

Ask HN: Android or iPhone Os, where do you think the money is for developers? - Concours

I've opted for Android to make some cash, and from what I see, the android market keeps growing but for some reasons, android users seems to not care much about apps, or at least spending money for apps, at the other hand iphone users spend a lot. Android will shortly probably have the biggest market share, but iphone users will keep spending money, as Business men (not developper, we are talking about money, not the ToS of apple), where do you think the most money will be? Care to share your views?
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jonpaul
Neither. I've been in the business for over a year and the money isn't bad,
it's just not enough to sustain a business in and of itself. I wrote about it
here: [http://techneur.com/post/440686528/its-all-our-fault-why-
bui...](http://techneur.com/post/440686528/its-all-our-fault-why-building-a-
business-on-the)

If you want specific numbers, just email me.

------
jaxn
I remember seeing a study not too long ago that examined how many apps a
typical user on each platform downloaded and how many they paid for. The
iPhone users were just a little more spendy than the Android users.

Now, there is a whole lot more competition in the App Store and Android is
growing a lot faster. So I suspect the real answer is Android, but that is
just conjecture and doesn't take into account the iPad.

I wish I could remember where that study was.

Edit: Magneus linked to what I was thinking of

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jz
3 years ago I bought my first Apple computer. Coming to the Apple platform, I
was amazed by all the apps my fellow co-workers would buy for their Macs. Most
of them were just simple stupid things that cost only a few bucks but I could
never see an average non-Apple user buying. I have no statistical evidence,
but it seems like Apple users are more susceptible to buying apps, ring tones,
songs, and other junk. My advice would be build for the iPhone and if you get
something that is very popular or making you a ton of money, then port it
over.

~~~
yardie
As a Mac user I don't believe Apple users are susceptible to buying junk.
Apple users are more spendy, on average, than a typical Windows users but
there is a wide chasm between well designed, simple software and junk.

The typical Windows user won't use more than what came with their PC on the
day they bought it. Ever wonder why Dells, HPs, and Gateways come loaded with
a lot of crap software? It's because ISVs know that your typical user won't
spend more than he has to. If it comes with the PC and it's good enough than
they'll use that. But that user will rarely head back to the store to search
for an alternative.

When software is well written it's perfectly fine to show the developers some
respect by paying for it. That's why the Mac shareware community is in much
better shape than the PC side.

~~~
jz
_Ever wonder why Dells, HPs, and Gateways come loaded with a lot of crap
software? It's because ISVs know that your typical user won't spend more than
he has to._ You are forgetting that Dell, HP, etc get kickbacks from the
software companies.

~~~
yardie
You can take your chances with retail and hope someone is curious enough to
pay for it or you can pay an OEM to include it and atleast the curious part
will be satisfied.

Whether it's shelf space or disk space ISVs pay for it.

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Magneus
These numbers are a few months old, but they may help you make your decision:

[http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/02/25/6-ways-iphone-and-
and...](http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/02/25/6-ways-iphone-and-android-
users-differ/?source=yahoo_quote)

------
jokermatt999
I can't speak for actual numbers, but I always have thought it's wise to
consider the possibility of rejection from the App Store. I own an Android
phone, so I'm clearly biased, but it always seemed slightly ridiculous to
develop for a platform where there's a chance of being arbitrarily rejected.
There have been far too many stories of decent applications being rejected
from the app store. Do you really want to take the chance of coding it for
nothing?

------
slantyyz
Platform debates aside, I think the easy answer is to follow the money.

iPhone users have a track record of spending money - the iTunes App store is a
huge success. I have seen more stories of iPhone developers making scads of
money than I have for Android. Having said that, that is a catch-22. The
successes represent around 1% of all of the apps in the store.

The one emerging problem with the iTunes App store, however, is
discoverability. It is damned hard to get discovered within the iTunes App
store. Clearly to be successful, you have to get a lot of good buzz outside of
the App store.

------
developer-down
The experience is very telling, and at the moment it's a no-brainer - iPhone,
and it will reign for a long time yet. If you want to develop for Android
you're probably better on custom apps / devices (tablets, specialized apps) as
an employee rather than as an independent app developer.

The market demographics are very different - Android : 3/4 male, purchase apps
1/2 as often as iPhone users. iPhone users, around 50/50 male/female, affluent
(as Android comes with cheaper devices the owners of those devices probably
aren't using the platform the same way as iPhone users do).

Obsolete platform hardware/software - this is huge. Most existing Android
phones won't ever get an upgrade to 2.x Android OS. Therefore to reach the
market, you need to make it backwards compatible with the 1.x, which is a
PITA.

Apple has only just announced that their next OS won't work on original iPhone
(2G). This is a massive difference. You have been able to build for the latest
OS for all iPhone devices for 3 years. Contrast this to Android - some devices
released in the last 6-12 months won't run software built against latest
Android OS.

Flash - this is big and I believe it will push prices lower in the Android app
store. There has already been a "race to the bottom" in some categories (e.g.
games, think 99c variety) in the iPhone App store. iPhone users will pay for
games that you can play in a browser on a late-model Android phone for free.
Therefore there's less incentive to pay for these games on Android devices.

Discoverability will always be a problem for any platform.

------
cowbutt
I'm an Android handset owner, and I'm considering expanding my skills to
develop for Android.

My answer is that it depends. If Apple don't object to your app or business
model, then the iPhone is probably the better bet, for now, and until and
unless the number of Android handsets greatly outnumber iPhones (i.e. even
with a lower customer conversion rate, the absolute numbers then tip in favour
of Android).

Factors that limit the money available to Android app developers include a)
lots of free apps to choose from; paid apps need to offer something special -
even many trivial apps for iPhone seem to be paid b) handset manufacturers'
lack of co-operation with Google in getting their firmware releases approved
by Google for copy-protected Market apps makes it more likely that potential
customers will just download illegal copies of your app because it's actually
easier than buying it. Fail.

------
Khao
Maybe try to build for both platforms? There are a lot of interesting options
in that way. Titanium Mobile from Appcelerator
(<http://www.appcelerator.com/>) lets you compile one application to Android
and iPhone os. Also, MonoTouch is a software to make iPhone apps using C# (if
you're used to C# it might be faster than learning objective-c) and the Novell
team are currently working on MonoDroid for Android phones.
(<http://monotouch.net/>)

~~~
SingAlong
Anyone has any reviews about Titanium Mobile?

Any hooks? They seem to ask for a signup to create an app.

------
jacquesm
Short term definitely the iPhone, longer term probably the android.

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MatthewRayfield
I work for a small software company that makes iPhone and Android
applications. From what I understand we make much more from the iPhone apps.
I'm not exactly sure why this is, but I think the store is just set up in a
way that favors free apps. Also the Android store allows for VERY easy
refunds.

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mping
Just a minor advice. If you do it mostly for the money, you won't be near as
successful as if you do it because you are passionated about it.

Someone had to say this :P

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ique
I don't want to be "this guy", but if you have an idea capable of producing
revenue and the execution and marketing skills to put it into peoples hands;
there's no reason you shouldn't be able to release it to both platforms.

It sounds like your after "code a weekend and get paid millions". Which is a
statistically non-existent market on either of the platforms.

~~~
jacquesm
> It sounds like your after "code a weekend and get paid millions".

What gave you that impression? Or has the submission been edited?

~~~
martythemaniak
The fact that he thinks it's a one-or-the-other choice. My employer has an
iPhone, an Android and a BlackBerry app. My personal project (Phonalyzr) is
available in both Android and BlackBerry flavours (no iPhone due to SDK
restrictions).

All three platforms have pretty big market shares, focusing on one exclusively
seems like bad business.

~~~
jacquesm
If he's just the one guy he might already be swamped by supporting one major
application for one platform.

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joubert
depends on the kind of app?

