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Developer Offers Inside Look at Sales Gap Between App Store and Android Market
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Could the author who wrote this article at least taken the time to do some basic research and algebra so that the numbers in the article aren't all comparing apples to oranges? Would it have been that hard to look up the prices of the Android apps being discussed? And then maybe estimate how many units/day that works out to? Compare the cost to developers of publishing apps on the two marketplace/stores?
Since I assume it's also possible to sell apps outside of the Android Market, there are those numbers to consider as well.
Since I assume it's also possible to sell apps outside of the Android Market, there are those numbers to consider as well.
Depends on what it is, and what website. For example, SPB in Russia sells many WinMo items, and now even gets them included by some carriers.
If you have a nice item, people will find out about it, same as with desktop apps... which do okay without corporate stores.
WM apps tend to be unique. The biggest trouble with being a iPhone dev is that as soon as you release a clever app, ten other devs make competing versions, and nobody gets rich.
There's no argument with how easy the App Store is to buy from, especially for newbies. (Finding and choosing an app is harder, though.)
But I never had any problem buying apps from Handango for years before Apple came along. Took a few extra steps, but again, it was no worse than installing desktop apps for anyone with any brains.
Apple also supports different versions with its SDKs. No difference there.
What you might have read is that there are more than one SDK available for the Blackberry. That's a Good Thing.
There's also a choice of either making a Blackberry-specific app, or doing one as a normal Java mobile applet for use on many phones.
Not really. There are some hardware and key diffs, but you can work around those. Kind of like figuring out whether you have GPS on an iPhone or not. Nowadays the biggest difference in WinMo apps is the different resolutions available. But then, the iPhone will have similar problems someday.
Still, at $5,000,000 a month, Android is still putting a small dent in Apple's $200,000,000 a month goldmine..... 
You have no idea what the Free Software and Open Source software movements are all about if you truly believe it has anything to do with paying for software. Free means Freedom, not gratis.
Growing pains... You'll have to crawl, before you walk. It's going to take several years (and that's not guaranteed either) before they can match what the App Store does for the iPhone/iPod Touch market.
Still, at $5,000,000 a month, Android is still putting a small dent in Apple's $200,000,000 a month goldmine.....
I doubt it...
The phones are sold to different markets and many android users got the android phone because they liked the phone and because they would not consider getting an iPhone (cost, provider, etc). Some of that 5 mil is from eating into Apple sales but most of that money would not be going to Apple in any case.
Epic failure? The Android OS hasn't been out as long as the iPhone. By the end of the year, things will be different. Many new Android phones are coming out, the Android Market is getting a facelift, and Android is a great OS.
Plus with Android, you dont need to BUY a fart app...lol
Already rumors and screenshots of the Android Market facelift : http://www.cnet.com/8301-19736_1-10322411-251.html. Seems Google is already very aware of its shortcomings and working hard. I wouldn't dismiss Android yet.
Demographics of Android users vs iPhone users
I am a bit of a computer geek, but also a high roller consumer gadget freak.
Here is my take on it.
Android users are mostly computer geeks, the same type of guys who still like jailbreaking iphones and getting free apps, even though they might have spend hours and hours configurizing their machines. It's their hobby.
iPhone users, while having many computer geek type folks in their ranks also have high roller consumers, who look at a $5.00 app, and consider the expenditure in the same way they would look at playing for a while at the pinball joint/video arcade. Instead of taking time to mess around with stuff, many iPhone users just pay the toll and get the $1.99 or $9.99 app and start playing with it, and saving their time. Then use their time to make money instead of using their time to mess around and configurize their machines.
In summary:
Android - cheapskates
iPhone - high rollers
no offence intended - I am both of these type of users, but I can definitely see that Apple has the winner here. Remember Red Hat Linux? "Oh its so much better" Phooey. People are not smart enough to figure anything out, and Apple knows that, and makes it easier and smarter to just pay your way for software that is FINALLY priced right.
I always said that the way to stop piracy is to price apps so cheap that it isn't worth the time to pirate, and Apple has uncovered a huge market here.
Will Android catch up? I dunno - maybe. I doubt it though.
Android users, well, they are "androids" right?
I am a bit of a computer geek, but also a high roller consumer gadget freak.
Here is my take on it.
Android users are mostly computer geeks, the same type of guys who still like jailbreaking iphones and getting free apps, even though they might have spend hours and hours configurizing their machines. It's their hobby.
iPhone users, while having many computer geek type folks in their ranks also have high roller consumers, who look at a $5.00 app, and consider the expenditure in the same way they would look at playing for a while at the pinball joint/video arcade. Instead of taking time to mess around with stuff, many iPhone users just pay the toll and get the $1.99 or $9.99 app and start playing with it, and saving their time. Then use their time to make money instead of using their time to mess around and configurize their machines.
In summary:
Android - cheapskates
iPhone - high rollers
no offence intended - I am both of these type of users, but I can definitely see that Apple has the winner here. Remember Red Hat Linux? "Oh its so much better" Phooey. People are not smart enough to figure anything out, and Apple knows that, and makes it easier and smarter to just pay your way for software that is FINALLY priced right.
I always said that the way to stop piracy is to price apps so cheap that it isn't worth the time to pirate, and Apple has uncovered a huge market here.
Will Android catch up? I dunno - maybe. I doubt it though.
Android users, well, they are "androids" right?
Exactly my point - in reverse
It's cheaper to pay $0.99 for the fart app then to get one free sometimes.
That is the lesson of the iPhone - if you value your time and aren't interested in yet another hobby.
The types of people who won't have anything to do with putting their visa card up on iTunes are not the high rollers. They are cheapskates thinking they can save money, but that is narrow thinking. The one's who do not begrudge the software producers for making a buck for a fart app are the one's making this huge Apple Appstore market.
Or you could keep the 0.99$ and your time and not get a fart app at all ?
High roller... lol. iPhone users are mostly young people looking to be trendy and they buy every stupid app they think will help them get attention.
Seriously, high rollers have phones with concierge buttons :
No, the Apple is $100.00 right? - But it's a moot point - who cares.
I had a programmer friend complain about that $100.00 fee to be a developer for iPhone, and I'm tellin ya he really was insulted about that fee. He went on and on about it. Narrow viewpoint. Don't think he ever produced anything either because the $100.00 held him back from developing for the iPhone "on principle". I wonder if he now has changed his mind about that narrow view?
Or you could keep the 0.99$ and your time and not get a fart app at all ?
High roller... lol. iPhone users are mostly young people looking to be trendy and they buy every stupid app they think will help them get attention.
Seriously, high rollers have phones with concierge buttons :
Yeah maybe, but you get the point don't you?
If you make $XX per hour of your time, is it worth messing around to hunt down the free software or is it better to just click and pay a buck right now.
It's not the apps only, it's also the delivery system. If I have to take 10 minutes to get something that I can pay a buck for and receive instantly, the buck is cheaper.
People who resent paying shareware fees and go through the effort of finding serialz online for an hour are too smart for their own good, wasting their time. And this same principal applies to the iPhone appstore juggernaut - it's a winner that is steamrolling everything else.
Also - I am not hearing from my other cheapskate friends anymore about how much cheaper their Dell computer is over a Mac - It think the world is coming to realize the advantage of Apple in a lot of ways, and that's the point I wanted to get across in my posts here today. iPhone beats Android because of convenience and ecosystem.
I use a rooted G1 but probably not to its full potential. It has multitouch capabilities, but nothing takes advantage of that. I can mess with the backlight for the keyboard or overclock the phone to make it less laggy, but I have no idea what else to do with it.
Depends, there's only so many hours I can put into being productive in a given week. I make $XX per hour, but there's a cap on those hours (I doubt your boss would pay you 168 hours per week, he'd probably tell you to go home at one point).
And therein lies the rub. Unless I can use said time to make money, it's going to go to waste into something that isn't financially productive anyhow. You prefer to stare at nerd porn and pretty gadgets, some others prefer to thinker with said gadgets. I personally choose to just go out and ride, wind in my face and freedom in my heart.
To each his own. No one's spare, unproductive time is wasted unless they're doing something they don't like doing. It doesn't make you a high roller or them a cheapskate.
However, your comments do show you are pretentious and believe you are better than others.
The SDK is free of charge, so is the emulator to test your app on. What costs 100$, is a signing key in order to be able to install your app on physical hardware and sell it through the App Store.
I have both Xcode and the SDK on my computer to thinker around with, you know, when I'm not stuck at work making money. I won't ever pay 99$ and don't have a device capable of running anything I write, but it's fun to write code once in a while and learning something new is priceless.
Actually, you make a good point - you taught me something there - thanks for your reply.
To me it points out that the hobby of configurizing is enjoyable and doesn't have to be a waste of productivity or anything - it all depends on how you look at your time.
And if you say I sounded pretentious, I probably did so I'd like to say sorry for that - not intended - just spewing stuff off the keyboard tonight.
Two points:
1. You failed to notice that I didn't say a word about the users' motivation. Whatever their motivation for being into FOSS, FOSSheads still won't pay for apps, so an app store marketing to them is doomed to fail.
2. I believe that most free software users claim to be motivated by freedom but in fact only care about it because it either enables them to avoid paying for (legitimately free) software or, worse, provides an ideological way around guilty feelings for piracy.
While I agree that Android at some point will dominate the market, anyone can see that the Android App Store was not nearly as successful at the same point as Apple's almost eight months in with paid apps. You can also make jokes about fart apps but I guarantee you there either are many or will be many idiots who will purchase the same kind of app. Apple is dominant right now pure and simple. Contrary to what someone else has said earlier in this thread, Android may be fo geeks now, but eventually they will copy enough from Apple to create a stable platform which the consumers will be interested in.
Do I think that Android will eventually be the market share leader? Yes. But it won't be because they make a better product. It will more than likely be because they are more open and because they will drown the market with Android handsets. There may even come a day where Apple is no longer the "cool" brand.
Although it is not being talked about, there is a war going on between the consumer and the carrier for their rights and how the carriers conduct business. It does not help Apple that it appears that they have sided with the carrier (whether true or not) and Android promotes openness.
Mark my words that one day the carriers will be rendered dumb pipes as they should be. It is Apple's choice to get in the way or to help pave a new road. This is coming fom an iPhone owner and an Apple fan btw.
Cheapskates?
That is insulting to those of us who bought the G-1 and G2 / myTouch to use as - GASP! - a PHONE!
The added ability to look up things while away from the computer is a plus, as is the ability to add more memory.
You have too much free time if you play games on your PHONE.
And one of the biggest pluses is not having to be an AT&T customer!
The future version should be incorporated into a person's brain so that what he sees and hears can be recorded with a subcutaneous switch, what sounds are incoming will be transmitted through the bones in the ear / skull with no need for earphones, and text and images will be transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve to be viewed in front of the field of vision (as in fighter jets heads up displays). It's just a matter of time.
That is insulting to those of us who bought the G-1 and G2 / myTouch to use as - GASP! - a PHONE!
The added ability to look up things while away from the computer is a plus, as is the ability to add more memory.
You have too much free time if you play games on your PHONE.
And one of the biggest pluses is not having to be an AT&T customer!
The future version should be incorporated into a person's brain so that what he sees and hears can be recorded with a subcutaneous switch, what sounds are incoming will be transmitted through the bones in the ear / skull with no need for earphones, and text and images will be transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve to be viewed in front of the field of vision (as in fighter jets heads up displays). It's just a matter of time.
This is kind of disappointing. I was hoping that Android wouldn't be relegated to obscurity. And it isn't because of the "competition is good...one of us one of us" thing. They were the best hope for increasing the quality of phones from HTC and such.