No surprise
Friend of mine ported his iPhone app over to the Android Marketplace. Within a day, pirated copies where showing up.
For a .99 app.
If you're a developer who wants the largest target market for your smartphone and tablet apps, write for Android devices. But if you want to make money, write for the iPhone and iPad. That's the conclusion of a pair of recent reports. Millennial Media's October 2011 Mobile Mix study reconfirms what has been true for months: …
Why would I pirate anything on Android when there's already a free app out there for nearly anything I could want?
Besides I'd rather give my apps away free on Android (which I do) than deal with Apple's BS. Granted I don't make my living off my apps, but still Google's a hell of a lot friendlier to us than Apple is.
Actually no I'm not. If I find something useful I'm quite happy to pay for it. I just don't happen to find having my pocket picked for 30% useful (and make no mistake, I'd HAVE to charge for any app I put in the iStore just because of how expensive it is to get them in there in the first place). Nor do I find paying an insane yearly fee for the dubious privilege of allowing a multi-billion dollar to make a few bucks off my work while contributing to their abusive business model useful.
You really do believe everything Apple tells you...
You realise when Jobs vowed to destroy Android, it's not via conventional means, it's by all this bullshit you have been lapping up about Android malware, piracy and all the other FUD that's kneed deep in the media of late.
All these "reports" are sponsored by companies that have a vested interest in the result. You can buy a reserch paper than says anything you want these days, Apple and Microsoft are constantly upto this...
So Kaspersky, McAfee, Juniper Research and the others reporting a 400% increase in Android malware in the last two months are *all* paid for by Apple?
Did Apple also pay for the production of DroidDream?
Do you realise that if that strategy worked then *no one* would buy a Windows machine, don't you?
Android is popular and trivially easy to get software distributed for it, this isn't some Apple conspiracy; the quicker you work that out the better your chances of not getting infected and the better chance we have of not ending up with Android 'botnets in the next couple of years.
That's like saying my local grocers turns over more than my local Tesco. I would love to see a breakdown of this, what are the Fruity lovers buying thats pushing the 'alleged' revenue up that far? Is it the endless itunes vouchers on sale in most big stores?
Does this explain why large companies create their iOS app before the Android one? Usually it's an afterthought to cater for the larger market! Weird logic.
Take for example the X factor, they push their app on tv alot, what either stops them from creating an Android app, not that I could care less about this particular app, but it's nice to be offered. :-)
First, (a) … really? In which case, please provide your definition of those two terms and explain how they differ! As I understand it (and from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue second sentence “In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover.”) they are the same thing.
And as for (c), well, I'm pretty sure that's actually also not true, since fruit and veg fall into class i, class ii, and … other?: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7724347.stm indicates some relaxation of the rules a while ago, but as far as I know they are still there in some form in the EU, and from some cursory googling similar rules apply in the US, for example, too. There is a difference between apps and fruit, inasmuchas farmers grow fruit in the hope, but not the expectation, that it will all be class i, and then the fruit is graded and sent to several outlets / channels, according to its quality, which is not quite the same as writing apps, but that's because when growing a fruit you don't know whether it will be class i or class ii until it's graded, whereas the decision to grow a class i or class ii app is actively made while it is growing. Apart from that writing apps and growing fruit is basically exactly the same set of operations. But I digress.
I'll go with (b) though, and one out of three ain't bad :)
Footnote: perhaps the same rules that [tesco apple] apply are supposed to ensure that the quality of produce sold in their stores is up to a certain standard, so that shoppers may be confident about the items they purchase, provided those rules are applied carefully. Others, such as [local-grocer android], perhaps do not have, or apply as carefully, such stringent rules, which may or may not lead to a perception, or an actuality, of reduced quality or reliability, which might put shoppers off, causing them to prefer the big rule-based players, even when it might appear that more money is paid for ostensibly the “same” item.
turn over is how quickly I move stock. Revenue is how much money I make on the turn over. If I'm giving stuff away for free I can have a massive turn over but zero revenue ..
as for the apples .. you're making assumptions about the quality control of the local vs Tesco that I'm not prepared to make. So with the qualification of 'All other things being equal.' My statements hold true.
Apple owners are the X-Factor braindead generation.
Not only are they stupid enough to spend all their cash on overpriced fashion accessory, but they also waste their cash on overpriced and useless apps and content that only work on the said fashion accessory and has to be handed back at the gate if they ever grow up and want to leave.
What are you talking about you stupid fandroid?
Your argument can be used against/with *every* other manufacturer including android.
ie I decide to buy an android device, buy lots of apps for it. Decide I no longer like android, and want to go the winpho route. Do all those devs have to convert their apps to work with this phone now?
Re-word that to suit windows/os x/etc. to suit.
Your hatred for apple is blinding you to basic logic.
"Android users are by and large of the free app (and free phone!) variety, cheap on the .99 and free with the semi-literate 1 star reviews."
I was with you right up till you started slamming free apps. There are some very good free apps avaialable for both iOS and Android. Angry Birds (yes, I know there's a paid version, but honestly what percentage of the AB install base does that represent? 10%, 20% at the most?), Dropbox, Quickdocs (again, yes there's a paid version, but how many use it?), and K9, just to name a few.
I guess my experience with iOS is prettly limited, so maybe the free apps over there are crap, and I will admit there's no shortage of crap in the Android market, but there are also some real gems.
In that case you're pretty much wrong. I know which Android phones are offered for free by the carriers around here and you very rarely see them. Maybe one in ten of the Androids I see is one of the 'free with contract' models. In fact a lot of the Android phones I see actually cost more than iPhones.
Nonsense! First of all android apps are mainly not bought but instead nearly all free apps contain advertisments. And how much money is generated somewhere else by that is not covered here.
BTW, it is not a problem of us endusers, which company earns more money with us. Should further more all the apple fanboys be gouged. In regard to the handset which costs 700 dollar whereas an artikel recently assumed that the build of it would be at 184 dollar. As well as the apps, where for any shit at the app store has to be paid. This is a great company subvention. And only some few make big bucks:-)
Elsewhere El Reg has posted stats on needing to be in the Top 50 or 100 to make any cash. Quite a lot of those are developers for multiple platforms. Good luck to all those in niche markets able to make a buck!
Nevertheless, I think app pricing is an interesting example of the discovery of fair pricing in action. Quite obviously the fruitbats are extending their over spend on a physical device to its ornamentation much in the same way that people used to buy new covers or ringtones to, ahem, "personalise" their phone. I suspect that Android's sheer size and momentum will encourage a reversion to the mean.
FLOSS has never been about making money. You come across a problem you wish to solve, see if anyone has done any work on it and share any progress made.
You only need to make money if you aren't solving a problem, or at least, a problem you yourself have.
That's one reason why *nix is historically excellent at functionality and poorer on glossy presentation - the focus is on the problem and once that is solved then the itch has been scratched.
Neither Windows nor Mac are particularly focused on solving technical problems, so their presentation/marketing has to be better, in order to sell anything. Let's face it, windows made it into the datacentre because excel is quite good and since it's easy to use, networking must be easy to do too, right?
This article, like so many is not informative, it is part a heart-wish of the journo to diss any competition to Apple, to make sure that there is no critical mass for any competing platform.
Oh the schadenfroide of HP downfall...of Motorola Xoom modest success...all to the greatness of the big white fruit!
As an example, note the deluge of articles today claiming that the sales of Nokia Lumia are "less than expected" - by whom?
One quite obvious factor here - the bulk of android devices are low quality cheap under-spec'ed devices aimed at a low budget buyers and unsupported by the manufacturers once they are sold.
Apple doesn't release low quality kit so the market for any android app that requires decent specs is quite limited compared to the iOS market.
And having played with Samsung's tablets, even some of the "premium" android gear can be pretty low quality.
The truth is, there are some very nice android phones out there...
but hardware manufacturers will stick Android on any old phone, whether or not those users are likely to use its "smart" features or buy apps.
A good chunk of those android device owners will use it *shock horror* as just a phone for calling & texting.
That's why I think the idea that Android is leading the smartphone market is stretched a little. Smartphones sold != Smartphones used.
I bought an iphone so I could have apps.
I hated Apple with a passion, and protested against all Cupertinian. I had an Psion till 2006, a Nokia S60 until 2009. Both broke, and I bought the best rated Android at the time, an HTC Desire (rated 9.8/10 at CNET). 8gb sd card, but only 80Mb of Apps? So I have Skype, Opera, Gmail, Whats App and then I have to uninstall skype if I want to update Google Maps?? WTF?
I had o hack S-off to root it to instll more apps, but the thing keeps crashing when I do that. AFter 2 years of this nonsense, calendars not syncing, and stupidities like type number, click add to cntacts, click google contacts, click name, type nme, hide keyboard, scroll dow, click save.... vs. 3 steps in Nokia/iphone i gave up and went iphone. Not looked back, except for google maps amazing navigation on android.... but i have many free nav options on iphone also!
You seem to have a completly difference HTC desire to me ( and CNET ).
You can store a lot of apps on the SD card. You can even swap the 8gb sd card for a 16gb or a 32gb. I'm not sure how you opted to go for rooting the phone when you were not able to use the functionality of the phone as standard.
Like the article says:
"If you're a developer who wants the largest target market for your smartphone and tablet apps, write for Android devices. But if you want to make money, write for the iPhone and iPad."
Yes. Because a fool and their money are easily parted. Its far easier to screw cash out of iPhone or iPad users for virtually nothing, its embarrassing.
I'm not even a great *fan* of Android (I do have one) but you can get functionally identical apps on Android for either nothing or for a fraction of the cost.
Excuse me while I wade through this veritable tsunami of bile and vitriol but did we stop to think that maybe it's because iPhone users tend to have a higher disposable income and so are more likely to buy apps? It's kinda the same reason why the software market on the Mac tends to be fairly healthy as well, disproportional to it's market share.
We'll now return you to your normal scheduled programming of fanboi foot stamping, insults and unhinged conspiracy theorising.
used to see the same (3 or 4 years ago) when I looked at the web analytics for a large company. Mac/Safari was a tiny proportion of the user base but spent well above their share. Personally, I interpret that to mean that Apple users have more money than sense, but only 'cos I think it's fun to wind them up!
Completely agree.
A lot of people buying a smartphone don't know or even care that their little device can be used for anything other than a phone/taking photos/facebooking/browsing/etc.
Generally apple owners have more cash available, so will spend more.
Generally android owners have less cash, so spend less. There are also a large number of cheapo android phones that are basically useless due to their cheap manufacture.
This is all pretty obvious stuff here.
As you said - let the trolls have their fun trashing each other
what a load of crap.
80% of people I see with iPhones buy it not because they can afford it but because:
A: They wish to appear trendy than they are
B: They wish to appear more wealthy than they are
C: There friend has it so so must I
I guess the other 20% are people who actually like the phone and think it is good value for money =p
2 reasons I can think off, an obvious one and a rude one.
iPhone market is locked up tighter than a duck's wotnot, so it's nigh impossible to rip stuff off on non-JB'd phones.
iPhone users will pay good money for any old shite that appears on Job's legacy marketplace, "£1.99 for a Fart app? A bargain, I most have it and amuse my friends!".
To borrow from Not The Nine O'Clock News, "Three cheers for Apple! I would gladly sell my house and all my possessions to help Apple, they're great!"
Craiggy's comment illustrates the problem - while Android users are reluctant to part with their cash / view Apple's users as gullible idiots for spending £5 on a game, the Android software market is going to lag behind.
Hobbyist and part-time developers working for kicks / pin-money are only going to take it so far.
We're back to John Carmack's comment to a room full of developers - 50% of them had Android phones, but barely any of them would spend $10 on a game - hence, John pointed out, why he wasn't developing for Android (at that time - they're starting too now).
It's irrelevant whether you think that price is too high. The only thing that counts is whether the total revenue to be made exceeds the development costs (and makes a profit).
What isn't going to work is constantly posting requests for Android ports on developers websites, citing the larger marketshare of Android devices, as if developers were somehow obliged.
(How dare they write code to make money!)
that the Android app store is somehow full of anything other than pretty much exactly the same stuff thats in the Apple store. Why would it be? What pray tell do the average Android users use their phones for that the average Apple user doesn't? And you'll note I say Average.. not uber geek.
The answer is my dear friends. Nothing. They play games, they read email, surf the net, edit the odd document and use facebook/twitter/insert other social network website here. A quick look at the Android top selling apps reveals.. Cut the rope, Documents to go, Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, Pro Evo and many others which are exactly the same in the iOS store. Sure theres the odd widget type app or such that I'll admit only Droid phones use but the bulk are exactly the same.
As to the folk saying all the stories about Droid having malware are made up are having a laugh, seriously, wise up. Stop being such blinkered fanbois, of course theres malware, theres little to stop it so why wouldn't there be?? You want open, you get open, you get malware.. simples.
The simple fact that its so simple to steal Android apps and download them for free from pirate sites is the no 1 reason you won't make as much money on Android. That and as has already been pointed out, a large section of the Droid userbase has either no interest in apps or in many cases that I've come across don't even know they exist!