the box and you have to jailbreak an iOS device to sideload it may seem to a new mobile dev it will be "safer" to spend time on iOS development.

IOS has a longer established userbase and there have been plenty of media reports that show iOS has a larger percentage of paid apps and devs can make money easier by using iOS over android, this also likely draws devs to choose iOS over Android.

Apple will also remove apps from the Appstore if it infringes upon another devs ideas that came first while Google doesn't do the same for the market. So if you build a hit game for iOS that no one has came up with before others will be unable to clone your idea, but with Android you can come up with the hit game and within a month there will be many knockoffs

 

[theultimateone]

Another reason most ios users mostly care for apps android users don't always buy them for apps

 

[Demache]

Maybe because it's much easier and consistent to interface an iOS device into whatever hardware that maybe required for this type of stuff. e.g. a transmitter for R/C models or a blood pressure sensor. The iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch all have one thing in common, a standard dock connector.

Basically there is NO standard way of connecting Android devices to any type of hardware, except PCs via USB.

Well, there's Bluetooth. That's how the car OBD-II interface apps work (very nifty and informative apps btw). But yeah, other than that....not much.

 

[mrqs]

the most important reason is that ios users are hugely more likely to pay for an app

 

[jerofld]

Look at yourself as an example. I just check and only 10 out of the 85 apps I have on my Nexus One are paid. Find an iPhone user with 85 apps and ask them how many they paid for. If I were developing for one or the other, I'd choose the money. The irony is that Rovio makes more money from their "free" ad supported version of Angry Birds on android than they do on the ad free paid iPhone version.

This is also because if you pay, you pay once. Ads may pay less, but more popular games will have people playing longer, so more ad exposure and more revenue.

It is much more likely that less popular games would make more money with money up front than ad revenue.

 

[mikedt]

Well, there's Bluetooth. That's how the car OBD-II interface apps work (very nifty and informative apps btw). But yeah, other than that....not much.

Yeh there is Bluetooth, but then one has to mess around with pairing, also the fact that not all BT interfaces and devices are created equal, then some things work some things don't. There's one thing Apple has with its "Designed for iPhone', 'Designed for iPad', etc, one pretty much knows that things are going to work.

 

[mrqs]

Well, there's Bluetooth. That's how the car OBD-II interface apps work (very nifty and informative apps btw). But yeah, other than that....not much.

there's also wifi

 

[Baldilocks]

It all comes down to hardware/software integration. With the iOS you have very few devices that all run on basically one or two architectures. It's much easier to build something and program it to work if you don't have to deal with a dozen manufacturers, 4 or 5 different software versions and dozens of different processors and circuit boards.

 

[mikedt]

It all comes down to hardware/software integration. With the iOS you have very few devices that all run on basically one or two architectures. It's much easier to build something and program it to work if you don't have to deal with a dozen manufacturers, 4 or 5 different software versions and dozens of different processors and circuit boards.

Tech support is probably much easier as well with iOS over Android. Not going to get things like.. "Help I bought your R/C model transmitter for Android with Bluetooth, and it keeps on disconnecting from my XYZ or whatever tablet."

 

[A.Nonymous]

I was reminded of this thread yesterday when listening to a dev talking about Android vs iOS. He said that he would rather develop for Android because there are nerds on the platform who love to tweak everything and it's fun to develop for people like that. However there are many of the dumb masses who buy Android phones and never load a single app on the phone because they have no clue how so there's not nearly as much money to be made on the platform as there is on iOS.

 

[mikedt]

Where I am, there's probably more Android phones and tablets than any other country. Most of them don't have Google Market though, and Amazon's App Store AFAICT is USA only. Many Android devices here do come with a load of apps and games, already pre-installed. Many owners will be just using them as they are, and not even connecting them to the internet(except maybe for QQ or browsing) or a PC for that matter.

iOS users on the other hand, because they tend to be more affluent in China(simply because the things cost so much here), are likely to have a western credit card and will be buying apps and games from the iTunes Store.

 

[dogbertus]

iOS is simply easier to develop for. You have a consistent system that runs on only a few devices. With Android, just seeing if the app is even going to be feasible on the system requires obtaining and testing roughly 23457823489235 different phones and tablets.

 

[alostpacket]

Definitely the number 1 reason there are more apps for iOS is $$$$

But the second, and probably less obvious one is that companies try and capitalize on being associated with Apple.

If you watch TV commercials they always tout iPhone apps for things like CNN etc.

This is partly due to the Marketing people (at the ad agencies) being rabid Apple fans, and partly because they want to look "cool" and "hip"

Back to the money thing though. A lot of people don't like to hear this (myself included) as it's an uncomfortable truth. But the reality of Android users spending less money is very true. This may not be because they are cheapskates, or dumb users or anything like that -- but rather they are part of a consumer ecosystem that is giving them a lot of things for free (GMail, Google Maps, Maps Navigation, Google Voice, Google Music, Google Docs, and so on...)

This kind of free and ad-based ecosystem both attracts certain types of people, and gives them a distorted sense of the value of apps. It also tends to favor larger companies with a large enough number of users so that they can finance development. And it favors content style apps (news, games, etc) over tools and utilities.

 

[UssjTrunks]

According to a new report from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who analyzed the mobile app market, Google’s Android Marketplace has only generated seven percent of the total gross revenue that Apple’s App Store has brought in. Apple has approximately 85 to 90 percent of the market share of total dollars spent on apps.

Apple?s App Store is Where the Money is for Developers | PadGadget

iPhone users simply buy more apps. However, many apps are free on Android because their main source of revenue comes from ads. Look at Angry Birds as an example. Piracy is also big on Android. No need to jailbreak to get paid apps for free. Then there is also the fact that iOS has been around 2 years longer than Android, and many developers don't feel like porting their apps or learning how to develop on a new platform.

 

[lunatic59]

Apple?s App Store is Where the Money is for Developers | PadGadget

iPhone users simply buy more apps. However, many apps are free on Android because their main source of revenue comes from ads. Look at Angry Birds as an example. Piracy is also big on Android. No need to jailbreak to get paid apps for free. Then there is also the fact that iOS has been around 2 years longer than Android, and many developers don't feel like porting their apps or learning how to develop on a new platform.

Unfortunately those statistics don't take into account the monies earned through advertising. Rovio has made considerably more money from Angry Birds as a free ad-supported ad on Android than as a paid app on iOS. Looking at how much revenue is generated only from the app store/market is only one aspect of the money picture.

 

[Baldilocks]

I hate ad supported apps. I'd much rather pay for them, as I did all of the Angry Birds titles, just to get rid of them.