
Developer frustration growing along with Android market share - shawndumas
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/04/developer-frustration-growing-along-with-android-market-share.ars
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chapel
There are a lot of reasons why app sales on Android aren't as stellar as on
iOS, but I feel many people see it as a failure of Android as an OS. This is
wrong, because as an OS, Android has been a complete success, and shown that
giving people options is a good thing.

The main reason Android app sales suffer so much is really two fold, the
Google App Marketplace isn't as well crafted as the Apple App Store. It is
much better than it used to be, but is missing things that give rise to huge
sales. The other issue I believe lies with who is actually using Android
phones. If you take a look at iOS versus Android, you have to take into
account that most people that buy one or the other tend to stick with their
said choice. With that in mind, that means with iOS capturing a large if not
majority stake in the more advanced user base, ones that don't mind spending
money on apps, means apps on iOS are purchased more often. Android on the
other hand has a similarly devoted crowd, but it would seem the majority of
Android users are actually feature phone converts. These people aren't as
likely to spend money on apps, add to that the App Marketplace not being as
good as it could be, you are left with users that don't purchase apps much or
at all.

I think time will change this, but it definitely is something to consider when
developing for each platform. I doubt iOS will continue to pay out in spades
like it has previously, as more and more apps flood the App Store, it will
just be harder to compete with incumbents as they will have a foothold on
their particular app's functionality.

