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iOS Tops Android For Number of New App Projects From Developers 122

Posted by Soulskill from the easier-to-code-for-just-the-one-button dept.
Analytics firm Flurry recently posted a report comparing the new projects being undertaken by developers for mobile apps on Android and iOS. According to their data, significantly more projects are started for iOS than for Android. The gap has been slowly shrinking over the past few quarters, but it's still bigger than it was a year ago. "For every 10 apps that developers build, roughly 7 are for iOS. While Google made some gains in Q1 2012, edging up to over 30% for the first time in a year, we believe this is largely due to seasonality, as Apple traditionally experiences a spike in developer support leading up to the holiday season." The iPad's dominance of the tablet market is one of several reasons for the gap. "In Flurry’s estimation, the fragmentation of the Android platform is increasing the cost and complexity of app development, perhaps curbing third-party investment in software."
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iOS Tops Android For Number of New App Projects From Developers More

iOS Tops Android For Number of New App Projects From Developers

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  • What? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by multiben ( 1916126 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:26PM (#40301973)
    "The gap has been slowly shrinking over the past few quarters, but it's still bigger than it was a year ago"

    How does a gap shrink and get bigger at the same time?

  • Ok I love my iPhone, I tend to be "on Apple's side"... but this sounds like BS... I mean, there is an absurd number of apps for Android, I think it dwarfs iOS App Store app count... what are they using as their definition of "project"?

    Perhaps the real news here is that a huge chunk of Android developers don't care for Flurry as their analytic solution, at least relatively speaking compared to iOS developers.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

      What's so hard to beleive? Apple had trained their customers to pay for apps.

      • I may have misread the article, I thought it was about started projects, not about sales.

      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by noh8rz3 ( 2593935 )

        I would say that apple has trained their developers to write apps that are worth paying for.

      • I'm not really sure what I said that was so offensive. Am I wrong in thinking developers will follow the money?

        • Android's install base didn't come equal to iOS's until early this afternoon.

          But they're both great, and if you develop for both your installed base target is over 800 million and adding over a million every day. That is where the easiest money is at.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          I'm not really sure what I said that was so offensive. Am I wrong in thinking developers will follow the money?

          You did use a trollish turn of phrase, but you are anything but wrong. A few months back I saw two graphs compared. Android users vs iOS users and then $$$ spent on Android Apps vs $$$ spent on iOS Apps. Hard to understand how Android users could so outnumber iOS users and yet the size (measured in dollar terms) of the iOS App market simply dwarfed Android!

          Apparently Android has successfully c

          • Apparently Android has successfully captured the something-for-free (as in beer) crowd while iOS has got the developers.

            Exactly. That's why Android is so popular on /. Because, underneath all the "Software wants to be free" (as in Freedom) bullshit, 95% of the F/OSS supporters are simply lazy-ass slackers, that just want to leach off of someone else's hard work, and don't contribute one line of code, nor one dime, to ANY F/OSS project. Otherwise, why would so many F/OSS projects die on the vine due to lack of participation and/or funding? I'm not talking about the big, well-known ones; but the thousands of projects that have

        • I'm not really sure what I said that was so offensive. Am I wrong in thinking developers will follow the money?

          No. You're wrong in posting on Slashdot that software might oughta COST money.

    • Re:??? This makes no sense... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Galestar ( 1473827 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:37PM (#40302149) Homepage

      what are they using as their definition of "project"

      New apps that use Flurry Analytics. So you are spot on with:

      Android developers don't care for Flurry as their analytic solution

      Story is bogus</thread>

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by wanzeo ( 1800058 )

        I was going to make my app for both platforms, but then I learned you have to buy a mac with os Lion just to be able to use the most recent xcode.

        Sometimes Google does evil things, but the android SDK with the eclipse integration and the android virtualization, all for free and cross platform, is really, really nice. You could easily release an app for $0 cost other than time. That is the kind of community support that makes me loyal to a company.

    • Re:??? This makes no sense... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by LordLucless ( 582312 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:41PM (#40302183)

      Probably because it's another cherry-picked statistic to support the previously-determined answer they want. Who cares about "projects started" as a metric? How many of those projects are going to even be completed? The reason they picked such a meaningless metric is because it supported the view they wanted to present. I wish /. would stop with these stories. I think it's obvious by now that both Android and iOS are feasible mobile platforms, we don't need fanboys from either side posting their stat-of-the-day that demonstrates that their choice is the best.

      BTW, in the interests of full disclosure, I love my Nexus S and tend to be "on Google's side".

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Belial6 ( 794905 )
        True. Both platforms are WAY past the point of critical mass, and the killer apps for phones are available on both platforms.

      • Probably because it's another cherry-picked statistic to support the previously-determined answer they want. Who cares about "projects started" as a metric? How many of those projects are going to even be completed? The reason they picked such a meaningless metric is because it supported the view they wanted to present.

        To what end? Why should they care who "wins"? Time to wrap some copper foil on your hat; the tinfoil isn't blocking enough of the mind-control waves...

        I wish /. would stop with these stories.

        I'm sure you do. The truth hurts...

        I think it's obvious by now that both Android and iOS are feasible mobile platforms, we don't need fanboys from either side posting their stat-of-the-day that demonstrates that their choice is the best.

        But yet, there you are, bashing on the messenger; which I'll bet you would NOT have done if the statistics had been the other way.

        Fucking hypocrite.

        BTW, in the interests of full disclosure, I love my Nexus S and tend to be "on Google's side".

        As I was sayin'...

        • Yes, I can till from your username you're a font of unbiased wisdom.

          What was that about hypocrits, troll?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I just checked my (Android) phone with Addons Detector and, from the apps with analytics, 60% use Google Analytics and 40% Flurry. Most of the apps with Flurry were games.

    • Re:??? This makes no sense... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:47PM (#40302275)

      I work for a mobile apps company. We *always* develop for iOS first, and if it's successful we'll port to Android. Android is pretty predictably 30% of the iOS revenue, so we gauge whether it's worthwhile. One of the other interesting things is that Apple forces app developers to do things which improves sales. For example, Apple sees that releasing a free app and then providing an in-app purchase for the full version increases revenue on average.. so they have forced us to convert several of our older apps (developed before in-app purchases) into the free-pay model and strongly encourage container apps when content is even remotely similar. Android doesn't force these types of things on you which is better imho but results in lower sales. It should be noted that our experience with sales is not universal, I believe the Angry Birds guys revealed that they get more revenue from Android than iOS.

      • I work for a mobile apps company. We *always* develop for iOS first, and if it's successful we'll port to Android.

        Judging from the app stats, your company is looking like it's well on the way to being an outlier. To tell the truth, I detest Java but for your average knuckledragging app bucket shop, Java is the way to go. You can be really mindless in Java and still get something that basically works. Then port to Objective C if it works out.

        Of course the leet Android coders write it in C++ and just use a Java wrapper to start it.

    • I tend to agree that this is a rather poor study, in that it's based on one source of data from developers who may be exhibiting bias by their very act of contributing data to the survey.

      That said, the iOS App Store still seems to have more apps than the Android App Market. The most recent numbers I can find seem to indicate that the iOS App Store was around 650K yesterday [148apps.biz] while the Android Market was at 450K in late February [pcworld.com], so the iOS App Store probably still commands a 150-200K lead.

      Even so, those numbe

    • Re:??? This makes no sense... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by obarthelemy ( 160321 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @06:11PM (#40302533)

      There's a huge number of apps for both platforms, way beyond what any individual could possibly use. It's time journos grew up moved from a "size" contest to a "quality" contest: it's not about who has the most apps anymore, but about who has the best amongst the 20 that real people actually use (mail, web, maps, FB, twitter, ebooks, video, music, office...). Too bad that's soooo much harder to do articles on: it requires research, tests, hands-on experience....

  • Surprise? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:30PM (#40302021)
    The customer base for I* stuff is obviously much more willing to part with their money than other people (their gadgets are significantly more expensive than others). If you've got to choose one platform or another, it only makes sense to develop for the I* customers.
    • The statistics are only for those apps that use Flurry. Journalism as its best - generalizing from a small sample.

    • umm, let me shoot this down.

      price - you can get an iphone for free (3gs), $100 (iphone 4) or $200 (iphone 4s). how is this more expensive than the spectrum of android systems?

      willingness to pay - as I said above, and the AC above agrees, apple trains developers to write apps that are worth paying for.

      OK, now that I have corrected you, please stop spreading falsehoods. deal?

      • how is this more expensive than the spectrum of android systems?

        How much do these iPhones cost off-contract? A contract-free Android phone starts at $100, and the service starts at $35 (Virgin Mobile USA Beyond Talk).

        • that's not apples to apples because there aren't any old iphones available pre-paid. on VMo you can get a iphone 4 for $500 or an iphone 4s for $650, and pay $30/month service. I'm sure that if apple still made the iphone 3g for vmo it would cost $200 and give you comparable quality as your $100 android. btw i have a $130 lg optimus on vmo, and it sucks ass.

          so you agree for post-paid contracts, there is no price difference between android and iphone, and on the low end (e.g. $0 with contract) iphone is a

          • that's not apples to apples

            You're right: it's Apples to Motorolas, Samsungs, and LGs. Availability on prepaid is another case where Droid does [youtube.com] what [youtube.com] iDon't [youtube.com].

            • iphone 4 and 4gs available on cricket and VMo. Please confirm that you are incorrect. I await your answer.

              • iphone 4 and 4gs available on cricket and VMo.

                This sentence no verb and no tense.

                Google virgin mobile iphone shows that you are correct that Virgin plans to sell the iPhone 4 for $550 (source: nytimes.com) starting June 29 (source: virginmobileusa.com). But 1. that's 16 days away, and 2. Virgin already sells the Motorola Triumph and the HTC Evo (WiMAX version) for about half that (source: virginmobileusa.com).

                • I have this hair, could you slice it for me. you stated that androids were available prepaid, while iphones were not. fact: you are incorrect. iphones are currently available prepaid on Cricket. having been proven incorrect and obtuse on that argument, you back up to a second argument that android phones are cheaper prepaid than androids. I'll direct you the point *I already made* in an earlier post. "I'm sure that if apple still made the iphone 3g for vmo it would cost $200 and give you comparable quality

                • btw the iphone 4 is available on cricket for $400 and your htc evo is on vmo for $300, so the price disparity is small at best.

                  • btw the iphone 4 is available on cricket for $400 and your htc evo is on vmo for $300

                    But what's the price per month? An article in The New York Times states that though Cricket's up-front price is lower than Virgin's, its monthly price is higher.

                    • lmgtfy: vmo plas run 35-55, with a special promotional 30 plan for the new iphone. cricket has just a 55 plan which is equivalent in features to the vmo 55 plan. so the iphone comes out CHEAPER than the htc in TCO.

                    • vmo plas run 35-55, with a special promotional 30 plan for the new iphone. cricket has just a 55 plan which is equivalent in features to the vmo 55 plan.

                      But not everyone needs the $55 plan. Another member of my household has a home phone with unlimited "airtime" for local and 1-800 calls, and I can delay long calls until I get home, so I don't need as many cellular voice minutes as someone who has completely replaced the home phone with a cell phone because he or she lives alone. See this article [collegenews.com] and this NYT article [google.com]. Let's just say "Apple doesn't target the low end".

                    • what's your point? VMo, $30 / month, $550 iphone 4. how is that not the low end/???

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Depends what you are developing and how likely Apple is to use the ban hammer. Plus the cost to get on the App Store is much higher than to get on Google Play, and since you can side load getting on Play isn't even necessary, so for hobbyists and open source projects it is a more attractive platform.

      But yeah, it's true, iOS has far more cracked screen and fart sound generators hoping to cash in on the market.

  • Follow the money (Score:3, Insightful)

    by willoughby ( 1367773 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:32PM (#40302047)

    iOS users have been conditioned to pay for apps, and (I would think) are more likely to pay. I would expect a developer to consider iOS first just because it's more likely to show a return.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      "I would expect a developer to consider iOS first just because it's more likely to show a return."
      Damn straight, sounds like Android users have been conditioned to believe that 99c is far too much to reward developers for their work. Damn cheapskates, buy a phone worth hundreds and expect all their extra games and apps to be free.

      • "I would expect a developer to consider iOS first just because it's more likely to show a return." Damn straight, sounds like Android users have been conditioned to believe that 99c is far too much to reward developers for their work. Damn cheapskates, buy a phone worth hundreds and expect all their extra games and apps to be free.

        I was just about to post something similar.

        Considering the fact that probably 95% of the Apps on the iOS App Store are under $10, there is absolutely zero excuse for pirating.

        But some people just think the world owes them something.

  • More developers concentrate on iOS, leading to better monetization on iOS.

    Apple touts better monetization, and developers continue to concentrate on iOS.

    It's not some big mystery.

    • Re:Self-perpetuating (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Tharsman ( 1364603 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:38PM (#40302153)

      More developers concentrate on iOS, leading to better monetization on iOS.

      Apple touts better monetization, and developers continue to concentrate on iOS.

      It's not some big mystery.

      I can't believe this. I am a developer, I focus first on iOS, but I don't buy more developers focusing on iOS.

      I believe more developers that are willing to invest time and money on polish do go for iOS first. I believe there is more money on iOS. But ignoring quality, just looking at sheer numbers, there are more Android developers out there.

      • I can't believe this. I am a developer, I focus first on iOS, but I don't buy more developers focusing on iOS.

        I believe more developers that are willing to invest time and money on polish do go for iOS first. I believe there is more money on iOS. But ignoring quality, just looking at sheer numbers, there are more Android developers out there.

        When I mentioned "developers," I meant developers willing to devote time/money on their product. Can we no longer just use "developers" as short-hand anymore?

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          "Polish" is the important word. I can spend x hours developing an app that works, but it probably takes 2x to polish it. Depending on the app, polish can take even more than that. Eye candy sells.

          • I hate the word "polish" in this context. when you read it you think it's talking about poland. I propose we spell it "pollish" to avoid any confusion. english is a living language!

            • I hate the word "polish" in this context. when you read it you think it's talking about poland. I propose we spell it "pollish" to avoid any confusion. english is a living language!

              So, we need to polish the wording of our Polish pole poll?

        • Oh, so you mean true developers [wikipedia.org].

          • Oh, so you mean true developers [wikipedia.org].

            Sure, contextuality doesn't mean anything anymore.

            Since when did Slashdot become so pedantic?

            • Since certain of its posters became inept at using the language.

              • Since certain of its posters became inept at using the language.

                Inept in which part? Is there a portion of my argument you failed to understand?

                • How about the part where your context magically modifies the definition of developers to only include those who devote above a certain implicit threshold of time/money on their work? Because here on slashdot, there's no way you could be talking about amateur/indie developers is there?

                  • How about the part where your context magically modifies the definition of developers to only include those who devote above a certain implicit threshold of time/money on their work? Because here on slashdot, there's no way you could be talking about amateur/indie developers is there?

                    How the hell does my definition exclude amateur/indie developers? Sounds more like you're reading what you want into what I said.

                    Are you saying amateur/indie devs don't devote time/money to their work? Because that's definitely not something I inferred.

                    • Time, yes. Money, often not. And it's not just any time and money, it's whatever threshold of time and money that qualify them to meet your definition of a "real" developer.

            • Since when did Slashdot become so pedantic?

              Probably forever. Slashdot users with mod points have been rewarding early-posted pedantry for years. The audience of Slashdot tends to self-select for programming skill, and pedantry is part of programming skill because a computer is probably the most pedantic device in existence.

              • Probably forever. Slashdot users with mod points have been rewarding early-posted pedantry for years. The audience of Slashdot tends to self-select for programming skill, and pedantry is part of programming skill because a computer is probably the most pedantic device in existence.

                That's great and all, but pedantry is detrimental to conversational skill. It is possible to practise skills selectively.

      • I believe there is more money on iOS.

        That's really all you needed to say. You proved my point quite nicely.

  • What Would Duncan Count?

    No......

    Apple's WWDC is on. I would expect iPhone apps to spike now.

  • Doesn't mesh with distimo (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pem ( 1013437 ) on Tuesday June 12, 2012 @05:46PM (#40302261)
    distimo says a lot more apps were released for Android than iOS in the last 4 months [distimo.com].

    It doesn't make sense that Apple's been leading in starts all this time and Google's leading in new entries in the store.

  • significantly more projects are started for iOS than for Android.

    This commercial message has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the big Apple developer conference is going on in San Francisco today. It's entirely coincidental.

    For christ's sake, Apple, couldn't you just have bought some ads instead of all the astroturfing? How about a little something for the effort? Do you know how expensive it is to keep a site like Slashdot going?

  • And that's all I have to say about that.

  • Most developers are lazy when it comes to device testing. Because Android is open-source and so many devices use it there are many different devices developers would have to test the app on. On an iOS device there is only a few by compairison. This has been stated again and again in developers FAQ's and blogs when asked when they are going to come out with an app that is on iOS and not Android. A Big THANKS to developers who do develop for iOS and Android.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Right, because there couldn't be any reason other than pure laziness. *rolls eyes*

  • It's good to see all these apps on either iOS or Android. It just means more apps for for my BlackBerry [crackberry.com] PlayBook! [crackberry.com]

  • And as Atari showed us (probably before most of the flamebaitors in this thread were born), it's the raw number of titles that count!

    Seriously, if you want to whore out to the iOS/Android flamewar for slashdot hits, at least know your basic techie history.

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