Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Google Android developers dropping like flies

I read an article that said that many of the developers for the Google Android mobile phone are deciding it may not be worth the investment. It said that the market size for the Android makes it difficult to justify too much development time into making software applications for the Android system. Another concern was that there is no standard format for input since Android runs on a variety of different phones. Screen sizes can vary, input modes may vary. This adds cost to support the wide array of possible combinations. It's almost as if Apple is in the same situation with it's iPhone as Microsoft is with desktop computers. Once you dominate a market, it is hard to be displaced. But in this case Apple even makes the best product too so it is a one/two punch. I think Android will end up being a nitch market like Linux. Interesting but a little too open, so there is too much differences in the way they work. Look at all the different "flavors" of Linux. Hackers love a system like this but I don't think the general public will.

1 comment:

Macintosha Fanatica said...

Stitch, I have to admit that I'm hoping you're 100% correct, and developers just won't like the associated difficulties. In this case, the market is even more fragmented than the early PC industry industry ended up being, and Apple's superior attention to detail and user experience will inevitably make them stand out from the rest of the pack. I hope the secret sauce will be the availability of apps. I am surprised that Google became such a powerful competitor in the cell phone market so quickly!