Please do not post the same thing multiple times. The board software automatically flags certain posts as needing moderator attention. This happens the most often for new users. I'm pretty sure this is made clear at the time you attempt to post. Posting the same thing over and over again just makes that many more posts the moderators have to weed through later. This makes us sad. Don't make us sad. If your post/thread doesn't appear, just wait a while. Don't post it again. If it hasn't shown up by the next day, then you can try again. I normally go through posts in the mornings, and try to check a few times throughout the day, but I'm not here 24/7. There will typically be a significant delay before posts are approved. Just be patient.
No, I'm not trying to start any kind of war. I truly want some quality, mature feedback on this. And I do realize the forum that I'm in.
I'm getting a little worried with the Android platform taking off and taking away possible iPhone owners. I'm also a little worried about how many people have Android phones and how many more there are going to be. The market seems to be swaying from iOS to Android since Android is being put on just about every new phone out there, so it's no wonder their user base is increasing. I want to be reassured that my time spent on iOS won't hurt me years down the road - only in the sense that my app might only be on 100 iPhones when it could have been on 500 with Android.
Again, I'm not looking for quick and useless answers like, "Dude, it's Apple. Everything will be all right." That's not reassuring. Thanks for any responses.
Android is being placed on "every new phone" because it is open for other manufacturers to use, unlike iOS which is Apple-only. iOS and the Apple iDevice family is more popular than ever, with record breaking sales every year, so I don't really see why users think everyone is going to flop away from it. I'd personally recommend going for both platforms, thus covering like 90% of market share.
Numbers suggest (don't ask me to post sources) suggest that iPhone users are much 'happier' about buying apps, where Android users tend to look more for free apps. If you have an app that is very (very) popular and it's of type that is used for longer periods of time (games, etc), you might benefit from ads, like Angry Birds does.
It's only shifting in phones. In tablets, iOS, no contest.
For phones, consider the likely Android buyer. How many of them are buying the phones because they feel they can't afford an iPhone? Sure there will be some tech geeks getting them on principle, but in general people who are not buying iPhones are buying the cheapest thing they can find. Hey, that Android phone looks like an iPhone, so I'll get that. If you go farther down the market, how many of those buyers even realize, or care, that they are buying an Android phone? Sure, some of these things could be said about iPhone buyers too, but nobody is buying an iPhone without realizing that they are buying an iPhone.
So your Android market share is increasing on the backs of cheap people who are uninformed or uninterested in what they are getting. How many apps are those people going to BUY? Sure, they'll probably download some apps, but actually PAY for stuff? That's not really the Android way. Will there be a large market for free apps? Sure. Hard to make money that way, though.
On the flip side, iOS buyers have shown that they are not afraid to pay money. Sure, there are cheap bastards, myself included, in any group. But as a whole, they spend money. Apple keeps selling more and more phones. Even if the market share does slip, unit sales are still increasing, so you have more customers. And iPads are selling at tremendous rates, so you can hope over there if the phone stuff isn't working out. And even if all of this comes grinding to a halt tomorrow, you can take your skill set and become a Mac developer, where unit sales are also increasing.
Consider the prospects of a NeXT developer 20 years ago. Their skills are still relevant today, and your prospects today are far, far superior than they were for those folks.
But there's only so far ahead you can look, and only so much you can bank on. I used to work for a company that produced the #3 or 4 best selling software in its segment. That company was acquired, merged with another product line, and that software package is no longer really made today. Right before we were acquired, I would have had no real reason to fear for the future, and actually saw a lot of potential.
Personally, I still have far too much Cocoa to learn before I care to look at other platforms.
I'm loving these quality responses. I'm to the point in my life where I need to pick one, and only one, operating system to program on. I just don't have time to do both with the amount of time my job takes up. Brian's NeXT comment does reassure me that older things are still relevant today. And I understand where you are coming from when you talk about who exactly is getting Android phones, why they are getting them, and do they really even care - it just happens to have Android.
tazboy
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0 • Off Topic Insightful Disagree Dislike Like Awesome- Spam
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0 • Off Topic Insightful Disagree Dislike Like AwesomeFor phones, consider the likely Android buyer. How many of them are buying the phones because they feel they can't afford an iPhone? Sure there will be some tech geeks getting them on principle, but in general people who are not buying iPhones are buying the cheapest thing they can find. Hey, that Android phone looks like an iPhone, so I'll get that. If you go farther down the market, how many of those buyers even realize, or care, that they are buying an Android phone? Sure, some of these things could be said about iPhone buyers too, but nobody is buying an iPhone without realizing that they are buying an iPhone.
So your Android market share is increasing on the backs of cheap people who are uninformed or uninterested in what they are getting. How many apps are those people going to BUY? Sure, they'll probably download some apps, but actually PAY for stuff? That's not really the Android way. Will there be a large market for free apps? Sure. Hard to make money that way, though.
On the flip side, iOS buyers have shown that they are not afraid to pay money. Sure, there are cheap bastards, myself included, in any group. But as a whole, they spend money. Apple keeps selling more and more phones. Even if the market share does slip, unit sales are still increasing, so you have more customers. And iPads are selling at tremendous rates, so you can hope over there if the phone stuff isn't working out. And even if all of this comes grinding to a halt tomorrow, you can take your skill set and become a Mac developer, where unit sales are also increasing.
Consider the prospects of a NeXT developer 20 years ago. Their skills are still relevant today, and your prospects today are far, far superior than they were for those folks.
But there's only so far ahead you can look, and only so much you can bank on. I used to work for a company that produced the #3 or 4 best selling software in its segment. That company was acquired, merged with another product line, and that software package is no longer really made today. Right before we were acquired, I would have had no real reason to fear for the future, and actually saw a lot of potential.
Personally, I still have far too much Cocoa to learn before I care to look at other platforms.
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0 • Off Topic Insightful Disagree Dislike Like AwesomeI love reading about this stuff. More please.
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