“Manufacturers and software vendors are constructing their own app stores. Gadget maker Archos launched an independent Android app market, called AppsLib in September. Insyde Software, which makes embedded software for companies like Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell, opened an online store for Android netbook apps in late October,” Woyke reports. “Even handset makers are opening Android app stores. Brooklyn-based General Mobile has one called Storeoid. Motorola is said to be planning a market called SHOP4APPS. Several third-party app stores, like GetJar and Handango, also offer Android apps.”
Woyke reports, “The Android apps free-for-all is the opposite approach of Apple, which maintains a central store for iPhone and iPod touch applications. Google spokeswoman Carolyn Penner declined to comment on the company’s app store strategy.”
MacDailyNews Take: That’s either because they don’t have a strategy or they know it’s not a winning one.
Woyke continues, “Frederic Balay, Archos’ vice president of marketing, says the company wanted to use Google’s Android Market for its Android-powered Internet tablet, but couldn’t because it altered the device’s software to support high-resolution screens and high-definition content. ‘Devices that don’t fit Google’s requirements will have to go through third-party portals,’ he explains.”
MacDailyNews Take: Fragmented mess. In other words: PlaysForSure failure.
Woyke continues, “Many apps developed for Android phones aren’t suited for Android tablets or netbooks. Archos’ tablet lacks a camera and the vibration feedback popular in some Android games. Insyde’s netbooks don’t have accelerometers or global positioning system (GPS) technology.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Android is a clusterfsck. More info here.
If you’re going to copy – do it properly.
“The Android-Drama Strain”
Now showing at a dollar theater near you.
The Wintel model doesn’t work on a mobile platform, period. Google’s implementation of it is worse because everyone can have a different version of the OS all in the same week. The mobile space changes to quickly for a single platform to own, unless it is a vertically integrated platform running on ONE compan’s devices. That way they control how often the OS Is updated. Googole has this figured out, they just have to get their hardware stategy together. Apple had it figured out 5 years ago. So google is still at least 3 years behind????
All i can say is “Ouch”
google still hasn’t found it’s killer app.
Copying Apple’s killer app aka iPhone-app-store, isn’t going to work
“MacDailyNews Take: Android is a clusterfsck.”
Wow, how fscking insightful. The apple app store has 2 products that it services: Iphones & Ipods that use the same hardware, same processor, same input method, same internet connection functionality. Archos uses a different architecture than Motorola, which uses a different architecture/design/chip/etc than Asus. But they all can run using Android.
This reminds me of back in the 80s & 90s when only Macs could run Mac Software and any PC maker could run DOS & Windows — How’d that one turn out?
But hey, it’s much more fun to write articles writing off android as a “clusterfsck”. Even the headline for this article, that the market “splinters into fragments” is completely misleading. For instance, where are the stats on how many apps are in the Android Market versus at these other platform-specific markets? 10,000 to 5? to 10 maybe?
Keep up the good work – I’m sure the fan boys love it!
“Storoid”??? Good god, fire your marketer
@Sean
Why are you trawling Apple sites? Is it because you know you’re on the wrong platform in phones and computers and trying to make yourself feel better by spouting off here where your drivel is of no interest to anyone?
@ Sean,
Just in case you missed it, Google is actually coming out with hardware soon. They realize the difference between the mobile space of 2010 versus the desktop of the 80’s and 90’s. More people see the need of technology so the pay attention. Sure geeks and nerds will always want something to tool around on but everyone else only needs the best overall device in everyday life. Then they put down the device and get on to living. In the 80’s geeks and business accounted for 90% of desktop sales. In the 90’s that number probaby dropped to 70%. Today. The average consumer is tech Davy to the extent they want to be, so they make up probably 50% of the mobille buying. Geeks are still geeks. The will continue to use jailbroken iPhones and android build 2.0.876543265432. Everyone else will buy what just works. So Rimm will sell phones, Apple will sell phones, Nikia will sell more junk, and everyone else will fight for scraps.
The Wintel model doesn’t work on a mobile platform, period. Google’s implementation of it is worse because everyone can have a different version of the OS all in the same week. The mobile space changes to quickly for a single platform to own, unless it is a vertically integrated platform running on ONE compan’s devices. That way they control how often the OS Is updated. Googole has this figured out, they just have to get their hardware stategy together. Apple had it figured out 5 years ago. So google is still at least 3 years behind????
The market is hemorrhaging. It’s all now turning into one great hemorroid.
Come on Sean, time for bedsy. Need a new nappy too by the smell of it….
Sean, I agree with you that MDN is (once again) over the top with this analysis. There may be a point being made, or maybe it’s just snarkiness let out for a run.
Your more civil analysis, though, is simply wrong.
Oh … the 80’s and 90’s thing is spot on. Would still be, except that so many consumers (as in “Not Businesses”) recognize that many garbage games and amusing databases are not really a selling point. And, now all the silly games and amusing DBs are on the iPhone, NOT the Android. Darn near all are third party.
Definition:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cluster+fuck
MDN’s ‘take’ regarding Google’s Android is spot on, regardless of how you ‘feel’ about it. Grow up.
Bashers and cynics of the world unite: The only thing you have to lose is your individuality and credibility. **
** Some of you guys take yourselves ‘WAY too seriously. MDN is a fun, unapologetically pro-Apple site that serves its base constituency extraordinarily well. You are not its doctoral examination board, nor are most of you qualified to spout the vitriol you do. Don’t like the opinions MDN offers? Then create your own site . . . and hold on to your shorts while the rest of us ream you mercilessly.
The volume of apps comparison doesn’t work. When someone would say how there are significantly more apps for Windows than for Macs, we would say, what good is it to have all the choice when the best apps for some things are only available for the Mac. Now, non-iPhone people are trying to use the same logic when someone says “100k apps vs. 10k apps” — but it doesn’t work. We can reasonably defend Mac’s smaller volume of apps by saying that there’s no iLife for Windows, so what good are hundreds of apps for Windows, when the best ones aren’t available. Non-iPhone people, however, don’t have that defense (yet). There are NO apps on Android (or RIM, or Web OS, or WinMob, or Symbian) that aren’t available on iPhone, and that everybody would want.
In other words, there is no compelling app on any platform that would justify anyone choosing anything other than Android. If such an app does exist, nobody knows about it yet.
And MDN is right (with its over-the-top commentary). When a developer has a choice of testing his code for compliance on dozens (if not even hundreds) of different hardware/software/OS configurations before he can determine system requirements for his app, vs. developing for a single platform and accessing tens of millions of potential customers with that ONE SINGLE version, it is extremely difficult to justify development for the fragmented platform.
And comparison with Windows is very good, since it tells us EXACTLY why mobile and desktop aren’t the same. MS has been throwing money at Windows Mobile for over ten years. They had built it along the exact same model as desktop windows, and it had failed. Meanwhile, Palm came with their Pilot, and with a complete, vertically integrated solution, swept up the mobile business, dominating it for years. As soon as Palm started licensing its OS and splintering the platform, it begun losing share to RIM which was offering complete, integrated vertical solution. As soon as Apple came with a (yes, vertically integrated solution), it begun taking over.
The ONLY way mobile platform can hold onto its share is by offering a monolythic, vertically integrated product. This is why Android has a excellent chance for failure.
Shawn, Peter, Michael
They are all the same person. Same Trolling. None of them Registered.
Losers…
And Sean also…
@Sean,
so, you ask “how did that work out?” well, let’s see: Apple makes more money off of it’s hardware than any other manufacturer, negating the need for huge market share; everyone and their dog is trying to emulate Apple’s success (iPod, iPhone, and yes, even Apple TV is successful in a way). I’d say things worked out pretty well so far.
This is exactly what Google wanted, to replace MS’s mess with their own.
Android will be dropped by Google before the end of the year. Leaving Android development to the open source community alone. This will result in more fragmentation as more and more Android ports and distributions are done. Android in the end will be just another Linux distribution which is all it is now but, with Google driving is development and paying for that development. But, once the Anti-trust anticompetitive nature of Google starts to be investigated by the US and EU Governments Google will scramble to divest itself from Android and Chrome’s expensive development efforts and scale back it’s world domination plans and efforts, as Google is exposed as being an evil Monopolistic anticompetitive giant.
Microsoft will be chuckling and grinning ear to ear as they ratchet up the pressure on the Obama Administration to disassemble Google as much as possible in order to open the doors for Microsoft’s WinMo, Bing and other paid software leveraging. The US and EU will congratulate Microsoft in being there to push the Google Anti-trust and anti-competition proceedings to break-up Google. Ballmer comment on how Microsoft is the protector of the consumer and make public treats on how Microsoft is going to make it it’s mission to also breakup Apple’s iPod hold on the market and crush the iPhone’s gaining market-share by pushing the US and EU to look at and break-up Apple too. Ballmer will then shortly after that announce the death of the Zune and the scaling back of WInMo with an indefinite delay of WinMo 7. Microsoft’s board will then approve the sell of it’s Danger Unit to Sprint or an independent VC Group backed by Sprint.
Bing’s Market share will drop to pre Bing hype levels and Ballmer will announce his retirement, within 3 months of Ballmer’s retirement the Microsoft Board will approve the sale of the Microsoft Bing unit to a VC firm backed by Gates and Ballmer. Steve Ballmer will then become the CEO and President of the former Microsoft Bing Unit. Microsoft will hire and outsider to be president of Microsoft. The New president will sell the XBox and Gaming group and then will pull the plug on the rest of the Microsoft entertainment Group. The New President will then start cutting out the Microsoft fat and black hole projects like retail, IE, .Net, IIS, Silverlight, Azure, MS Messenger, MS Media Player and all the other fat around Microsoft. By the time the new president is done Microsoft will be focused on just the core Windows OS, Windows Server OS and Office for PC and Mac and that will be about it. Now once the engineers get these back into shape and have a road map, then the Microsoft President will focus on rebuilding Microsoft as a software company and will set up to create new software programs.
@Sean,
“Keep up the good work – I’m sure the fan boys love it!”
Actually this is good. People that need to build their own computers can do android and love it. 2000 versions, each one different.
And people that just want their phone to work….. can go iPhone, and it will.
Sounds like win win to me.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Just a thought.
en
@Demon,
Sounds good….. except…… Microsoft just does not seem to be able to do that.
If you are knowledgable about corp structure you will know that to rise up in the ranks, you must copy the style of the guy at the top. Everyone successful must copy the style of the guy at the top.
Even when the guy at the top changes, he was taught by the guy at the top, so his style tends to copy that style. In other works, most everything stays the same…. or they get rid of the new good stuff and focus on the same old crap and drive the company into the ground.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Just a thought.
en
kinda feel bad for android owners,
can you imgaine playing a game that felt more like an ATM machine…
“what bottom left button… … oh… game over.. fsck this”
The best personal computing analog to android would be CP/M. Lots of manufacturers used CP/M because it was easier to license CP/M than come up with a new operating system, and there was a decent range of software for CP/M. The problem with CP/M was that software writers couldn’t have any kind of expectations of what hardware they would deal with. There were no stand screen resolutions, each manufacturer had different graphics modes (if any), the keyboards on each machine were different, etc. You couldn’t even transfer stuff between different manufacturers on a floppy without special software because the disk formats were all different. The result was that it was hard for any software writer to do anything outstanding—everything had to be written to 80×25 monochrome text because that was the only thing anyone could be reasonably certain would be supported on the user’s machine, and even that was often a crapshoot.
Even MS-DOS started off without any consistent hardware standards (anyone still have a sanyo mbc-550?) but had to settle down to reasonably predictable hardware for the software to advance, particularly games and other applications using advanced graphics.
Oh it’s hump day, alright.
The boss is out of the office today, catching up on last minute shopping and the cube rats are hyped up on sugar cookies and fudge.