

Apple vs. Android: Developers see a socioeconomic divide - amichail
http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/04/04/apple_vs_android_developers_see_a_socioeconomic_divide.html

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mixologic
Wow. That is the worst case I've ever seen of map analysis.

Go to the original map here [https://www.mapbox.com/labs/twitter-
gnip/brands/#](https://www.mapbox.com/labs/twitter-gnip/brands/#), and turn
off the iphone layer that happens to be on top. This is pathetic.

Im gonna call my buddy at mapbox.

~~~
nostrademons
Yeah, this is pretty egregious. When I played around with the source map and
Manhattan, most of the effect they mentioned goes away when you look at the
maps in isolation. The iPhone layer was drawn _on top_ of Android, so of
course it looks like Manhattan is full of iPhone users; the only time the
Android pixels stand out is where there are no iPhone users at all.

~~~
nkoren
Even with the egregious layering problem, the map actually shows something
pretty interesting: the way in which Android has colonised lower-density
lower-income areas to the almost total exclusion of the iPhone. It makes
sense: you can buy brand-new low-end Android devices; you can't do the same
with iPhones.

So the map doesn't actually show that Android is doing poorly in high-value
areas; it does, however, show that Android is doing well in low-value areas --
_in addition_ to doing well in high-value areas. The data is a win for Android
even if the map literally obscures this fact.

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downandout
Is this news? Android users aren't worthless, but they are indeed worth less.
On some apps I've heard of disparities as high as 15X - the value of an
Android user being 1/15th that of an iOS user. On my own apps it's gone as
high as 9X.

That said, as long as you understand the economics of each platform and ensure
that your advertising expenditures and any incremental user costs are in line
with the disparity, you should be fine. In my experience, the best strategy is
to spend any advertising budget on iOS installs, and let word of mouth/viral
features get free installs on Android.

~~~
eik3_de
So if the iOS user is willing to spend more, I could add a few % to the price
tags in my online shop if user has an iOS user agent?

~~~
dcohenp
There is some related precedent, with Orbitz charging Mac users more:
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230445860457748...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304458604577488822667325882.html)

~~~
balladeer
I think "charging more" is a lot different from what the article says:

>> so the online travel agency is starting to show them different, and
sometimes costlier, travel options than Windows visitors see

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fidotron
The maps are clearly flawed, but the overall point is entirely true, and
emphasised by the fact that most spending on Android is, predictably, done by
those with newer higher end devices.

I used to be super bullish on Android, now much less so. It's sacrilege around
here, but I'm beginning to think that ecosystems which are not primarily based
on open source have broader economic benefits. Even the notion of barriers to
entry (i.e. expensive dev tools) can serve a purpose, in that companies will
invest more developing products in such situations with less fear that they're
going to be nuked by some kids and an open source stack. (Of course in reality
they just do less, but the free competitors problem isn't going to happen).

This is why I'm incredibly pessimistic about the web, and almost any
technology attached to Google these days: it's simply far too competitive, and
the barriers to entry, thanks to the cloud wars and modern software stacks,
are getting smaller at a frightening rate. Google are smart enough that when
you're in an ecosystem with them and they aren't doing the role you're doing
it's because they've commoditized their complements: you.

My hunch is Google have been pursuing Glass, and now wearables, in a desperate
way to attach their brand to the classes of people that carry iPhones. The
Apple envy in Mountain View seems to run very deep indeed, but they're also
trying to fight off Facebook at every turn, which has led to a very confused
situation.

~~~
Yetanfou
And all this is bad for what reason exactly? If you see everything as a profit
center - or, in other terms, something which gives 'economic benefits' (to
whom?) - I can understand why you're peeved by free software. From a user
perspective I can see no downside to the availability of a large body of free
software, au contraire.

Understand that 'value' does not equal 'economic value'. There are many
factors which make up the value of a good or a technology, some of them easily
quantifiable - like your 'economic value', some of them less so. Also
understand that in the long run the increased access to technology which free
software and free protocols provide can actually lead to economic benefits as
well.

You use the web as an example to support your thesis. Imagine what would have
happened if CERN decided to license and sell web technologies in the way Apple
and Microsoft license and sell their products. You would not have been able to
write your comment here, on this web site, using that browser. There would not
have been a web site for you to write it on. Even if you were 'lucky' enough
to have some corporate sponsor to pay for your 'Platinum web access' voucher
your comment would probably have lingered in the void for lack of readership.
The web would have resembled America Online or Minitel, with limited
interaction and commercial sites only. It would also have given but a fraction
of the 'economic benefits' of the current, open web.

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msoad
One thing that many of Silicon Vally people fail to understand is that, data
is expensive. For many people who have Android phones, it's not the user
experience or quality of the OS. It's just that they have no data plan or
their data plan is limited. So don't expect them to download your app over LTE
or tweet left and right.

This is more true in developing countries. People buy expensive Android phones
but they don't pay for data. Because it's even more expensive than the phone.
If you say a phone lives for two year, it's easy to do the math and see a
regular data plan is two to three time more expensive than an Android phone.

~~~
sliverstorm
But does this matter when you can connect to Wi-Fi via your phone?

~~~
ineedtosleep
When home internet plans are starting to have data caps as well, yes.

~~~
sliverstorm
I thought that was primarily a USA feature?

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steven777400
I think the relative user experience of the platform might also drive the
particular outcomes. For example, I do a lot of my shopping online. From my
desktop PC. I have an Android phone. It's garbage. There's no way I could buy
something with it even if I wanted to. I have an Android tablet. It's fine,
but I don't do much shopping on it.

Would I shop more with my mobile devices if they were Apple? Maybe. My
coworkers show me their most current generation Apple phones and tablets and
WOW it's like I stepped 10 years into the future.

I agree that economic issues are a reality, but many low-end Android devices
are not useful for shopping or paid apps, so that artificially makes the
Android market look worse. It would be nice if the graphs could be further
subdivided by some metric into, say, Android 4 devices capable of running
apps, and older Android devices that don't have the speed, space, or otherwise
are unusable anywhere outside of the phone or text screens.

~~~
gress
This. This is the precise explanation of the difference.

The Samsung Galaxy and Moto X phones may be equivalent to an iPhone, but the
iPhone outsells them 2:1. The Android phones that make up the bulk of the 80%
market share just aren't equivalent.

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tehabe
This is just my personal opinion but I've seen a lot of very nice looking and
well designed iOS applications while the Android counter part (from the same
company) is awful and almost unusable. It looks and feels like an iOS
application but it just doesn't work on Android.

And there are a lot of of those applications on Play Store.

Yeah, there are also a lot of ugly and unusable applications w/o an iOS
counter part but well.

I think Android users are not willing to spend money of bad applications and
the count of good and well designed applications is higher on iOS also because
Apple enforces the design guidelines. Google doesn't do that.

~~~
doctorcroc
Can you give me some examples of apps where the android counter part is
significantly less usable? I'm not calling you out, I'd just like to see why
this is the case...

~~~
tehabe
DB Navigator is for me such an example, the Android version improved but it is
still very buggy and slow. The Android version used to look and behave almost
exactly like the iOS version which simply doesn't work for Android.

While the iOS version works very well.

That is a frustrating experience.

------
makeramen
As an Android Developer, I would urge aspiring mobile developers to think
about it this way: In which market is there more demand _for developers_?

I know so many companies that need good android devs and can't find any
because nobody has the experience. From my anecdotal experience, the demand
for Android Developers is much higher than iOS (relative to the supply) at the
moment.

~~~
tieTYT
Why would you urge that? Seems like it depends on what you want to do with
your skills. If you want to make an app, you should follow the money. If you
want to get a job, you should follow the demand for developers.

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lyinsteve
Also because iOS development is, in my subjective, biased opinion, much less
of a pain than Android development.

~~~
bennyg
I want to start tracking hours at my current employer for Android and iOS dev
since they are for the same apps. Anecdotally what I've seen is that iOS
finishes faster, with way less hiccups and compromises.

~~~
makeramen
The experience of the developers is also a huge factor.

~~~
threeseed
I wouldn't say it is a huge factor. The biggest by far is that each
manufacturer/carrier has a slightly different implementation of Android to the
next. I have seen small Android projects that have hundreds of defects despite
the factor being implemented exactly right.

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crxpandion
This post warrants a little public shaming:
[http://xkcd.com/1138/](http://xkcd.com/1138/)

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iamben
Is my maths awful (I have been drinking) or am I right in thinking that even
if Android users spend less on average, having three times as many of them is
going to equal more revenue?

~~~
coldtea
Your math is a little sloppy. Nothing necessitates that "3 times as many"
users on a platform equal more revenue than another platform.

So, if iOS users overspend Android users more than
android_user_count/ios_user_count times, iOS still offers more revenue.

Average spending and profit margins count as much, if not more, as raw user
count. The same way that the Mac, say, has around 15% of the laptop market
share, but takes home around 80% of the laptop market profits.

------
Iftheshoefits
Data plan and phone-cost affordability has some impact here, but the
socioeconomic divide is not explained entirely in those terms.

I think it has as much to do with the fact that Apple's target market consists
largely of affluent people seeking to identify with a brand that has geek/tech
credibility. It's not that people with lower incomes wouldn't be (or aren't)
interested in having Apple mobile products; it's that Apple basically ignores
them.

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frankus
Among people I've worked with (at least those wealthy enough that a $200
subsidized price difference once every few years isn't a deciding factor),
I've noticed a pretty clear split where Android fans tend to skew Republican
and Apple fans skew Democratic.

I'd be curious to see if that's just confirmation bias on my part or a real
trend.

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marklubi
The initial cost of a given device could easily explain this difference. There
are plenty of Android devices that you can get for free with a two year
contract, not so much for iOS.

Those with less expendable income are probably more likely to select a free
device.

~~~
sureshv
iPhone 4S is free with 2-year contract; Apple moves the older generation
devices into the free tier after they start the upgrade cycle. The iPhone 5c
will be next into the free tier.

------
ohwp
I think a lot of people underestimate how much money is going in in in-
company-apps.

As an app developer I prefer Android over Apple because of how easy it is to
deploy your app.

~~~
allsystemsgo
But I would rather drive a nail into my eye than write in Eclipse.

~~~
w1ntermute
Well then it's a good thing Eclipse isn't necessary for Android development,
isn't it?

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archagon
Wait, aren't data plans equally expensive all across the board? I don't think
I've ever seen an Android user in the US with no data plan.

~~~
pyoung
I am not 100% on this, but I think most of the US providers wont allow you to
activate a smart phone without a data plan. It's kind of BS, but my guess is
that they do it to ensure they re-coup the costs of the higher subsidies given
out for smartphones.

~~~
stickmangallows
I was able to use my android phones on T-Mobile for a few years with voice-
only. Perhaps things have changed there but I know AT&T forces you to buy a
data plan whether or not you buy the phone from them.

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Steko
The real divide is when you look globally. Android probably has 90% of the
$100-$300 smartphone market and closer to 50% of the $400+ smartphone market.

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arnarbi
Looking at Atlanta is telling.

