“Google’s Android developer group Dec. 17 released a device dashboard to help developers decide what iterations of the Android operating system their applications should support,” Clint Boulton reports for eWeek.
“That dashboard also happens to show just how fragmented the mobile platform aimed at challenging Apple’s iPhone has become,” Boulton reports. “The dashboard currently lists 5 Android instantiations of varying distribution through the first two weeks of December: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0 and the fresh 2.0.1.”
Boulton reports, “Google said it will expand the dashboard to include information such as devices per screen size, and will update the dashboard to reflect deployment of new Android platforms.”
“Why is Google offering this device dashboard? Google Android developer Raphael Moll’s official reason is: ‘Our goal is to provide you with the tools and information to make it easy for you to target specific versions of the platform or all the versions that are deployed in volume,'” Boulton reports. “The unofficial reason is that Google is aware of the increasing fragmentation of Android.”
“To see them rounded up, literally, in a pie chart showing the varying rates of adoption (or lack thereof) is a sobering experience. In Android fragmentation, applications written for one OS iteration may not run on others,” Boulton reports. “Also, apps written for newer Android builds may not run on older hardware.”
Boulton reports, “Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson confirmed for eWEEK that there are 16,000 Android free and paid apps, not 20,000 as others previously reported.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: By SteveJack: Google Android offers the same messy, inconsistent Windows PC “experience,” but without any cost savings, real or perceived. Windows only thrived back in the mid-90s because PCs (and Macs) were so expensive; the upfront cost advantage roped in a lot of people. Microsoft still coasts along on that momentum today. The fact is: Apple’s iPhone 3G costs just $99 and the 3GS goes for only $199 in the U.S. with a 2-year plan. I’d call Android the “Poor Man’s iPhone,” but you have to spend just as much, if not more, to partake in an increasingly fragmented and inferior platform. As iPhone expands onto more and more carriers, Android’s only real selling point (“I’m stuck on Verizon or some other carrier that doesn’t offer the iPhone”) evaporates.
MacDailyNews Note: Motorola’s Droid ships with only 256 MB available for app storage. Google Android does not support installation of apps to SD cards, so developers face a very real and rather stifling limit. Many of the most popular iPhone apps (games) easily exceed 100 MB, so not very many quality apps would fit on Droid (and some won’t fit at all: our Magellan RoadMate app ($59.99) alone weighs in at 1.36GB*). That’s why Droid only offers users three measly panels for displaying apps; users probably won’t even be able to fill up two before they run out of storage space.
*Droid comes with a built-in turn-by-turn app Google’s Maps Navigation likely because no other nav app would come close to fitting into the Droid’s limited 256MB app storage space. So much for choice: With Droid, you’re stuck with that one nav app forever, but iPhone offers a tremendous array of choices. Motorola Droid. iDon’t have anything close to enough space for apps.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer and a regular contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
one word. FAIL
The software will remain fragmented because the (phone) hardware market is fragmented. That’s unlikely to change.
Google’s fragmentation is mirroring microsoft’s. Trying to do it for everyone and not succeeding. I’ll stay with Apple thanks.
You are what you model yourself after.
Is this article supposed to be a parody?
Of course I expect some bias as this is a website dedicated to Apple, but this is going a bit far. It’s not just a matter of preference anymore, you really do HATE the competition.
I know “fragmentation” has become something of a catchphrase among the nuttiest of Mac users when discussing Android, but if the problem really was as devastating as you make it out to be, I think we would have heard more about it from both consumers and developers. Sure, there have been some complaints, but nothing that would warrant this screed.
Once again, Apple’s control of both hardware and software as well as simple product differentiation give it a huge advantage.
But even where vendors have the opportunity to control hardware and software, they often shoot themselves in the foot by spinning out too many different models. I was looking into a first car/portable GPS (don’t drive much) and was stunned how many different models Magellan, Garmin and Tom Tom each offer. I’m a technical guy (worked 25 years as a computer specialist) and consider myself a gadget guy, but such product variety is pointlessly confusing.
do you do any research before your open your big fat mouth and spew lies in your takes???
First, about the app limit,
yes there is an app limit, but you only store the actual app on the internal memory, and all to other data that the app saves or uses as stored on the memory card, sort of like games you install on your computer, but still need the CD to play it because most of the info is on the CD
most reviews I read about the Droid have stated that they have downloaded all the apps they wanted and haven’t even came close to the limit
and second,
in my opinion it is easier to organize all the apps and WIDGETS I use most frequently on three panels and tuck the rest away in an easily accessible app drawer.
Droid Does…….limit you to GPS only while connected to the internet. Droid does that while the namby pamby princess phones don’t. Yeah. AAPL $200 right now.
Palm Web OS is the real comparator. And that’s just Version 1.0 iPhone.
Android is a red herring.
What do you mean by “Fragmentation”, something similar as half of iPod Touch users who are still stucked on 2.x ?
The software fragmentation isn’t nearly as much a problem as the hardware framentation. The manufacturers will have to agree to some form factor eventually to ensure Android developers don’t have to check for 75 models with numerous screensizes and so on.
@me
MDN does write articles (though they do write the MDN Take). This article is on the eweek site. Click the link above where it says “Full article here”.
woops. That should read “MDN does NOT write articles”.
Go get coffee, you’re getting drowsy.
@ Me,
What don’t you understand about 6 to 8 different screen sizes, 6 to 8 different OS versions, 2 to 3 different processors and 3 or 4 different user input methods.
That’s the potential for 6 X 6 X 2 X 3 = 216 different combinations. A minimum of 216 different versions of every App must be made just to have an App that any Android using phone owner can buy.
Has that gotten through to you yet? There will be no updating of Android phones to the latest OS. There will be no approved hardware set. Many Android phones will be orphaned long before their owners’ 2 year contract is over.
Good luck finding an App for your particular phone, Android lover.
We don’t hate Android. We just wonder how anyone could buy into a Windows Mobile clone like Android. Don’t you ever learn?
@anotherme
What half do you speak of? everyone I know with iPod Touchs (from 1g to 3g) has upgraded to 3.x!
Android is basically meant for those who have an unfounded, irrational hatred of Apple. There is no intelligent, reasonable basis for choosing an inferior product over a great product. Android may yet turn out to be the Zune of smart phones!
Island:
What you are suggesting is a colossally annoying work-around for developers (store your app in one place, store data in another place, juggle the two, making sure you keep track of what goes where). While it is obvious that many have already used that work-around, I’m sure those who develop for both (or all) mobile platforms will tell you quickly how much easier it is to develop for the iPhone.
Android has three different versions with significant share (1.6 with 54%, 1.5 with 27% and 2.01 with 15%), and their numbers are changing, considering the rapid growth of the platform. Meanwhile, iPhone has, for all intents and purposes, ONE single version (v3), with fairly insignificant percentage of those who are on older versions. In addition to this, iPhone developers get access to another device without ANY additional development effort: iPod touch, where over 50% of devices are also on v3. In other words, if you are to develop an app for a cellphone, you can develop for Android and test for at least 3 different versions, or develop for iPhone and test for one single version. Plus, in addition to the iPhone, your app can run on more than half of iPod touches out there (and possibly, even on all of them, depending on what the app needs i order to work).
I can’t imagine why would anyone bother…
…”everyone I know with iPod Touches (from 1g to 3g) has upgraded to 3.x!”
Your friends are smart. There was an article yesterday (or late last week) that stated that a little less than 50% of iPod touches out there DON’T have 3.x on them.
This is as much fragmentation as you could possibly get on the iPhone/iPod touch consolidated platform.
…”Palm Web OS is the real comparator. (…) Android is a red herring.”
Palm Web OS may have had a chance when it was announced. Unfortunately, Palm’s execution and Sprint’s service have pretty much shot down any chance it may have had to make a dent in the iPhone.
Android has the best chance since it is infinitely better than Windows Mobile. However, even that most likely won’t be enough because of the above-mentioned fragmentation.
“Android has three different versions with significant share (1.6 with 54%, 1.5 with 27% and 2.01 with 15%)”
Very true. There are three versions of Android floating around out there right now, and stuff that works with 2.x doesn’t always work with 1.x and vice versa. Android is a mess! The popular T-Mobile MyTouch 3G is still stuck at Android 1.6, many G1 users are still on 1.5, and the Verizon Droid launched with 2.0 and now 2.0.1. This is fragmented. Same with screen sizes. Android is quickly becoming an out of control mess.
Same with the 16,000 apps – there’s no barrier to entry in the Android Market, so you wind up with a lot of JUNK apps. I know this happens in the iTunes store but it’s much much worse on Android. “Sexy girls” screensavers, dumb apps that do nothing but display a photo when you finish a phone call, cartoon soundboards, sports team icons. Junk! Also a lot of very buggy apps.
Android is also 100% FAIL when it comes to email. Don’t believe me? Look at http://code.google.com/p/android and check out the issues list. Bug list 2 miles long. Email has some total showstopping bugs in it, making it useless for many users. I was one of them. There’s k9mail (the ONLY other email app) in the Android Market but it too suffers from many of the same showstopping bugs. It was a complete joke, and drove me back to the iPhone.
Android has potential, but right now it’s a friggin mess.
This is exactly the situation that is warranted at the moment. The same happened within Apple when the Mac was being developed alongside the advancing Apple II. One creates a desperate situation among the developers to overwhelm each other with innovation so that in the end, the splintering will cease with a final design set (software and hardware-wise) that will allow platform standardization for the 3rd party software developers. When the dust clears, then Android will be ok, but there is still more time to go until it is on par with the current iPhone generation as a platform. Of course Apple isn’t a sitting target.
MDN I dont think that statement about not saving apps to the SD card is accurate anymore. I have a Co worker I have an iphone BTW, but he has the druid and every day comes in and blah blah blahs about his stupid phone. I think he said the other day they corrected this issue. I only half listen to him so cant be too sure. My response is always, are you happy with your phone, cause i am happy with mine.
@DaveMTL
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/23417/
but hey, you are going to say “well it’s different”, right ?
“A minimum of 216 different versions of every App must be made just to have an App that any Android using phone owner can buy.”
Actually I think it’s 217
@Predrag
“This is as much fragmentation as you could possibly get on the iPhone/iPod touch consolidated platform.”
And that doesn’t matter.
The point is what apps in the App Store wouldn’t run on someone’s iPod Touch if he had version 2 of the OS on it? And, if a user like that came across any, what barriers are in the way of his upgrading to 3?
Oh, yes, none at all …
“Once again, Apple’s control of both hardware and software as well as simple product differentiation give it a huge advantage.”
Yes, that IS an advantage, not a disadvantage.
After all, I just love going to the hardware store and the junkyard when I build my cars, right? I mean, I have choice, right?
And those Darfur refugees have choice: rice, rice, and dirty rice. But at least they are all equal!
right? right? Answer, damn you!
Funny thing, with Apples “closed” platform, I somehow get more choice. How does that work?