Amazon To Launch 'Amazon Appstore For Android' 222
angry tapir writes "Amazon is preparing to open an Android app store to compete with Google's Android Market, and has launched a beta portal where developers can submit applications for Android-based smartphones. The applications will be sold on the Amazon Appstore for Android, which the company expects to launch later this year. At launch, the Appstore will be available for customers in the US, and it will be compatible with Android 1.6 and higher. Users will be able to shop for applications from their PCs, which isn't possible with the existing version of Android Market, or from their smartphones, and pay with their existing Amazon account."
1.6 is a hard target (Score:2)
About damn time. (Score:2)
Was wondering when Amazon was going to enter the fray.
They already have a music store, selling apps isn't that big of a jump.
Already having peoples credit card numbers and the trust of most will also helps.
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Even if all these types of software alre
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Bigger question then: Is Amazon going to decide what to sell my app for or am I the developer going to set the price?
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AppBrain (Score:5, Insightful)
"Users will be able to shop for applications from their PCs, which isn't possible with the existing version of Android Market"
Guess they haven't heard about AppBrain.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/appbrain-app-market/com.appspot.swisscodemonkeys.apps [appbrain.com]
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The Android market doesn't have this functionality by itself. It's really irritating. Nice to have a third party site that helps browsing apps, but that doesn't mean Googles app store doesn't have room for improvement.
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Appbrain's ability to push to the device was broken by the latest Market release.
Sucks.
Wouldn't it be great... (Score:2)
Wouldn't it be great if Amazon could open a competing Apple app store, and then people could have free choice to buy wherever they please, just like in the real world?
That'd be anti-capitalist, though.
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Wouldn't it be great if Amazon could open a competing Apple app store, and then people could have free choice to buy wherever they please, just like in the real world?
Yes, that would be awesome.
On a related note, it's interesting how when it comes to Apple, people argue that only having one store is anti-competitive, over-controlling and locked down. On Android, when someone actually tries to make another store, people complain about lockdown (???) and fragmentation.
There's just no pleasing some people.
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it's interesting how when it comes to Apple, people argue that only having one store is anti-competitive, over-controlling and locked down. On Android, when someone actually tries to make another store, people complain about lockdown (???) and fragmentation.
There's just no pleasing some people.
That's because they're different people.
Did they also announce (Score:5, Insightful)
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when the first apps will be remotely removed from phones?
Actually this is a step away from this happening. Unless Google and Amazon agree to remotely remove all apps at the exact same time, this means the app in question wouldn't necessarily be gone forever. This is an advantage you Android lot have over Apple's App Store.
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Except well, you gotta pay twice for the same app... I don't think there's any sort of sharing between the two.
Funny enough, I don't think Apple actually has the ability to remotely remove apps from phones. At least, for all pulled apps, they ca
More interesting, mimics Apple app store (Score:5, Insightful)
The more interesting thing about this store is the terms for developers - almost the same as Apple's store.
$99/Year (I think that's being waved for now)
You can choose to have apps have a DRM wrapper (of Amazons design)
Amazon gets 30% of sales
I think potentially this could become THE app store for Android, because it will be probably about as carefully maintained as Apple's App store. No way is Amazon going to let through some things like blatant copyright infringement apps that get into the Android store today. As a result the apps to be found there should be of a generally higher level of quality.
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Precisely. The advantage that Android retains over developing for iOS devices, though, is that if Amazon shoot down your application on whatever grounds (such as what happens with Apple), you can always be sure that you'll be able to find another app store to publish through.
What I think that we'll see is 'tiered' app stores - Amazon and perhaps a couple of other companies will run the top tiered app stores where everything is carefully checked and things like pornography is not allowed; then Google and a c
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Devil's advocate here: Cydia is another market for apps, but its presence is highly dependent on the work the Dev Team does in getting out a usable jailbreak. It is only a matter of time where Apple has enough resistance to JBing built into their devices that when a JB is ready to go, the device is last year's model. Even then, unless the JB uses an exploit that is a hardware based one, Apple just issues a 0.0.1 fix that patches that hole and uses the SHSH mechanism to prevent downgrading.
I don't really
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I think potentially this could become THE app store for Android, because it will be probably about as carefully maintained as Apple's App store. No way is Amazon going to let through some things like blatant copyright infringement apps that get into the Android store today.
You may make it sound like not having such apps available is a good thing for the end users. I'd say let the end user decide on that.
On my phone I have a "whack-a-mole" type game. I think it's quite funny. PETA/SPCA members may disagree though.
Now if you were talking about a vetting process to prevent malware from entering the store... an app should do what it says it does, no more no less. That's what it should be vetted on, and that's all it should be vetted on. Let the buyer decide whether they want su
Re:More interesting, mimics Apple app store (Score:4, Insightful)
You may make it sound like not having such apps available is a good thing for the end users. I'd say let the end user decide on that.
It's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of noise. When you have a ton of apps like that in an app store it makes it hard to find "real" applications.
There's always choice in that you can get apps from all over. What matters more is that users finally will ALSO have the choice to try shopping without as much noise in selection. That choice is more important than any other, for normal people using a phone.
Now if you were talking about a vetting process to prevent malware from entering the store... an app should do what it says it does, no more no less. That's what it should be vetted on, and that's all it should be vetted on.
I'm sure there's some aspect of that but it can never be fully examined, but a low-pass filter is helpful to eliminate outright malware. And again, you can go elsewhere for that. Just let real users have a choice of going somewhere they are less likely to find it.
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It's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of noise. When you have a ton of apps like that in an app store it makes it hard to find "real" applications.
Interesting you complain about the volume in the Android store. And you think that Apple's store is better managed, and easier to find apps.
Let's look at the numbers. Apple claims to have "over 300,000" apps in their store now, while Android is reported to have "over 200,000" apps a few days ago. So there are about 1 1/2 times more apps in the Apple store than in the Android store. There is no reason to believe that the average quality in either store is higher, so there are more "noise" apps floating arou
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Interesting you complain about the volume in the Android store. And you think that Apple's store is better managed, and easier to find apps.
Yes, interesting because it is true. The Android store has many, many apps that are just blatant copyright infringement low wuality things, with much gaming of keywords (not that the App Store is immune to that, but it's at a lower level).
There is no reason to believe that the average quality in either store is higher,
WTF? There's "no reason" to believe that a store
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I don't know and don't care much about the vetting process: the true vetting is done by users. Sort apps by user rating and the good stuff comes up easy enough. And then the user reviews linked to the app on the store are very useful in general.
Also I don't really like the idea of having just one store, which is having a fairly high barrier to entry, and no alternative options. No option to wade through the noise, which can be entertaining at times.
That said I have to say I don't have hands-on experience
Apple checks a lot more than you think (Score:2)
Also I have heard that Apple mainly checks for "objectionable content" (and still lets the "baby shaker" through - no idea how Google deals with such apps), not for whether the app runs stable.
That is not at all true, I've been involved with developing over a dozen iOS applications at this point. ANY crash means you do not get accepted, period, until you fix the crash. And we're not just talking crash on launch, we've seen multiple cases where they find a crash deep in the app somewhere after they have be
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For me the best way to find apps is not to start in the app store, but to search with google for it, e.g. search for "satnav app for android". Then you get reviews, recommendations, etc from various sources
Have you tried searching Google for product review lately? Most of the results are tainted with SEO bullshit and price-comparison site whore-mongering. Google is fast becoming useless for searching anything that isn't a Wikipedia entry.
For fuck's sake, Google routinely delivers about.com results right up top as if they are useful for anything
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Of course there's reason. Because Apple are filtering out more noise than Google are. Apparently the Android Store will list any app providing it's not malware. Apple imposes far more qua
Re:More interesting, mimics Apple app store (Score:4, Interesting)
My big question is what is the payout rules? Do they deposit the money in my checking account automatically? Or do you have to have a minimum sales amount before they'll cut a check?
I write mobile apps as a hobby. I make enough from the apps that it pays for itself, but not enough to quit the day job. I've been releasing mobile apps for both Android and iOS for a little over a year now.
I spent the start of this week actually looking at the sales data to get ready for taxes this year and I've come to the conclusion that Android users don't buy apps. iOS users do.
I do the classic "Lite" version of my apps that are free with ads and then offer a "Full" version for either $0.99 or $1.99 with no ads and usually has a few extra features that didn't make the cut into the lite version.
The lite version of my flagship app has about 15k iOS downloads and 22k from Google Marketplace.
I've sold a little over 900 of the "full" versions of the app for iOS but only about 350 for Droid phones @ $1.99 in both marketplaces.
The problem is, I spend probably 2.5x the time on the Android platform vs. iOS. working out issues between devices/OS versions. Well if you add having to submit to multiple app stores, each with their own submission rules and payout rules, and Android becomes even less and less attractive for people like me.
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Having sold some textbooks through Amazon Marketplace they automatically transfer your funds every 14 days, and you can also have your funds transferred as fast as once per day. Here is how Amazon describes it [amazon.com].
This app marketplace might be run differently, but this is probably a good guideline for how they will disburse funds.
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Well if you add having to submit to multiple app stores, each with their own submission rules and payout rules, and Android becomes even less and less attractive for people like me.
There's a business opportunity for someone; a front-end that submits apps to multiple app stores on behalf of the developer, and consolidates the income from sales. How much of a cut they could charge would be decided by just how much hassle they save.
OTOH, my guess is that the stores will be in competition to make submission hassle-free enough to be worth the developers' effort. It's in everyone's interest.
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That's not really surprising though. The iPhone is more expensive than almost any Android phone (e.g. iPhone 4 16 GB: £530, Nexus S 16 GB: £430), and there are many cheaper Android phones. iPhone users are already self-selected as those willing to spend more money.
It seems likely that Android's market share will increase to be much greater than the iPhone's at which point you will make more money from Android. I agree about the multiple app stores though. It is already enough hassle to submit to
Multiple brick and mortar stores too (Score:2)
Now, what are the chances Average Joe will use two Market apps rather than get into the habit of just using one?
What are the chances Average Joe will shop at both Sears and JCPenney rather than get into the habit of just using one? Or Walmart and Kmart/Target/Meijer/whatever else? Or Best Buy and... oh wait, its close competitor went out of business and sold its name to an e-tailer. Here's another one: Newegg and Monoprice. A variety of stores complement one another.
Stores vs. systems (Score:2)
Stores and websites, sure. But most people are resistant to learning multiple systems on electronic devices.
What's the line between "stores" and "systems"? For example, buying on Amazon, buying on eBay, and buying from an independent e-tailer all have different checkout procedures.
Not much... (Score:2)
What's the line between "stores" and "systems"? For example, buying on Amazon, buying on eBay, and buying from an independent e-tailer all have different checkout procedures.
That's true, and why people fall into using one of them far more often than others, only turning to other stores when they can't find what they want at the usual place.
In the real world, most people end up shopping for food at one place.
In the same way once an app store is decent most people would stick with that and not really look aro
Honeycomb cant get here fast enough (Score:2)
The multiple app store shenanigans are going to be the hardest thing for Android to overcome if google wants to take a serious bite out of apple. The iPads success isn't hardware as much as it is standardization. Of course google non-support for tablets is the reason...but google enabled the situation to get out of hand. Hopefully honeycomb will fix that.
I'm a developer, and I won't support this (Score:5, Informative)
I'm an Android app developer, and under the terms Amazon's currently offering, there's no way in hell I'll put my app there. There are three very serious problems with it. First, Amazon controls the pricing, not the developer - they can use your app as a loss leader. Second, they require that you give them your app and each update 14 days before you publish it anywhere else (such as on the Android Market) for their review process. That means no emergency fixes, and delayed releases, even if you're mainly publishing on the Android Market and want to put it on Amazon too. And third, it's competing with Android Market, which is preinstalled everywhere, with no users. It would be one thing if they offered more than Android Market's 70% take, but there're simply no advantages to it whatsoever.
Maybe they'll change their terms, and I'll reconsider. But the terms they're offering now are simply a bad deal for developers, and I doubt many will bite.
Re:I'm a developer, and I won't support this (Score:4, Interesting)
Bingo. One of the reasons I love Android and Google's Marketplace is that some apps have a VERY fast development cycle. I have seen features requested for an app in the feedback at 1:30 PM, and an update with that feature in the app by the developer at 4:30 PM the same day. Same with bugs, someone mentions them, they get stomped by fast reacting developers in hours.
Contrast this to the iOS model where an app developer had an issue with some saved game files, uploaded an update so people can actually save their work, and it took almost 1-2 weeks for the update to appear on iTunes. This was before iTunes Connect was down for the holidays [1].
This isn't to say Amazon's model is bad. I just fear that instead of being able to choose between Google versus Amazon that the choice will be foisted upon us by whomever gives the cellular carriers a sweeter deal. Both stores have advantages and shortcomings, and having a choice is important. However, if I end up having to choose between Amazon's model versus Google's, I'd choose Google's just because it is a more open way of publishing and allows developers to get stuff fixed and added very quickly.
[1]: It is understandable Apple turned off iTunes Connect during the Christmas/New Years rush.
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If you want to maximise your sales, you have to list on all the app stores. There will be people who just look for apps on the Google store, and there will be other people who will just look on the Amazon store. If you're not listed on a store, you're going to lose those potential sales.
I can see the Amazon store being pretty popular with consumers, because Amazon already have so many customers to market too, with accounts already set up, and because they are vetting apps, there will be a higher level of tr
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Maybe they'll change their terms, and I'll reconsider. But the terms they're offering now are simply a bad deal for developers, and I doubt many will bite.
Seems fair enough. You'd probably also reconsider if (IF) the Amazon app store becomes a success, such that a huge chunk of consumers make it their first port of call. If consumers are buying someone else's app instead of yours, because they find it in the app store they prefer using, you're going to want in.
Possible reasons this might happen include: hardware vendors installing the Amazon store as standard; the Amazon version offering a better app discovery experience.
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to get the $.01 per transaction google currently gets.
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> to get the $.01 per transaction google currently gets.
more like 30% unfortunately for us Android developers... OK, that's shared with the carrier but still...
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> to get the $.01 per transaction google currently gets.
more like 30% unfortunately for us Android developers... OK, that's shared with the carrier but still...
I suspect the payout via Amazon will be worse, just based off the fees for selling one's own products through their other services. I also suspect that if that is the case, it may make or break Amazon's plans (or at least limit their reach).
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But now there's competition. That's the silver lining I see here.
Of course, that doesn't solidify anything- the whole plan could fall apart out of the starting gate, but it could be nice.
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
What's the point? It's easy enough to share/sell an application on Google's Android App store...
Wouldn't you want your app being recommended by Amazon while you're looking for seemingly releated stuff?
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Sounds like Amazon is taking a page from their Kindle book where you can buy it on the webpage and push it to your phone. Can't do that with any of the app sites currently in place.
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Sell? Not exactly. Google doesn't make money selling/licensing an OS or selling apps, they make money selling ads.
I assume they get a cut if you buy an app from Android Market, since the transaction goes through Google Checkout.
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And why do you think that supporting payments outside this countries is a good idea?
Online commerce lives on a knife's edge balancing between credit card fraud, click fraud, returned goods fraud, god knows what other fraud, fatwas, protesting fanatics, government censors on one side and legitimate business on the other side.
While it would have been nice to have it as universal, the balance of fraud and regulatory nightmares vs legitimate transactions makes it simply not worth the hassle for anything outside
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In some countries it's impossible as they're not on the market yet. Also, Google takes a cut - Amazon could take a smaller cut. And, as has been pointed out, Amazon can market apps. A lot of developers are currently complaining that best-selling apps appear high up the lists and sell even more, whereas newer stuff is way down the list and only get seen by really bored people with a lot of time on their hands.
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Sure, easy enough to **sell** through Google. But if you have a Google Account that doesn't end in @gmail.com, it'll make it much easier to **buy** apps.
Not all Android devices have Market (Score:3)
It's easy enough to share/sell an application on Google's Android App store...
Not if you're targeting Wi-Fi tablets and media players that run Android. For example, Archos 43 is supposed to be the Android counterpart to the iPod touch but doesn't have Android Market because it lacks 3G data, which as I understand it would have doubled the price of the device. (Compare the $250 Archos 43 to a $500 unlocked phone.) Is Amazon Appstore expected to work on these?
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doesn't have Android Market because it lacks 3G data
What am I missing? Why would Android Market require 3G data?
On my HTC desire I can buy/install apps while connected to WiFi (and therefore not connected to mobile data).
My guess is there's some other, non-technical, reason for the Archos not having Market.
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Amazon? Who needs one from Amazon? How about something created and run with more of a community spirit?
Build a community-based replacement version of Android, replacing ALL non-GPLed code, so the end user and community can evolve what's actually installed. Put in ad and script blocking. Why should Google be tied into everything you do?
Why not have a community moderated store, and have part of the cut it takes hel fund open-source projects? Amazon and other could sell through the store too, but they migh
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You mean all non-Open Source code right? A lot of Android is apparently under the Apache license.
No, I mean FULL GPL.
Apache is great for the vendor, they get free code to use. But how many pass along the source with their modifications? Care to list some... ANY... who do? Without a GPL license with source to what's actually on the phone made open to the user and the community, it's tough for people to actually fix what they've got. People shouldn't have to resort to building something else from scratch wondering if it is compatible and perhaps loosing features.
I really think the community should co
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How does this Balkanize the Android platform? Just because there's an Amazon store doesn't mean you wouldn't be able to still use Google's store. What makes you think Amazon would try to make an Amazon-only phone? Nobody would go for that, there's too many competing Android phones already.
Amazon just realizes that Google is making easy money on a weak app store, and since Android is open, they can easily try to compete. Google will have to up their game if they want to stay in the game.
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How does this Balkanize the Android platform? Just because there's an Amazon store doesn't mean you wouldn't be able to still use Google's store.
Until some carrier deal locks the app marketplace to Amazon and you cant get into the Google Apps Store? I am not saying it will happen, I am saying it's possible. Kinda like being locked into Bing Search, as noted by LockerGnome (and numerous others).
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That they are a bunch of bastards. My guess is they'll make deals with handset makers/networks to have only their own, DRM-infested store on a phone, without the option of removing it or installing your own non-Amazon signed apps. They want to recreate that walled garden feeling of the iPhones. Android is pretty open, but each handset maker would like to close down their bit.
Re:But why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Stop talking.
In this comment in a different thread (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1936596&cid=34765090 [slashdot.org], relevant portion reproduced below) you complain about the Mac App Store with regard to it being a "monopoly store."
In fact there is a regression here as now we have a monopoly store as opposed to all sorts of vendors fighting it out using all sorts of sales channels. Apple, Inc now dictates prices, margins, selections, censorship, etc.
However, in the comment to which I'm replying (relevant portion reproduced below) you complain about the Amazon App Store with regard to fragmentation and lock-in.
These stupid stores will lead to lock-in and fragmentation.
First, there's no indication that this could lead to lock-in. Amazon has not expressed any interest in pursuing exclusivity deals with carriers/device makers.
Second, what the hell! If there's only one store it's a monopoly, but if there are more than one the platform is fragmented? You can't have it both ways!
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Soon Amazon will cut deals with mobile phone companies to make their store the only exclusive store on your phone.
If it's the exclusive store for your phone, then by definition it's the only one. How can you have more than one that's exclusive?
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because it would be exclusive on AT&T (or Verizon, or Sprint) but not exclusive on T-Mobile for instance.
If it's exclusive for AT&T, and you have an AT&T phone, then it's the only one available. Which was the point I was making, which you have somehow twisted bizarrely. Hacking your phone to support an alternative doesn't change the fact that it's an AT&T exclusive.
Re:Fragmentation (Score:5, Insightful)
Some call it "fragmentation" and some call it "competition"
Unless you want everyone to carry exactly the same hardware, there is bound to be "fragmentation". Why don't they call it "fragmentation" when Chrysler parts don't fit on my Mazda?
You would think that at some point, app programmers, who from what I can tell are the only ones complaining about "fragmentation" would be happy to see lots of different platforms because it means more opportunities.
Maybe it would be easier if there were only one hardware platform for all cell phones and one hardware platform for all computers and one hardware platform for all cars. One operating system. One phone carrier. Then, life would be easy for the few hundred programmers and designers that would have jobs.
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The problems are the cost to the developers to list their apps in all of these locations, and that the rules the various marketplaces enforce upon you as a seller can be very confusing.
I currently sell products thru amazon and several other online channels. I pay amazon.com 15% (+$1.35 per item) of all sales that go thru their channels, and $39 a month for the privilege of listing my items. And another $39 a month to list on amazon.ca and another $39 a month to list on amazon.co.uk and another $39 a month
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It's a reasonable way to reduce the number of time-wasters having a vendor account. If it's not worth $39 per month to you to be on the Amazon store, then to Amazon it's not worth the space you occupy on the store.
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Why don't they call it "fragmentation" when Chrysler parts don't fit on my Mazda?
Cars aren't upgraded the way smartphones are.
Maybe it would be easier if there were only one hardware platform for all cell phones and one hardware platform for all computers and one hardware platform for all cars. One operating system. One phone carrier. Then, life would be easy for the few hundred programmers and designers that would have jobs.
Yeah, the handful of console developers out there have it real rough.
Re:Fragmentation (Score:4, Insightful)
Amazon's market would be doomed to failure if the enduser had the choice between it and Android's.
If you ever actually saw the Android Market app in practice, you know that competing with it is trivial, because it is utter crap. It's the single most crash-prone piece of software on my Nexus One, is is dog slow even when it's working, the UI is inconvenient, and you can only make purchases on the device itself, and not from PC (where it's far more convenient to browse stuff, read reviews etc).
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Amazon has a lot more experience and success with it's market software than Google does. More than any other company for that matter. And it's not simply a matter of "the backend". It's the store that the customer sees and experiences that is most important.
If you're talking about the issue of writing an Android (or PC) app, that's almost trivial. Even if they didn't already
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It's not competition when Amazon pays the carriers tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to bundle their appstore with the carrier's phones (possibly to the exclusion of the official Android market). That's actually the opposite of competition. Amazon's market would be doomed to failure if the enduser had the choice between it and Android's.
Has there been any indication at all that that will happen?
Re:What jobs? Without competition there no incenti (Score:4, Informative)
There were NO APPS!
I guess you've never heard of Symbian, then.
Symbian isn't big in the States (Score:3)
I guess you've never heard of Symbian, then.
Most cell phone customers in the United States have likewise never heard of Symbian. In this market, "smartphone" means BlackBerry, iPhone, or Android. Nokia has far less market share here than in the European Union market, and "Symbian" is confused with a sex toy [wikipedia.org].
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The Rest Of the World is an awful lot bigger than the States.
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It's not how big you are, it's how big you feel.
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Considering the iPhone was introduced (January 2007) more than a year and a half before Android (October 2008), the state of the Android Market was obviously "nonexistent," so it's not surprising there were "NO APPS!"
Your point was...that competition from the iPhone invigorated stagnant Android application development???
Or, maybe, you're referring to the overall marketplace for PDA-type device apps, and convenientl
Neither. (Score:2)
Before the iPhone, there wasn't a consistent UI and putting everything behind a glass front and having a phone OS mediate everything, (rather than letting the application control the device.)
That means you were either a professional developer blessed in having contact to the OS developers, who were much less imaginative than the Apple staff, or you were a user playing Tetris on the phone.
And it cost hundreds of thoudsands to fill up (Score:2)
the "pipeline" to nowhere and get your product out to a store who might give you proper shelf placement, but that costs more.
Marketing a software product is a tough and expensive process which you must master, far beyond writing an app.
All of the software I have developed, since 1976, was used by enterprises and governments and was very, very expensive (as was I,) but development was a drop in the bucket compared to the "externalities."
Apps developed for multi-platform OSs for internet delivery get rid of "
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Millions? No. In the low thousands, considering all smartphones and PDAs added together. And they were called applications or apps back then too.
(I used to be a Symbian OS developer in the days before iPhone, so I remember well.)
Heck there probably aren't a million mobile apps available now. iTunes is by far the largest vendor, and they have around 350,000 at the last count.
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Smartphone apps before iPhone were pretty much like computer apps before the IBM PC. They existed, but most people didn't know anyone who'd got one.
The jump of the significance of smartphone apps from an obscure niche to something that's casually mentioned on prime time chat shows, and is in use by masses of people on any train or plane you get on. It's been incredible to witness. I can't think of any other market that's grown so suddenly after such a long period of obscurity. Closest would be song download
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Yes, it's much better to have a single organization that can decide for me what apps I can decide to buy and sell. One that can block apps for any reason or no reason at all. All jail his Jobness
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And yet over 70,000,000 iPhones have been sold since 2007 [wikipedia.org] all at $200+ (compared to free Android phones with contract [google.com]) and there have been thousands of iPhone developers that have become millionaires due to app sales [google.com] while even Angry Birds struggles with Android fragmentation with over a dozen Android devices Angry Birds will NOT w [rovio.com]
Re:Fragmentation (Score:4, Insightful)
I write phone apps for a living. We'd love to exist on iPhone- but apple won't let us because we replace some of their functionality with better versions. They don't like that.
As for 70+M phones- Android is pretty damn close (hell, my company's app is on 20M+) its marketshare is growing, it sells more per month than iOS already, and it's branching into tablets and music players. Add that on to the fact you don't have the risk of Apple deciding to pull the rug out from under you and you'd be a fool to bet on iphone over android. You may decide to target both, but if you pick one Android is the easy decision.
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How many of those did you sell?
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All of them. We sell to OEMs.
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Good for you. But that makes your perspective quite different from most developers, who are going through stores. They tend to find that Android users wont pay for apps, whilst iOS users will.
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From my experience, nobody pays for apps. I've never bought a phone app. I don't know anyone who has. Plenty of using free versions (with or without ad support) but I've never known anyone to actually pay for one. One of the major problems there is lack of a trial version- I might pay for an app if I liked it, but I'm not going to pay for one without a trial. And while some apps do the light/full thing, if the light has everything I need I'll just stick with it. If you're looking to make money, focus
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And then we can put it on Google instead. Exactly my point- with multiple stores, you'll find one that will accept it.
Re:Fragmentation (Score:5, Insightful)
in the android world, we call it "choice".
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in the android world, we call it "choice".
Until Apple releases a version of iOS that doesn't work on older phones, then the Android World calls it fragmentation.
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Much like certain versions of Android not being compatible with older phones, or phones that are locked down.
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That was a stupid comment.
The user has chosen either an iPhone or some other phone. He has choice.
If a later version of the OS comes out which doesn't run on that phone, he has no choice. Regardless of whether the phone came from Apple or someone else.
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In the non iPod/iTunes MP3 download world they called it choice too.
How did that go? I cant think of many success stories, only failures.
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So in addition to the hardware fragmentation, there will be store fragmentation too. Sounds great.
Tell me.. Have you ever bought a loaf of bread?
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Tell me.. Have you ever bought a loaf of bread?
Have you ever tried to run an Android App on your loaf of bread: it won't go. Thereby proving that variety is bad mmmkay ;)
Re:Its the 'compete' bit I dont like (Score:4, Insightful)
...because, lord knows, I hate the fact that I can buy the same thing at a different store for possibly a different amount of money. Life is so much easier when there's only one store and that's that.
Just in case you're missing it, this is sarcasm.
I don't see the problem, myself. If I prefer the Google store, I'll use the Google store. If I prefer the Amazon store, I'll use the Amazon store. You might also find features on the Amazon store (like buying an application as a gift for someone else) that don't exist in the Google store.
Competition is a good thing.
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Just in case you're missing it, this is sarcasm.
Is it? Or is it the above statement sarcasm, making a statement about posts that redundantly point out their obvious sarcasm? After all, if you point it out, doesn't that remove its sarcastic properties?
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It's a pain in the arse having multiple stores charging different amounts of money. No sarcasm.
Either you have to piss around comparing prices before you buy, or you find out after you bought the item that you could have bought it cheaper elsewhere. Both are annoyances. Neither add to the sum total of happy exp
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It's a pain in the arse having multiple stores charging different amounts of money. No sarcasm.
Either you have to piss around comparing prices before you buy, or you find out after you bought the item that you could have bought it cheaper elsewhere. Both are annoyances. Neither add to the sum total of happy experiences in life.
Competition is overrated.
Paying too much is better if there's no opportunity to pay less?
Would you be happy if all the shops in your town but one closed down, with the remaining one setting all its prices to the maximum previously charged? Or even the median or the mean?
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But unless they get some kind of deal with Google, you will have to turn off the option to 'only allow applications from the market place'.
And if they don't get some kind of deal with Google so their apps are accepted without having to do that, then I'm actually not happy about it encouraging so many security-NOT-concious people to do that.
I imagine hardware vendors/networks will bake it into their distro, so you won't need to uncheck that box.