

Why we’ve decided to stop producing TNW Magazine for Android - amatheus
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/12/30/no-more-tnw-magazine-for-android/39/

======
mattquiros
\- On Android's fragmentation: From my experience, any developer or publisher
who makes a big deal out of Android's fragmentation are just lazy people
making excuses. There's ALWAYS a way to make the same iOS app on Android, and
if any devices can't run your Android app, then that device just sucks too
much. If it doesn't, either you do, or in this case, your publishing software.

\- "You make a beautiful magazine for the iPad, and then you dumb it down for
Android." Probably because your developer who told you this has no experience
developing any real apps for Android and is forcing iOS's UI elements into it?
Or maybe you're bombarding your magazine with too much content in the first
place (you mentioned embedded music--seriously, isn't that information
pollution?). I've seen beautiful apps on iOS that offer the same, consistent
experience in Android, e.g., Evernote. What is your excuse for not pulling
this off?

\- "For every Android user that downloads an Android magazine we have 80 iOS
downloads." But what about the Android users who read your content via your
mobile website? Or, for many Android tablets from Samsung, via Pulse? Exactly
what is your value proposition to these users why they should download your
app when they can get most of your content for free? The way I see it, Android
users are just being smart because they find ways to bypass having to pay for
free content.

\- "...with the current state of technology and the way the market is divided
we can’t afford to invest in it anymore." Your target market is fragmented,
DEAL WITH IT. If you want to make money, see it as an untapped opportunity and
seize it. It's really TNW's call, but to me, their reasons for not developing
for Android are just like fat people's excuses for not going to the gym.

~~~
MaysonL
There actually is significant fragmentation in the Android user base, and it's
harder to deliver significant apps with equality of performance and features
for Android than iOS. See, for example, the BBC's experience:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2012/12/android_updat...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2012/12/android_update.html)

~~~
mattquiros
Yes, but the reality of the market is that not everybody is getting an iPhone,
and not all Android users get high-end Android devices. It is still THE
market, nonetheless. I don't think any blame should go to either iOS or
Android because it's the people who patronized these products. However, it
would be just as absurd to blame the market you're trying to target. If you
want to reach as many people as possible, you're going to end up grouping them
into categories anyway.

------
ChuckMcM
I suppose this is a call to action for a better magazine publishing tool. It
is an interesting challenge, and one illustrates the 'ecosystem' effect.
They're publishing software supplier (Mag+) is better at supporting iOS than
Android, so supporting Android becomes too onerous.

On the one hand that is sad for TNW, after all more subscribers is always
good, but it is _really bad_ for Mag+ since it points out a gaping hole in
their strategy. By not investing in Android they leave the larger market share
of Android devices open to another publishing company, and when that company
uses the strength of their Android base to enter the iOS market, their
customers (like TNW) will switch because they are all about the subscriber
numbers.

Lets see how Mag+ responds ...

------
dregin
So, you stopped releasing a version for android because the software you're
using can't deal with the formatting properly (even though it says it can) and
the material you're using is locked to one provider... The majority of the
blame definitely lies somewhere other than on android's doorstep.

~~~
rbarooah
They _did_ put the effort in to overcome those issues, only to discover that
for every 80 iOS users they had 1 Android user, so they concluded that
_continuing_ to do the work wasn't justified because there was a lack of
demand. If they'd had comparable demand from Android users, they'd have
continued to invest.

~~~
garuda
Android is Open Source, so it belongs to everyone. Content producers need to
do their part alongside developers to make it great, even if that means
putting in more investment than supporting a propriety platform like iOS.

~~~
eropple
_> Content producers need to do their part alongside developers to make it
great_

Uh...why? Why should they "do their part" for a platform where they have no
users and don't see a likely growth of them?

I am an Android user and developer, but I am also realistic.

~~~
garuda
Because that investment will pay off over time as more and more people move to
Android, and a platform that isn't controlled by a single company will make
innovation easier for everyone.

~~~
eropple
There's some legwork to do to make the claims you're making. Maybe you should
step back and establish niceties like _why_ people who are in their target
demos will flock to Android "over time" and quantify how the NPV of investing
now will pay off later.

~~~
garuda
It's well known that Android has overtaken iOS in terms of the base OS. A
hardware advantage that Apple had is almost gone now, so the only thing
missing is content. I don't think iOS buyers are fanatics or taken in by
marketing because there is more marketing of Android. I think they have been
choosing a better product.

So, now that hardware and the OS no-longer favor iOS, it's simply down to
content providers to make the investment. Technologists bought in to Android
because it's open, long before it became the best platform. Why shouldn't
content producers do the same?

~~~
Steko
"It's well known that Android has overtaken iOS in terms of the base OS. "

This is not well known, although it's an opinion often voiced here.

"Why shouldn't content producers do the same?"

Because they are not utopian technologists? This article is about a content
producer that invested in Android yet failed. Instead of talking about how the
content producers need to do more, we should be talking about why this effort
failed.

Here's a start: when you buy an iphone today the Newsstand is one of a handful
of Apps you start with. It's featured and people click on it and then many of
them start buying and consuming content. What is the competing experience on
Android? I assume there's no equivalent to the standalone Newsstand App
installed by default on the phone. I assume they hit Play, which incidentally
is terribly named and many customers never click on ever because they think it
only leads to pokemon. Then they have to know that Magazines on their Device
are a thing now and find them on which may be easy or hard in Play but is
still an order of magnitude harder than it is on iOS.

------
Zaheer
I have an application out for Android & iPhone both with same exact
functionality. The Android version sells maybe 10 a day max while iPhone
constantly sells 10x that. I'm becoming more and more convinced the Android
market is just not that attractive.

~~~
rogerbinns
Other than games, when I see apps available on both and that were ported from
the iOS version it is very apparent they are not "proper" Android apps. Big
clues are having menu and back buttons. Others are using builtin 3rd party
integration (eg fb, twitter, dropbox) instead of the system.

A well structured Android application is like a mashup of different screens,
processing (services), event handlers (broadcast receivers), data (content
providers), user accounts etc. And it works with other components on the
system, not its own little island as on iOS.

You haven't stated what your app is so this issue may not apply. A good
example of a bad app is "Beat The Traffic" which is terrible on Android being
an iOS port.

~~~
chris_wot
I'm really not clear why this comment was voted down. If you disagree, I'm
very interested in knowing what the issue is. Speak up!

~~~
Steko
I didn't downvote it but the nth "blame the developer" comment seems to be
offbase. I did find the poster's app[1] and the Android one is higher rated by
a full star so it's not a quality issue, it's a platform issue.

[1] Tags for Likes:

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tagsforlikes-copy-paste-
tags...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tagsforlikes-copy-paste-
tags/id566662729)

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tagsforlik...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tagsforlikes.tagsforlikes)

------
bryanlarsen
There have been a lot of comments blaming stingy Android users and poor ports
for poor sales on Android compared to iOS. I think there's a third factor:
exposure & marketing. I'm an Android user, I know that I've read articles from
thenextweb before, but I did not know that they actually had an
application/magazine for sale.

~~~
MaysonL
Then again, I'm an iOS user who occasionally reads their articles also, and
did not have any idea they had an app/magazine.

------
jacquesm
Suggestion: stop making it for iOs as well and make the site work properly in
any browser.

~~~
bane
I really don't understand why news sites bother with dedicated apps. It
doesn't sound like anything they're doing couldn't be handled by web design
these days, music, video, images, layout etc.

Sidenote: From the writeup it sounds like TNW is struggling more with their
tooling than with Android. Anybody know of better alternatives?

~~~
petercooper
Ease of sales. It's easier to sell an app than a subscription through a Web
paywall. This is also why more developers sell Mac apps through the App Store
than direct now. Psychology, discoverability, and ease of making impulse
purchases all comes into play.

~~~
bane
I could see that for something like NYT, but TNW doesn't offer subscriptions.

Do people discover web sites through an app store?

I wonder if there's an opportunity there?

~~~
petercooper
Ah, I'm not familiar with the TNW magazine so didn't realize it was free. In
that case, it's because of advertising rates.

I run several e-mail newsletters that would work just as well as Web sites but
the CPM is 10x higher for e-mail than Web so I use the format. I imagine they
can sell the magazine by the page at a healthy rate in a way run of site
banners wouldn't work.

~~~
bane
Actually somebody else here pointed out that strangely they offer a
subscription to additional content via the iOS app -- so I may be wrong. I
would think they'd make it prominent on the web page as well to get more eyes
on a way towards revenue.

------
Steko
I think all the people blaming TNW or their tools or the lack of publishing
platforms are all just missing the point as, despite market share, Android
fails by many of the app and content dollar metrics. The point being missed is
that Google might simply not have enough credit cards. Despite being one of
the most valuable and trusted brands in the world, Google is not a brand
people have trusted with their credit card for very long. Apple and Amazon
have been doing it since 2003 and 1994 and have pretty good reputations for
customer service. Google is still building that and until they do they may
continue to under-perform their market share in some of these measures.

~~~
dotBen
_"The point being missed is that Google might simply not have enough credit
cards."_

Or, perhaps Android users just don't wish to be nickle and dimed into buying
stuff.

Cynical view, but even myself as a v affluent individual + owner and lover of
several apple mac computers shuns iOS because frankly I don't wish to pay for
every app and content I might consume. Case in point is this NextWeb magazine
- sounds like it actually costs money to buy. I'm not at all interested, esp
if I can visit the website for free.

Android has a higher install rate than iOS but iOS tops dollar metrics because
it is the platform of choice of those with the most disposable income.

~~~
Steko
The demographics are certainly part of it but I doubt they favor Apple at
anything like an 80:1 ratio.

------
dannyr
It looks like there isn't much downloads for blog-specific magazines on
Android. Engadget's Distro app only has 50K+ downloads.

