Android's "Flea Market" Needs Urgent Attention 226
andylim writes "According to Barry O'Neil, ex-President of Namco Bandai Network Europe, Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it. It has to learn from the mistakes of the Java business in order to save Android. 'If Google is to present a threat to the Apple App Store ecosystem, it needs to address discovery and purchasing as a matter of urgency, or abandon control and hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers.'"
What (Score:4, Informative)
I'm sorry, but does android really need saving? I see more and more and more android based phones every day.
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Re:What (Score:5, Funny)
I know, I mean who's heard of Namco? What the hell have they made? Something called "Pac-Man"? What the hell is a Pac-Man? It sounds like a type of food.
Re:What (Score:4, Insightful)
You joke, but how successful have they been lately? I couldn't name any recent games, so I went to check their site. Almost every title listed in their 'new games' section is junk. The ones that aren't junk are just sequels to things that weren't junk... And there's not many of them. (And for some of them, I don't think they held the rights to the originals.)
So he's going to tell a massively successful company like Google how to run their software business? Seriously?
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Their games are also the most expensive on the android market. Dude, just because it's named "Pac-Man" or "Frogger" and so presumably not some knock-off does not justify a higher price than all other games.
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ad hominem. Shooting the messenger does NOT invalidate the message.
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Me might, however, have a very good understanding of selling Pac-Man and games like it through mobile device markets, which would seem to be the relevent issue here.
Re:What (Score:4, Insightful)
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the Android OS seems solid enough with or without an official marketplace.
There's no absolute need for a centralized marketplace for what amount to pocket-sized personal computers any more than there is for a laptop or a regular PC. I give Apple points for applying the idea to a cell phone, but it's hardly a requirement. It's just a convenience, nothing more, and if Apple or Google didn't provide this service, believe me, someone else would have very quickly.
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Umm... WHAT!?!?!
The fact that more and more phones run Android is no more a sign of success than the fact that the Ipad is sold out. Initial high sales indicates little more than successful marketing
Sorry, but contradicting yourself in the middle of a paragraph is generally an indication that you don't know what you're talking about.
To wit: if more an more phones run Android, then this is not (by definition) "initial high sales", this is "some sales, followed by even more and more sales." Which is (again, by definition) "success."
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As a phone platform, the Android OS beats the hell out of the iPhone OS. However, the Android Market is sorely lacking compared to the App Store, I can never seem to find what I am looking for in AM, and have to wade thru several sketchy/unstable apps to find anything.
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And more and more "apps" you cant use on older phones because most carriers tweak andriod and never update it.
I should be able to upgrade a G1 to the latest andriod easily, you cant. so a bunch of apps wont run on it. Yet short of the special case 3Gs extra hardware specific apps. a 1st gen iphone can run the same apps the 4th gen iphone can.
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I don't remember it ever needing saving. I mean look at MS products, or apple products. They're not labeled beta, they're labeled complete or release candidate and there are still plenty of problems or incomplete features, etc.
The same can be applied to just about every software company in existence.
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Yes, it does need saving. The reason you see more and more Android-based phones is twofold:
1. Manufacturers have hopped on the Android bandwagon, ramped up production and are pushing the things.
and
2. iPhones are so popular that people are beginning to look for alternatives that set them apart from the iPhone-toting crowd. Android is the obvious choice.
I decided that I would switch from my iPhone to a Google Nexus One last month. After using the Nexus One as my primary phone for the past 3 weeks, I'm switchi
I don't get it? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure I want anyone except the community "in charge" of what gets bubbled up in each category.
Re:I don't get it? (Score:5, Insightful)
http://www.android.com/market/ [android.com]
You can't search for apps. You can on the phone, but consumers need better integration and ways to access information.
Lets say you were interested in an Android device, how do you find out what apps are in the market?
Re:I don't get it? (Score:5, Informative)
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But you use the marketplace on the phone.... And I have no problems using it from the phone.
It would be nice if you could search the marketplace on line from your PC but that is really not a big deal.
That I think is a clear case of making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Re:I don't get it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Picture this:
I have a phone now. I'm looking at the nice and shiny android phones. But I am not quite convinced that the apps are what I might need.
How do I find out from a PC that there's something that would push me over the edge?
That's the mole hill that you tripped over.
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I just built a site to handle the integration.
You can now at least post a link on your site that will link to the market if clicked from an android device, and do something useful (send a link by email) if clicked on the desktop
http://and-download.hobbyistsoftware.com/ [hobbyistsoftware.com]
Re:I don't get it? (Score:5, Interesting)
I think the problem with the Android app market is that you have no idea what you're missing in your searches. There are categories, sure. But do I really want to browse 5000 apps in entertainment to make sure that that's not where the video players are hiding? Or when I search for a battery management app, do I search for battery management? Battery? Battery saver? And if I scroll down more, what do I get? Do I get results that are less relevant? Less used? Older? Combination thereof?
In short, I have no idea how the Android app market works, and the search results are haphazard enough that I don't trust it. And as you pointed out, I can't even organize the search results. No sorting by downloads, by popularity, by ratings, or by developer.
The Android App store is right now my biggest gripe of the entire Android ecosystem. Google and others have produced some outstanding apps, but I have no idea if they're there, or what it is that I should search for.
Here are a couple of suggestions that would drastically improve the user experience:
- have a web interface available. Seriously, that's a no-brainer.
- let me order the results by ratings, downloads, date, publisher and name. Another complete no-brainer.
- Allow me to recommend apps to friends and contacts. Or allow me to set my download privacy so that friends and contacts can see what I installed.
- Provide a staff pick
3 out of 4 of those are brain dead to implement, and don't even require much computational complexity. Considering that the app store is part of what makes the iPhone the iPhone, I don't understand what's keeping Google from actually offering a usable experience.
The barefooot kid is the cobbler's son (Score:2, Insightful)
Look, it was 200 years ago that Adam Smith worked out that not everybody's good at everything. Clearly they need to outsource the search to someone who's good at it. Like, I dunno, Google?
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Sorry this clown can’t make money there it wasn’t built for him to make money off.
I'm pretty sure Google would disagree with you on the intent of the Android Market.
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I sometimes have a bit of trouble separating the wheat from the chaff. For example, to find a file manager (I couldn't believe one wasn't included by default), I had to google it and discovered that a lot of people were using AndroZip -- a zip program -- as a file manager.
Anyone know of a good free program to get your phone's GPS coordinates remotely on request (i.e., if lost or stolen)?
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Search slashdot. someone here had an app running on theirs that reports to a server the XYZ gps location every few seconds all the time. That on it's own rocks and I wish the iphone could do it.
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Re:I don't get it? (Score:4, Informative)
YES! (Score:5, Insightful)
I ahve sent several emails, and posted on the form.
There online market SUCKS.
I have a G1. it's running Google android OS. It is fully integrated with Google.
Why can't I go to android.com and do a search for apps?
Yes, a Google site and you can't search for market apps.
http://www.android.com/market/ [android.com]
Not searchable. I'm sorry, what is Google's core business?
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Re:YES! (Score:4, Insightful)
On the flip side, though, I can't imagine a worse move than "hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers." The carriers would turn it into a painful nickel-and-dime opportunity (forget free apps!), and letting OEMs and publishers do whatever they want would make the Android platform even more fragmented. Google is (in theory) the right entity to mange the Android Market: they have a good reputation, they are really good at sorting and search, they know how to make a good web UI, etc. In fact, it's fundamentally surprising that they didn't put together a slick interface for the Android Market...
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I'm sorry, what is Google's core business?
Advertising.
(And no, I'm not referring to that Super Bowl ad!)
Re:YES! (Score:4, Informative)
click the market app on your G1 and search
read the description (Score:2, Informative)
A highlighted set of apps and games available in Android Market.
You mean like... (Score:5, Insightful)
Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it
You mean like Gmail, Chrome, and a ton of other products that people use while in beta? Android's main strength is that it is open, cutting edge and changeable. A crappy interface or design on Windows Mobile is going to be slow to change, a crappy interface or design in Android is going to be quick to change.
Don't want something -slightly- unstable? Get a BlackBerry and its outdated architecture. Want something that is going to be nearly the same from beginning to end? Get an iPhone, but don't expect stability.
I had a Windows Mobile phone for a bit, it crashed so often I went back to my "dumb" phone before getting an Android handset that rarely crashes.
Android is doing the most things right at the moment. Windows Mobile is screwing customers by not offering software upgrades, Apple is screwing customers by not allowing them to use their apps, BlackBerry simply is a crappy environment to code for, and despite how much Palm wants WebOS to gain marketshare, it simply isn't happening.
Oh and never, ever allow OEMs, carriers or "trusted publishers" to take over app markets, otherwise you screw your customers even more. I don't want my carrier telling me what I can and can't have on my phone, same with OEMs and I don't want a "trusted publisher" removing all competition to their product.
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Re:You mean like... (Score:5, Interesting)
A) It would be good for Google.
B) They thought it would be really helpful and/or cool.
I mean, sure, Google made a competitive product with the iPhone in releasing the Android architecture. They also made a competitive product with Mozilla in releasing Chrome. They also made a competitive product to Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Lycos mail, etc. by releasing G-mail. Hell, now they are even getting into a market where they seem to want to compete with companies they've never even had contact with. Look into the types of business decisions they are making with regards to alternative energy technology and power management technology. Then of course there are their products that weren't really designed to compete with anything, but were meant to bring an entirely new product to the market. That is, they developed Google, their search engine, and Google maps/Earth to bring about products that really were so polished and impressive that they completely revolutionized the way we work.
So, yeah, Google has some products on the market that compete with Apple. That doesn't mean they want to threaten Apple. Hell, I'd wager that doesn't even mean they want Apple to fail So far as I have seen, Google seems to foster the notion of fair competition through product development, rather than other, shadier, business practices like embrace, extend, extinguish. That is, Google may not want to the threaten Apple or anything else. It seems to me that they just want to innovate and be creative. That's why I've always respected them. They don't intend to shutdown competitors. They just intend to be on par and/or better then them. So why make assertions that Google needs to threaten Apple? It doesn't need to do that at all. So far as I can tell, Google just needs to keep on doing what they are doing and people will continue to use their products if they find them to be superior. It's that simple.
Moral of the story? It seems this guy's discussion is founded on the baseless assumption that all corporations/businesses prefer a monopoly/severe-market-dominance over a healthy competing economy. I don't see where that assumption is ever verified or validated in any way. That makes the whole damn thing dribble in my opinion.
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Exactly. While Google wants to make money, a lot of their actions show that they want to simply make the web better, money or no money.
to be more accurate imo, they want to make the web better, because they believe growing the entire market will by extension grow their piece of the pie.(hence making them more money)
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GP could also have included as non-threatening products Google supported / bought:
Seth
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And with no charge to purchase or monthly service charges. People will put up with a lot more shit for free than when they pay. The for pay version of gmail is not bleeding edge constantly changing.
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That's odd, because EVERY SINGLE person I know with an iPhone has had an issue at one point or another. Sometimes it took a restart to fix, sometimes it took a reset, and a few times it took a device swap, but it happened to every one. Now, I'm not saying that the iPhone is unstable (as the GP is), but I am saying that it's not a model of stability. Neither is any MS product. Neither is A
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OTOH, phones are not something we get for free. Even if we do not
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Google needs to understand that a constantly evolving 'beta' product doesn't cut it
You mean like Gmail, Chrome, and a ton of other products that people use while in beta?
There is big difference between these end user apps and an OS. Nobody cares if the code base for an end user app changes drastically from release to release, as long as the user interface evolves more gradually. In an OS, however, you heavily rely on apps from third party developers. That means your APIs should better be reasonably stable, because a lot of these developers will not be able or willing to support 10 different versions fo their software for 10 different OS versions.
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I guess "quick" is relative, because the Buzz interface continues to remain terrible.
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... or blame Microsoft or the handset manufacturers for not pushing the carriers for this. Apple manages to release fairly regular OS updates for the iPhone, and AT&T seems happy to re-validate the new software; Microsoft, at least, should surely have enough clout to manage the same.
I'm not saying the carriers don't have some responsibility, but they're not the only ones at fault here.
Carriers (Score:5, Insightful)
Lets think about this, carriers love to nickle and dime you to death, hate anything that gets in the way of this, and only wish to allow enough function to sell stuff. The LAST thing the droid needs is the carriers getting involved. All I want from my carrier is fast reliable service. Some of my least technical friends have droids and after a few days of hating them they come to love them.
Re:Carriers (Score:4, Insightful)
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How hard is it to provide decent data, voice and text communications?
Set up your own wireless network and get back to us on how easy it is.
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Of course, you can always start an MVNO. (Mobile Virtual Network Operator.)
Piggy-back on someone else's network and agreements, and provide your own customer service and billing and such.
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No, not really.
The initial costs basically amount to negotiating a deal with the other carriers to piggy back on their towers initially.
I can think of at least 3 local independent companies that do just that, and they have prices lower than the main carriers across the board. They've had unlimited voice/data plans for years at $50/month. The main carriers still aren't there, though I do believe at least one of the local ones has jumped up to be in line with the ~$70/month voice plans of the major carriers
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and the like are cheap when compared to when you are first starting.
And generally getting cheaper. Communications infrastructure is, in general, getting cheaper and faster ... not that our wireless carriers have much interest in passing any savings on to us. And that's okay, as long as they invest some of those windfalls into building out and improving their networks.
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Citation needed.
My experience has been the exact opposite. They love them right up till the 'new' wears off.
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I don't know why. I can't imagine steam paying a percentage to ISPs for games bought through their system -- or google paying ISPs a cut of the revenues of their various products delivered via ISPs. Perhaps it is an incentive to carriers to sell android phones by catering to
All software releases are evolving betas ... (Score:3, Insightful)
But some companies pretend they are not.
But maybe the author is right, and evolving betas do fail. Like GMail, Firefox, Chrome, GNU/Linux, they were all public evolving betas, and they all failed. Ah, wait, they didn't They are very successful, and keep gaining market-share every day.
Off course, other software that wasn't ever in public beta state, like Windows, Oracle, Photoshop, was successful. Ah, wait, they were Public betas too, just the companies behind them pretended they weren't. And they failed and succeeded at the same rate as the other more honest approaches.
All software evolves, and all software goes through a very long Beta period. Changing the label doesn't really change anything.
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GMail and Firefox are successful. Chrome is only doing well because you get nagged on the google search page if you aren't using it. Linux is only successful in the server market, and its fighting tooth and nail for that.
Linux is too fragmented to take over and actually set the standard rather than chasing it. Chrome will disappear into obscurity the instant Googles attention turns elsewhere.
You and I have different definitions of 'beta', but to me it seems that beta has no meaning to you ... as you foll
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Remember the Slackware case and the version number inflation on commercial distributions?
Slackware had to inflate 4 major version numbers just to keep up with all the people saying "Oh, you use Linux 3? I use Linux 6!" just because they had redhat 6 and redhat incremented their version number all the time.
Think about wine. After more than a decade trying to reach a stable version, they said fuck it, let's release 1.0, and suddenly people thought wine was ready. It's not, and it'll never be. And it's still 1
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Post's author speaks more than 3 languages? Check.
English is author's 3rd language? Check.
Reply by a grammar Nazi? Check.
Reply gets moded down into -1 realm? Soon.
Community. (Score:3, Insightful)
How to Search Android Market from a PC (Score:5, Interesting)
You *can* search the Android Market from your PC, without having an Android phone.
1. download the Android SDK
2. start an Android Emulator, this gets you a virtual phone that uses your PC's internet connection
3. load the Android Market application on to the Emulator
4. Open the Android Market application
5. Search the Android Market
This is not an easy process. But, I have done it, and it works.
Re:How to Search Android Market from a PC (Score:4, Funny)
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Or ... you know ... just using a web browser ... you know you can view the apps from the Apple AppStore in a web browser ... RIGHT?
Far easier than installing iTunes JUST to browse them.
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Limited Availability (Score:2, Insightful)
Orwell, is that you? (Score:3, Insightful)
... and hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers.
Wait, is this guy implying that carriers are to be trusted publisher? They have tighter sphinxes than Apple does - how would this help consumers reach applications when phones purchased via said carriers disable functions on the phones they resell, just to charge extra money to re-enable them? (e.g. charging extra monthly fees so that their consumers can use GPS on their phones- which does not require any interaction with the cell towers, let alone the phone company!)
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I think he's really just trying to say that anarchy isn't going to work and just about anything would be better than anarchy as far as the general public is concerned. Even at the cost of being ripped off more often than we already are.
Android is the evolving choice. (Score:2)
I'm considering buying a Nexus One right now and I really appreciate that Google has given us this other choice to the overly-controlled Disneyesque land of phones.
If this article's advice were followed, what exactly would distinguish Android from the other smartphone OSes? What would we need more "me too" phones for?
I do think the Android Marketplace could be better organized, but the answer isn't to copycat Apple's iTunes app store. For me, I'm tired of swimming in the sea of shovelware apps as Apple pres
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Copying the AppStore in what respect? I do think its safer for the general public to have an Apple like model than anarchy.
But other than that specific point, the AppStore is kind of shitty. I never find apps I'm interested in on the AppStore, browsing it is just crappy and finding new apps that may be interesting to me is practically impossible without a third party.
The Apple AppStore is rather shitty from the usability perspective at this point imo, but its REALLY REALLY hard to argue with the numbers.
Extremes? (Score:2)
'If Google is to present a threat to the Apple App Store ecosystem, it needs to address discovery and purchasing as a matter of urgency, or abandon control and hand over the entire management of the Android Market to carriers, OEMs and trusted publishers.'
So, Google need to step up and do something right or do something a thousand times worse?
Just my opinion but that seems like a pretty extreme pair of options!
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Welp, when you take a look at the rest of the world ... what you're saying is 'a thousand times worse' seems to be doing about a million times better than the current implementation that Google has.
So yes, they really do need to either do it right or take the other route. Their current route doesn't have a pretty path in front of it unless frustration is something you find 'pretty'
I kind of agree. (Score:2)
I've been an Android user for over a year now. I kind of agree. Most of this isn't gaming specific though. Here's the problems as I see it.
The search functionality in the android market stinks. This is Google "king of search", but if you don't have the exact app name, good luck finding anything.
There's only 1 level deep categorization. Big hierarchies are a pain to manage, and some apps fit multiple categories. And it's hard to display a tree on a small screen. But only having 1 level deep makes it ver
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It should also be noted that if you're running an older iPhone with a current OS, the app will never know the difference unless it makes an effort to check. This is good and bad. Its good because the app will run and appear to work. Its bad in that if you don't have a GPS you may not ever realize how shitty the location is, and you might not realize that the compass returns north all the time ... so you'll get unexpected behavior and probably not what you
Arrogant much? (Score:2)
That being said, having the android market searchable online with a lot more filters would be nice; turning over control not so much. I really don't want to be tethered to Verizon's or T-mobiles wishes. I prefer the openness of the android platform. If I didn't want the openness I'd have bought and iPhone.
Android Flea Market (Score:2)
Android Paid Apps (Score:2)
Not all countries have access to paid apps right now. Google has to speed up on making paid apps available to these countries, otherwise the ratio of apps purchased may just stay that way.
There's an even bigger problem with the market ... (Score:2)
There's an even bigger problem w/the Android Marketplace when accessed from your phone. It's possible for developers to write applications that wont work on your particular phone model. With only a few Android models now that's not that big of an issue, but what happens when that Skyrockets to 50 devices in another year or so?
I have a Nexus One and while I love it I routinely download applications that don't work on my phone. They'll either frequently crash, or wont fully startup, or just hang when run.
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Android app store needs consistency (Score:4, Insightful)
Android Market is not designed for sales. (Score:2)
I would guess that Google shrugs off "Just 21% of Android users purchase one or more paid apps per month, compared with 50% of iPhone users". A lot of the free apps are ad-supported. Google bought AdMob which seems to be the dominant way to deliver ads to Android phone apps. From Google's point of view, having lots of free ad-supported apps is just fine. I agree with O'Neil that the incentives for investing in development for Android are bad now, but that must be more a function of the smaller number of
As an iPhone and an Android developer (Score:5, Informative)
Apple wins this one. I'm sorry, but the AppStore is far more polished and suitable for business use.
iPhone/AppStore:
- Daily reports, with regional totals for downloads and updates.
- Five screenshots for your apps
- Keyword search
- Large app descriptions
- Descriptions for app updates
- Semi-opaque approval process, but it's getting better and tools are moving many of the code-level stoppers to dev visible before submission.
- iTunes. For as many things that have been bolted onto it, it's better than nothing, and gets the job done.
- Up to date SDK with current examples on all major code paths, and iTunesU access to the Stanford iPhone Dev course.
Android:
- No reporting aside from a total download and currently installed count. (Yes, your android device phones home and lets Market know that app hasn't been deleted)
- Two screenshot max (Pet peeve: zero or two screens... one isn't permitted.)
- No keyword search
- 325 character app description
- No update descriptions, you get to fit them in the above.
- No approval, aside from the $25 to register on Market.
- No access to your app reviews, unless you're on the handset.
- SDK docs are up to date, but can be annoyingly sparse or wrong in spots. What examples there are often down-rev, hiding on the net and using deprecated APIs. Alas, it's a common fault in OSS: the code is the fun bit, the docs and examples aren't so much fun. They're often quickly written, are terse or flat out wrong.
The biggest problems I have, aside from the search problem, are the seemingly arbitrary limits on things, and the last of any meaningful web side to Market. It really feels like Market is someone's 20% project.
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Good thing there are other markets (no root required): http://www.slideme.com/ [slideme.com]
Amazing what an "open market" can do eh?
Let's be very clear (Score:2)
This isn't about Java apps - TFA is about Java GAMES.
Another poster, above, points out that maybe iPhone and Android are for different markets - one wanting frilly add-ons, one wanting open source.
I think they're for the same market - we all want a phone platform that just works and comes from a big, trusted name for doing that - Apple and Google certainly qualify. Maybe this market does actually subdivide into those wanting a fully-integrated vs. a more open experience. I don't know - I can't extrapolate
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I haven't noticed a substantive difference in the quality or price of soda and cheetos at the checkout end-caps of either specialty. The hot dog concession at Home Depot is particularly convenient when you on that third trip (Murphy's law for home repair requires three trips to the store) and still haven't had lunch.
am I the only guy who doesn't use many apps? (Score:2)
I mainly use it for phone calls, email, and limited web surfing. I thought most people did.
Re:Flea Market Analysis (Score:4, Insightful)
Right you are! All of the handset makers using Android would just love to cater to a couple of thousand nerds who would rather spend an hour looking for a free solution than spend 5 minutes and 99 cents downloading a commercial one. Surely, those economic mavens rejoice at the pen-protector-and-taped-glasses set instead of the teenager with dad's credit care. A customer that thinks the best part of the day is installing some obscure patent free codec is worlds more important that somebody that wants to spend ten dollars and watch a movie.
I find your ideas fascinating but definitely do not want to subscribe to your newsletter (besides, it's free - right?)
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That sounds cute when phrased strictly in terms of bombastic empty rhetoric. However, the practical implications are more the reverse.
Printing would be my favorite example.
Do the Android phones have to deal with the same sort of bad hack that the iphone uses?
Also, the need to jailbreak an iphone in order to put an ssh daemon on it is why that process is such a security problem. The MacOS version of doing the same thing is not nearly as troublesome.
Sometimes trying to "dumb down" something only makes it hard
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First, I would consider that an insightful (if sarcastic) comment. And Apple has done well with understanding that.
That said, you've totally missed the point. Google doesn't give a shit if Namco, or even Verizon, can make a buck on their phone. Google only cares that Googl
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How convenient to forget that, with the arrival of Apple Appstore, the typical price of apps & games for mobile phones was lowered approximatelly by an order of magnitude.
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That may be true, but there's something that you forgot as well. Apps have existed on the iPhone since just a few months after the release. Before saurik's Cydia really took off, we had installer.app. Before the SDK, there were programmers who reverse-engineered how to do stuff. Labyrinth and Tap Tap Revolution were launch titles in the App Store...but only because they were being released for free before Apple made an official distribution channel. For extra fun, the early versions of TTR used to let you u
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How can he draw this conclusion? What about the possibility (
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Seriously ... you said that on slashdot? I agree with you, don't get me wrong, but wow ... I'm shocked. I didn't think there was any sanity left out there.
They'll need to do a lot more than just that, but thats one thing they most certainly need to do.
What google WANTS to do is get people using android, get the carriers doing all the hard support work for it, and then throw in advertising s
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I have a G1 (HTC Dream) that had similar issues. However, I've upgraded to cyanogenmod because T-Mobile hasn't released an upgrade yet. Cyanogenmod is a 1.6 OS but it has a lot of the 2+ goodies back ported (newer dalvik, libraries, etc).
It's a world of difference. Honestly, it's like I've gotten a new phone. I'd recommend trying it. :)
1.6 isn't that much newer than the first early adopted release of Android.
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Also, even the newest version of Android lack an enabled JIT. Work has been started on one, but right now on shipping software it's still completely interpreted.