Posted on 09/27/2010 7:52:33 PM PDT by PugetSoundSoldier
Computerworld - A majority of mobile application developers see Google's Android as the smart bet over the long run even as they vote for Apple's iOS in the short term, according to a survey published Monday.
The survey, conducted jointly by Appcelerator and IDC, polled more than 2,300 developers who use Appcelerator's Titanium cross-platform compiler to produce iOS and Android native applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
Of those developers, 59% said that Android had the "best long-term outlook," compared to just 35% who pegged Apple's iOS with that label.
...
To make things even tougher for Apple down the road, the bulk of developers viewed Android as the best operating system to use in other hardware, including the anticipated Google TV and other home appliances. Seventy-two percent answered "Android," just 25% "iOS" when asked to name the "best positioned to power a large number of connected devices in the future."
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...
Android (is going to rule the world) ping!
What’s your assesment of the Win Phone 7’s potential?
I know your not asking me but It’ll probably end up like the Zune. Great niche product (Zune store for the win) but it will be overshadowed by newer iphones and android phones. I love the Windows OS but after using the HD2 a later windows based phone I don’t see how they can compete.
Painting themselves into corners like this one, is a predictable Apple trait....
Anyone know about the Samsung Droid Verizon sells? I was looking at one today and they are buy one get one free.... works out to $99 for two units or I can substitute one Droid x or Droid 2 for one of them.
The early reviews seem to indicate a pretty hard break from anything MS has produced in the past. Past products may not be a reliable indicator.
It’s either going to storm huge or completely fail - nothing in between. The OS itself is seriously stable and WELL worked out. Clean API, easy to use, you can use Visual Studio to develop, fast hardware baseline, etc.
If it succeeds, it’ll be Win Phone 7 and Android duking it out for top place. If it fails, RIM and Microsoft will be down below Android, Symbian, MeeGo and iOS.
Why would it flop? It’s a totally different take on the UI. Android, iOS, Symbian - they’re all like desktop UIs in that you click little icons to launch functionality. You select the function to operate, then go.
Win Phone 7 is different - it’s task-centric. You don’t choose “Facebook” or “phone book” - you browse your contacts and then decide what you want to do. So it’s a data-rather-than-process-centric approach.
It takes some getting used to, but it makes sense for a LOT of what people use smartphones for. It just remains to be seen if the public is willing to make the conceptual switch...
That’s probably Win Phone 7’s biggest strength - you can program in pretty much any language, and use the dev tools you’re comfortable with.
If there’s one thing that Microsoft REALLY gets - it’s make it EASY and CHEAP (free, even) for devs to build products for your platform.
IMHO, the key will be getting the developers on board. People will adapt to the UI if it gets them the apps they want.
I do not know of any market where Apple has tried to own the majority of the market after their competitors start supplying low-end product for the masses.
So why is it somehow surprising that in the smartphone market, Apple would be content to produce a top-notch product, make excellent profits, make their shareholders happy, and then move on to the next innovation?
In other words, when will people open their eyes and see that Apple's business model is not based on marketshare (or in this case, developer share)?
Some day in the future, when Apple stock drops and the company is losing money, maybe some of these bogus criticisms based on marketshare will become valid. In the meantime, it's just a salesman's game of "I sold more widgets than you did", or "More developers like my platform than yours", instead of noticing, "I'm making more money and doing cooler stuff and my stockholders are happier than yours are."
It's all in how you define the goal, isn't it?
Or, they are great at making it seem easy and cheap, and then pile on the hidden costs (e.g. Visual Studio 2010 Pro is $799 or Sql server dev editions is free, but need an enterprise edition, that’s $15,000). And of course you have to buy the their OS to run it. Oracle runs their DB business in a similar way.
Who has a higher profit margin: Microsoft or Apple? How about between Google and Apple?
There are open source tools for developing on Windows, you know. Not just Visual Studio - there are all kinds of free dev platforms for any language you’d like.
You can use SQL Server, or MySQL or any number of databases.
Freedom for developers is pretty darn nice!
Well, they’ve got about 40,000 developers on-board already... EVERY single Microsoft employee is getting a phone and of course they get all the tools they want, too. And Microsoft is encouraging their devs to write apps.
It’s a good strategy - you have a talented workforce, turn them loose!
My goal has always been as a consumer getting a device that does as much of the things I want as possible.
Apple usually fails by that standard.
My current phone ia a Dell Streak.
I wanted the five inch screen, the micro SD slot, and the replacable battery.
Apple simply is not a competator for many people in the market, because they try to shoehorn people into one size fits all solutions.
I’d like to see the Exchange Web Services API, and Poweshell. Might not get that in the first relese but we’ll see.
Basically if you are the kind of person who wants to develop for the Microsoft platform, you are probably the kind of person who will use their products to develop on. If you are the kind of person who is going to use Eclipse, you probably are you going to gravitate to Java/PHP/Ruby.
Sure - you can choose to pay for the best or you can choose free. I use Visual Studio 2008 Enterprise, but I use a low-cost SVN repository on the Web with AnkhSVN (free total solution).
I can choose what I want.
And while I usually develop in C++, I do some VB and C# and Java as well. I use Visual Studio for the VB and C#, but NetBeans for Java. I’ll also use Eclipse when I need to do PHP development (I use MySQL, since it’s always available on web servers around the world, being free and all). And for generic HTML I’m addicted to Fusion.
I can use the right tool for the right job - and since I’m the one doing the job, I’m also the one who can decide what IS the right tool for that job. I’m not stuck to just one language or one set of tools. Heck, I could do Flash if I wanted...
I think being able to put the phone in your packet matches the majority of phone users’ requirements more-so than a 5” screen.
I understand the Streak meets your requirements, but to say that is what the majority is looking for is a bit of a stretch.
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