“Fledgling indie iOS dev Chris Eidhof has posted a smart list of the main reasons why a new developer finds Apple’s mobile operating system such an attractive prospect,” Darrell Etherington reports for GigaOM. “Eidhof, who is in the process of developing his first software for Apple devices, broke down the appeal of iOS using six main points.”
• High-end platform. Customers will pay more for apps because the devices they appear on are seen as high-end.
• Closed environment. Customers are more willing to trust apps (and spend money on and in them) because Apple has vetted them.
• Possibilities for innovation. Apple’s APIs and the benefits of a phone-based platform have only begun to be fully utilized.
• Harder than web development. Eidhof’s logic is that because the barrier to entry is higher for iOS development, fewer people will attempt it, so it’s easier to stand out.
• Great libraries. Apple’s readymade frameworks are great, with Eidhof citing animation as a perfect example.
• Quality in the DNA. Mac and iOS developers tend to strive to live up to the “culture of quality” that surrounds Apple software and devices, and Apple’s defaults help devs start out at a much higher level to begin with.
Read more in the full article here.
And in the words of Don King, “no fragmenstication.”
Wouldn’t Don King say, “no menstruation on the iPad?”
There’s no justification or explication for menstruation on the iPad.
More blood on the iPad screen.
iOS : build once, deploy many.
Android: build many, deploy to whatever you can.
Build Many Times, Deploy to Multiple Stores, Put up with pirating…
“Why iOS development is winning”
Because Charlie Sheen is writing apps???…
This would have been mildly funny three months ago…
I thought it was funny.
Apple did a bang up job with xcode and that really helps.
the devkit on iOS is more refined than on android imho.
I love android but development is any area where Apple clearly has android whipped right now
+…..something.
let’s see what happens with lodsys… Hopefully, patent trolls won’t be able to chill the party.
After having used Android for some six months now (2.2 Froyo, on a cheap LG device on Virgin Mobile), I can clearly see the fundamental difference between the two platforms (having owned an iOS device for over a year now).
Android is simply inferior. While there are hundreds of thousands of apps for it now, so you can find most of the things you have on iOS, there is a bucketload of truth in the statement that the apps simply aren’t the same. Android versions are, in EVERY SINGLE CASE (that I tried so far) less stable, more buggy and shorter on features. For example, NY Times app frequently places incorrect pictures (and picture captions) in articles (pictures from one article with text from another). Many others have very similar bugs.
Geeky guys like us will figure it out and for me, it is working as an acceptable substitute to the real thing (can’t afford min. $60 per month for the plan; Virgin gives me all text & all data for $25, plus some free voice minutes). However, it is likely quite an unacceptable substitute to the real thing for many untrained users.
The only reason Android is succeeding so well is because many of its users are newcomers to the smartphone concept and are excited by the ability to surf web, update facebook, access e-mail and do their IM on their phone, even if it means having to spend time trying to figure out how to use it. Anyone who has already been exposed to the iOS will likely quickly abandon Android. I’m sure I will, as soon as the plans become more reasonable (I’m simply not willing to donate my cash to AT&T, nor Verizon).
Since my employer has been paying for me to carry a Blackberry, I’ve not bothered to blow $100/month for my personal cellphone to be upgraded to anyone’s smartphone.
As such, while I can’t vouch for the goodness of the iPhone (other than by analogy via an iPad) nor any Android stuff, I do nevertheless believe I can offer an opinion as to why both have been successful, even if there is a good case (such as Predrag’s note, above) to suggest that the iPhone is clearly superior than the Android.
And that case is:
“…ANY smartphone has to be less horrific than the job that RIM has done for things like web browsing…”
-hh
I also refuse to pay extortionate rates to corporate bad citizens like AT&T and Verizon.
But instead of going semi-Android, I use a prepaid “bare-bones” cellphone (also on the Virgin Mobile network, BTW) in combination with an iPod Touch.
Since I live in an urban area, I could probably do without the cellphone most of the time. Free wi-fi access points are popping up in every bar and pizzeria, it seems.
They missed the obvious:
By far, the largest user base.
Android is fragmented, and even if it wasn’t, iOS as a platform includes iPods, iPhones, iPads, and possibly soon the Apple TV (it already does for jailbreakers).
Better yet, learning how to develop for iOS means also learning a lot of how to develop for the Mac. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s pretty straight forward for a developer on iOS to also develop for OS X and vice versa.