

Android: The Platform for Prototypes - rsandhu
http://robsandhu.tumblr.com/post/15537100360/android-the-platform-for-prototypes

======
SomeCallMeTim
Don't forget on iOS that you can't easily push out new revisions. That 10+ day
wait not only applies to your first release, but to every change you want to
make.

Aside from slowing down iterations a lot, it means you want to REALLY test
well before you push an iteration to them. Just heard about a top grossing iOS
game that pushed out a new revision with a bug that affects 1% of their users
... causing THOUSANDS of tech support emails. And it's still another week or
so before the fix will be published.

To say this causes a chilling effect on experimentation on iOS is an
understatement.

~~~
yoda_sl
Not totally true: for such case if you have a nasty bug and you are quite sure
to have fix the problem, then you can ask Apple review team for an expedite
review. There is an online form to fill up, and you are good to go. I know at
least 2 developers that had to use it and their update was approved in less
than 4 hours. Obviously it is not for abuse and only for critical issue but
the idea that it will take a standard full review time for Apple to approve an
emergency bug fix is totall untrue.

~~~
egb
Got a link for that form? I need to file it away for future reference :-)

(and could have used it at least once before! :-\ )

~~~
bobbypage
<http://developer.apple.com/appstore/contact/appreviewteam/>

~~~
yoda_sl
Yes, this is the correct link/form the devs I know have been using in the
past. Obviously it is a case by case basis but for the folks I know their apps
were not anywhere close to a top 100 position, and the review team did for
them the "right" thing and got their updates approved ASAP. Their apps was not
a first version but they had done multiple releases, and never had to ask for
the expedite review. So I think that the review team took that in
consideration, and on top of that the fix was required because one of the web
service outside their control changed their API without notice.

------
brian_cloutier
"Android - immediate distribution"

Another important metric is how quickly users start using the update. When you
measure using this metric Android is anything but instant.

Web apps "check for updates and install" every time you use them. Users are
forced to update and depending on the site within a matter of minutes nearly
everybody will be using the new version.

Android apps don't go through a review process, but it still takes a few
minutes for the servers to get the update. It will take an hour or two for
every phone to get notified of the update (it's not pushed) and give the user
a notification. It will then be even longer for the user to push the button
and receive your beautiful new code. There are a few users with "automatic
updating" but it's not enabled by default. The majority of your user base will
take a while to finish migrating over. I would love if anybody here had real
numbers on this, our app only just started reporting version numbers so we
haven't been able to collect the data yet.

There are exceptions. The Facebook app renders webpages so most updates happen
instantly, but when they update one of the native sections there's still a
long wait before everyone has it.

