Oh look, another thing not reported here, iPhone app piracy at 60% : http://www.pinchmedia.com/blog/piracy-in-the-app-store-from-360idev/. Maybe the iPhone isn't the big gold mine LTD makes it out to be after all 
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Game Developers Scaling Back Android Efforts as iPhone Continues to Dominate
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It makes complete sense that game developers would be gravitating more to the iPhone than Android:
1. Larger user base = More sales = More revenue (Generally)
2. There's less hardware variations, so they don't have to worry much about which devices the app might have problems on, and can easily target which ones it does.
However, there are two big problems Apple still hasn't fixed that have prevented me from buying many games (I only have 1 screen of them), which Android gets pretty much perfect, at least from my brief experiences with it:
1. Notifications. Every time I get a text message or other notification, I'm forced to drop whatever I'm doing on my iPhone at the time and react to it.
2. Multi-tasking. Even if Apple would just let me run a single 3rd party app simultaneously with Safari, Mail, etc., I'd be satisfied.
For good measure, here's an example of a frequently recurring frustration I've been experiencing lately:
Playing Rock Band on my iPhone, the framerate suddenly drops (meaning I usually miss a note or two), and the game pauses. Notification pops up.
Now, I could read the notification, move on, unpause and continue playing (after waiting through Rock Band's slow loading). But if I want to respond to the text or get more detail on whatever it is, I have to quit Rock Band, completely abandoning my session, and when I want to go back I have to start the game up again, starting all over again.
Why can't a small box drop down from the top - or even just have a short sound play - notifying me something has happened, but still allow me to carry on with my game, uninterrupted? Then, if I do decide to look at the notification & take action on it, why can't I just pause the game, drop out for a moment, quickly take care of it, and drop right back into my game from where I left off?
Notifications are just broken. There's no excuse for their obtrusiveness. Apple needs to fix them.
As for multi-tasking, yes Steve, I'm well aware it will drain my battery faster. But I don't mind having to recharge it more often if it means I can get more use out of my apps! Heck, make turning on and off multi-tasking a setting, and even give a warning about shortened battery life so nobody can complain.
1. Larger user base = More sales = More revenue (Generally)
2. There's less hardware variations, so they don't have to worry much about which devices the app might have problems on, and can easily target which ones it does.
However, there are two big problems Apple still hasn't fixed that have prevented me from buying many games (I only have 1 screen of them), which Android gets pretty much perfect, at least from my brief experiences with it:
1. Notifications. Every time I get a text message or other notification, I'm forced to drop whatever I'm doing on my iPhone at the time and react to it.
2. Multi-tasking. Even if Apple would just let me run a single 3rd party app simultaneously with Safari, Mail, etc., I'd be satisfied.
For good measure, here's an example of a frequently recurring frustration I've been experiencing lately:
Playing Rock Band on my iPhone, the framerate suddenly drops (meaning I usually miss a note or two), and the game pauses. Notification pops up.
Now, I could read the notification, move on, unpause and continue playing (after waiting through Rock Band's slow loading). But if I want to respond to the text or get more detail on whatever it is, I have to quit Rock Band, completely abandoning my session, and when I want to go back I have to start the game up again, starting all over again.
Why can't a small box drop down from the top - or even just have a short sound play - notifying me something has happened, but still allow me to carry on with my game, uninterrupted? Then, if I do decide to look at the notification & take action on it, why can't I just pause the game, drop out for a moment, quickly take care of it, and drop right back into my game from where I left off?
Notifications are just broken. There's no excuse for their obtrusiveness. Apple needs to fix them.
As for multi-tasking, yes Steve, I'm well aware it will drain my battery faster. But I don't mind having to recharge it more often if it means I can get more use out of my apps! Heck, make turning on and off multi-tasking a setting, and even give a warning about shortened battery life so nobody can complain.
here https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/819028/
true the thread was started by a member, but the MR bot finally picks it up on post #40
oh and I'll post the link to the other one in a sec for you...
Here's another article you may have missed in relation to devs quitting iPhone app develoment...
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/819780/
*
"The chorus of disenchanted developers is growing and we're adding our voices as well. Rogue Amoeba no longer has any plans for additional iPhone applications, and updates to our existing iPhone applications will likely be rare. The iPhone platform had great promise, but that promise is not enough, so we're focusing on the Mac."
From what I've noticed is Macrumors always reports on these issues.
So not even page 2.
Yet Android having 1 dev quit gets the main page...
I didn't miss it, if you notice, I don't read the iPhone section. This Android article is on the main page. I read this on Slashdot when it got posted there on their main page.
Technically you're right Gameloft is 1 dev, but is a HUGE dev. Gameloft isn't just some guy in his basement who makes apps as a hobby. Gameloft has over 4,000 employees and has recieved many awards/honors for their mobile apps. So saying that they are scaling back Android efforts to focus on iPhone apps is pretty big news from a pretty BIG dev.
Seems this "mass exodus" (the App Store is crumbing!!)
isn't headed to any other mobile platform, but the Mac. At least this one is, as well as another example posted earlier.Which is a sign (green light) for other devs to join the iPhone community.
So not even page 2.
Yet Android having 1 dev quit gets the main page...
I didn't miss it, if you notice, I don't read the iPhone section. This Android article is on the main page. I read this on Slashdot when it got posted there on their main page.
So, you admit I proved you wrong, MacRumors did report on it...You mentioned nothing about where on MR it was initially posted.
Also, I can say honestly I did not notice that you don't read the iPhone section of MR, but now that I do know, I will be sure to make a note of it...
Seems this "mass exodus" (the App Store is crumbing!!)
Which is a sign (green light) for other devs to join the iPhone community.
Once again sir, nicely put.
You are right, the iPhone did have a small user base and it grew quite quickly because Apple truly innovated and everyone else is just playing catch up and is really trying to copy the iphone. With the creation of their app store and even with all of the issues devs might have it with, overall it provides a great experience for end users because pretty much every app works (i wish i could say this for the android market).
I do have to disagree with you on the Droid though, I do prefer my Droid to an iPhone. Features such as running 6 apps at once, a physical keyboard and the ability to replace/upgrade my memory/battery are all very important to me. This all comes down to personal preference thats all.
Now im not saying the Droid is perfect, because its not. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done for it to catch up to the iPhone overall, but most of the issues are software based. I mean Android 2.0 finally offered OpenGL 1.1 and it came out what 2-3 weeks ago? There are also a lot of bugs in Android 2.0 which I have encountered.
To be perfectly honest, Android will be playing catchup to the iPhone OS for probably a few more years. While no announcement has been made, im sure we all know that Apple is working on iPhone OS 4.0 and will have a huge list of awesome improvements. I'd say Android 2.0 is basically on par with iPhone OS 1.0 in general.
Still with all this in mind, the Android App Market still has about 15k apps in it which isn't bad. I do think though the whole future of Android depends on how quickly Google fixes the issues with its SDK/App Market and how quickly they are able to roll out new features for Android.
I do believe that Apple will continue to dominate the Smartphone market for several years to come and that their market share will continue to increase.
Why not develop for Android?
Because each android phone can't use the latest version of the operating system creating a developer nightmare, many android phone operating systems are customized by the handset maker to further funk-up development, many android phones don't share the same screen size, resolutions or hardware features, and because all of this will frustrate developers and users alike.
Because each android phone can't use the latest version of the operating system creating a developer nightmare, many android phone operating systems are customized by the handset maker to further funk-up development, many android phones don't share the same screen size, resolutions or hardware features, and because all of this will frustrate developers and users alike.
There's still an amount of stratification among the iPhones models.
I agree it's many times worse over on the Android side or any other phone platform.
This is what i was refering to what i said earlier about Google needing to fix issues with their SDK. Android 2.0 does start to address some of these issues but its also the same issue windows mobile has, too many different models and versions on different phones.
There are tons of apps on the Android Market where you'll see comments such as "works on my G1 but not on my Droid".
Still you are 100% spot on with this.
Haha, sorry, I like Google, but Android is a fragmented open source reincarnation of Windows Mobile! It is a mess of a platform. Apple is going to dominate mobile computing!
I wonder what will happen with the iPhone when it gets a significant upgrade to it's screen?
We can't expect the screen size and resolution to stay the same size for ever but all the apps available now are set for just the single resolution.
iPhone/touch developers have multiple systems already to deal with... and/or to ignore when developing.
There are three versions of phones, each with increasing functionality (3G, GPS, compass).
There are two touch versions, with different speed and input. Many people also haven't upgraded their iPod touch OS, because of Apple charging for it.
It'll get more interesting as time goes on, and the hardware is updated.
Mine doesn't flicker at all. Did you read one or two reviews and come to the conclusion all Droids flicker constantly? Do you own one? Have you used one extensively? Or are you just another person here at MR who loves to comment on stuff they've never used and thus know nothing about?
This is bad news for everybody at the table. The message from Gameloft will be that Android is a loosing platform.
Personally, I would like to see more options and more development.
This sucks
Personally, I would like to see more options and more development.
This sucks
I agree, but eventually there will be a breaking point.
People just GOT TO HAVE IT...... whatever IT is.
And soon they will all shill out the $$$$ for the chance to be cool.
The trick is convincing them that if they do not : --- they will be Un-Cool
No it won't. Apple will do to the phone business what Microsoft did to OEM PC business; i.e. carve out a monopoly. This is Apple's Golden Age. The iPhone will sweep the world in 2010.
You could be right. I can't predict the future, but this could very well happen. Analysts are saying that Motorola should sell 600,000 Droids by the end of this year. Thats a LOT of phones - I'm not trying to argue iPhone vs whoever, but that is a good amount of people purchasing a phone. I'm guessing that a lot of the people who purchased those phones were not android users previously. So, to me I think it would be a little premature to abandon support for a platform that appears to be getting very popular. So if just Motorola has 600,000 android phones out there, I am sure by the end of this year there will be 1,000,000 people with android phones. For a company to say, "Now, at this time, seems like a good time to abandon support for this platform" seems like a odd decision to me. Thats a million people locked into a 2 year contract who will be looking for apps. I mean, how many people bought the G1? (Nothing against the phone itself, it just didn't seem to be as popular as it was hoped) It would seem like at a time when the Android fanbase was probably doubling, maybe even tripling in size - now would be the time to develop MORE applications, not less.
It did. Everyone quit making fun of the Pre and now make fun of the Droid. Both are garbage. Even with a 5MP camera, the iPhone takes better pictures smoooth.
no... google is making its own phone... https://www.macrumors.com/2009/11/18/google-branded-phone-coming-early-next-year/
That will change it all. Then apple will make the 4th gen iphone, which will change it all again.
The iphone 3g (OS 2,0) was explosive, I think the next iphone will be the same way