game on! i've played with the iphone sdk and just the process to get started with android is simpler than apples offering. i just dont see how apple can be so closed in their sdk when they have this massive competition staring them in the face. dont get me wrong, i have an iphone and am even called, dare i say, an apple fanboy. but please apple, open up more! or else all your potential devs will bring the cool toys out for android and screw you again like you were screwed when all the apps came out for windows first.
i mean, does anyone really remember why windows beat mac 10-20 years ago? i really think it was because at that time, windows was a better development platform. they had more killer apps. it wasnt the hardware. apple - dont make the same mistake twice!
Window's dominance had nothing to do with the niceness of the dev platform. Computer purchasers don't care about that.
Windows beat mac because there were more hardware vendors that ran it, which drove hardware prices down, increasing market adoption. Apple, in contrast, reaped huge margins on its products at the expense of growing their user base. From a developer's point of view, if you like making money, the platform you develop for is determined by how large the potential audience is for your software.
So, if Apple manages to continue to improve the iPhone, and drives the price down such that it attracts customers at a greater rate than Android, it won't really matter so much if the API terms are onerous. Developers will go where the largest market is.
I don't really know which approach will win. I'm an iPhone/Apple fan myself, but Android will be able to leverage the efforts of every handset manufacturer, just as MS did in the 80s. The real question to me is whether the outcome will be the same for Google. I tend to think it won't, since the phone is different from PCs in one very important respect: design and style matter much more than they did in the PC wars. What phone you choose to buy often makes a personal statement about you (like a fashion accessory).
Given this, Apple's superior UI and industrial design will probably be enough of a differentiator. That, coupled with Apple's demonstrated ability to relentlessly refine their products (witness the numerous iterations of the iPod), gives me confidence that they are on the right track - even though I wish they were friendlier to their developers.
edit: And one more advantage for Apple: iPhones will appeal to any consumer that believes mp3 players and phones should merge, since the iPhone is the easiest way to enjoy your existing iTunes/iPod library.
Yes .. but Apple had the largest market share before and lost it!
Being so closed while competition is open is foolish and history could repeat itself.
Personally, I never owned an iPod.. I just want my music streamed from the cloud, from sites like Pandora and other upcoming music services who allow me to cache the songs for listening when no Internet connection.
They didn't lose market share in the Mac vs. PC war because Windows was so open. Windows is proprietary too.
We won't really know who will win the iPhone OS vs. Android war for quite some time.
As developers, we need a comparison of the development experiences from someone who has written and actually shipped an app (preferably the same app) on both platforms.
>>design and style matter much more than they did in the PC wars.
agreed there. However, there's no stopping other phone manufacturers to pour more resources into making a pretty and usable phone. This could also work against apple when others are able to make a better designed product.
Making a pretty and usable phone is a lot more difficult than it looks. There's a reason the iPod still has arguably the easiest and least complicated interface for a media player even after its rivals spent millions on design and UI research in order to try and compete.
I have great hopes for the Android platform, but Google faces the same problem Windows Mobile has always had, which is that it's difficult to innovate and produce a seamless user experience when the people doing the hardware and those doing the software are not closely linked. Neither side has enough control over the other's choices to do the things they really want to do.
Apple's big strength with the iPhone is that they build the entire stack. You shouldn't underestimate that.
Yes, I do remember why Windows beat Mac 10-20 years ago, but I also look at why Mac is challenging Windows today. And don't forget who reinvigorated this mobile ballgame last year. Your average consumer wants something that does a few things, but does them extremely well. The iPod and iPhone success stories are a prime example of this.
I'm not saying that I believe open markets are bad, I think they are necessary for maintaing a competitive market and nurture innovation. But as far as the consumer is concerned, they'll head in the direction of quality over quantity.
Apple is doing a great job letting technology fit into our daily life without making it a hinderance. I don't expect cell manufactures and carriers to work in conjunction with developers to deliver a seamless experience 99% of the time, and this is where I feel Apple wins in their development offering.
Actually I think this is a real test. With phones Apple was in its zone. All the components needed, are their forte: Small electronics with appeal. Taking advantage of the availability of new hardware creatively. Simplifying user experience when & where it counts. Running an online outlet & making it some place people are willing to pay for 1s & 0s again. Creating a buzz that draws in the critical mass both for consumers & for developers. They have a massive advantage in these areas.
'Normal' mobile phone manufacturers (EG nokia), electronics manufacturers (eg sony), OS guys, all seem very disadvantaged here. I would have been very surprised if sony came out with a truly game changing product. Nokia & co. are (were) too into their paradigm with the 'partner' telcoms.Most likely they would have gotten bogged down into a situation were telcos operate the music/software shop side of things. I would have been surprised if Smartphone makers really focused on consumers.
All that put Apple in the ideal position to take this market to pieces. They're usually good at innovating this way. Less good when they need to deal with everyone else catching up. I think it comes bach to their software/hardware must go together. They don't need to wait for anyone to mke something that works. But complexes can make things that work eventually.
This is a good test. Personally, I think that the software/hardware combo is still an advantage in phones.
Besides the iPod I dont think Apple is dominating the smart phone or desktop OS industry yet. They have a fighting chance at taking over the mobile world. But they are a long way away from windows losing it stronghold.
Ding, ding. That's why Apple is winning mindshare now, because they are invested in the complete experience, from obsessive design of the hardware to focus on simplicity and elegance in the software.
it's true that apple is doing well now. it's true that they ship good stuff that people want (and believe me, i own a ton of). but i attribute apples market share gain to windows vista suckin the fatty. their only dominant market is ipod/itunes, the other stuff (macs/iphones) is still small compared to the overall market.
I'm under the impression open sourcing android isnt meant for the development masses. The code has some elements that I'm sure will be picked out to make development easy. But I dont think your average application developer is going to be diving into kernal code.
ya, no doubt there is a ton of stuff in there that your average app dev guy/gal will not wade into. but what im generally gettin at is the way that they are going about doing things. more open = better, imho.
Yeah, you're right, but it's the difference between Apple running everything, from top to bottom, and an open system where all kinds of devices and uses can be found for the code.
i mean, does anyone really remember why windows beat mac 10-20 years ago? i really think it was because at that time, windows was a better development platform. they had more killer apps. it wasnt the hardware. apple - dont make the same mistake twice!