

Ask HN: Is it still good to start with ios apps development? - mbchandar

Hi all,
I am planning to start the development of mobile apps on various platforms. I have done various study on ios and android.<p>both have pros and cons. but i need HN members suggestions.<p>what are your choice? iOS or Android? tell me why? can i make a decent living out any of them?<p>PS: plz do not give diplomatic answers like "it depends on the kind of app your developing."
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mcintyre1994
There really isn't a non-diplomatic response that works here. If you just want
answers saying one or the other, there's the poll in the comments, but that's
just personal preference to some extent - and I'm sure "personal preference"
counts as diplomatic too.

The best I can do is that there's more Android devices, but I'm not sure which
platform downloads more apps, particularly paid. Last I heard most of the
money came from iOS.

If costs are an issue, then Android is likely to be cheaper to get started
with, but that depends what you already have. I believe you need an OS X
device to program for iOS, if you don't have one and costs matter, that's a
big one. If you want a suite of testing devices, Nexus 4, 7 and 10 are cheaper
than iPhone 5, iPad Mini and iPad in general. You probably have something from
there already though, so that depends. iOS has a $99 developer fee, if costs
matter that's another.

So, I won't give an answer that it depends on the kind of app you're
developing, but I will say it depends on lots of factors you haven't given us.
It might help if you detailed what you have gathered from your own studies on
the platforms, and what specifically you wanted from this question.

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mbchandar
thank you for the reply mcintyre1994.

cost involved in investing for the devices, upfront developer fees for a
individual developer like me.

i have a MBP. so not an issue for programming. but i dont have an iphone. my
app mostly relies on location services, accelerometer, gyroscope and
magnetometer.

not sure whether these are all available in various android / samsung
devices...!

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mcintyre1994
To my knowledge, any recent device should have them, and location services
should be available on fairly old devices - Google maintains that as part of
Play Services. If you don't have an iPhone, do you have an Android device? I'd
be weary to suggest developing anything until you scope out competitors -
there's a LOT of apps on both platforms.

You can use play.google.com if you didn't know for Google Play apps, so if
you're not an Android user that's a good place to start checking the ecosystem
out. Maybe you can do something similar with the iTunes client, but I'm not
too sure about that.

Oh, and another point to consider is there's far more variety among features
etc on Android devices. In an attempt not to be diplomatic, that's probably a
bad thing for a developer. Probably.

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nanijoe
IF you are trying to change the world with your App..go Android, you'll reach
more people. If you just need to make some side income definitely go with IOS.

If you want to change the world AND make money...I'll be rooting for you, let
me know when you make it, and how.

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stewie2
I released my ios app a week ago (<http://pixelhali.de>), only about 1300
downloads so far. few years ago, A friend and I released an app to the android
store, we got 130k within one month.

it looks to me that the app market is kinda saturated.

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eytanlevit
I suggest you develop on whatever your personal phone is.

It makes your apps better as you understand the more subtle things of the OS
and how apps usually work on it.

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lifeguard
Poll: Android

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Zigurd
I have two answers for you:

1\. If you want to make money from app sales and/or ads, Apple's iOS devices
still have the upper hand, and probably will retain that advantage for over a
year from now.

2\. If you want the more intellectually rewarding choice, with more varied
opportunities among projects, and you don't mind waiting for Android app
revenue to catch up, choose Android.

With Android, you can modify the OS, or, short of that, make "middleware" that
is install-able and that extends system functionality by providing new APIs
all apps can use. It's not just an apps API.

~~~
mbchandar
hi zigurd,

point 1 - noted.

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lifeguard
Poll: iOS

