Unless *developers* make plenty of money on Android, chances are users *won’t* be able to play the next Angry Birds on their Android phones.  

Angry Birds itself took more than a year to arrive on Android after originating on Apple’s iOS and if the income is not there developers will hold off even more or not develop for Android at all as is the case with many apps.

It’s not a question of whether Apple or Google themselves make money or not (although that does have implications long term), 

-Mart

Choice is certainly good from that perspective, but what I felt was bad was the triumphalism that wanted to place the crown on Google itself and have Android win completely.  That would also be bad in it’s own way and I think it far better that we have a market with strong competing ecosystems and not have a single winner.

With the amount of pro-Android hype out there, I’ve felt it important to redress the balance and highlight the disadvantages of “open” and fragmented vs “closed” and integrated.

For Apple to win, I don’t believe Google has to lose and vice versa.  This is not Highlander.  :-)

-Mart

So Basically what your saying is “Choice is bad and a Monopoly is Good?” That is the exact reason why I don’t like Apple and its App Store. It can and is bullying Developers to sing to its tune. What Happens if in the future Apple says “oh wait, we want a 50% cut of sales?” The developers have to suck it up and live with it. Where as on Android they have the option to ditch one App Store and Migrate to the next. Now please don’t try to defend Apple on this issue since it has already enforced rules like my example but not as bad.

Yes it creates more complexity to consumers and developers but its not bad as people try to say it is. Angry Birds issue you mentioned is right, but they have the choice not to go after those phones and develop for it. Same thing will happen or has happened on the iphone. Older Iphones can’t run the latest apps due to hardware limitations. Its just more prominent on Android due to the faster release cycles. This is not a bad thing since the technology is pushed forward at a faster pace. When the retina screen was introduced I believe apps had to be rewritten to support it.

I understand we have different mind sets. I like choice where as you like everything straight forward. We will not agree on the subject but you can’t deny that Choice is Good.

This is the bad old days all over again. And people complain about a difficult to discovery process on the iOS app store.

Oh and Vesterbrock is a bit disingenuous saying “Device fragmentation not the issue” considering only one month earlier Rovio had issued an apology for poor performance of Angry Birds across a variety of Android devices, explaining that, “despite our efforts, we were unsuccessful in delivering optimal performance.”

The company added, “So far, we have hesitated to create multiple versions of Angry Birds for the Android platform. But judging by the feedback we have received, we feel that by providing a lightweight solution, we are doing a favor for our fans. We are currently developing a lighter solution to run Angry Birds on lower-end Android devices.”

-Mart

You make it seem that there are no Android competitors to the iPod touch when that is patently untrue.

Archos for example has been one of the biggest Android challengers to the iPod touch to date and despite fielding a wide range of 2.7″, 3.2″, 4.3″ mini media player tablets has still only managed 7.8% of this market in France – their home market – and they were worse elsewhere.  Similarly Samsung with their Galaxy Player 50 has been a non-starter.

The iPod touch, just like the iPad, continues to dominate the market no matter what competitors throw at it and crying “it’s not fair” makes no difference to developers whose apps run just as well on that and the iPad as well as the iPhone.  This article is about app platforms not smartphones.

If you want to talk smartphones only, then compare the iPhone against Samsung or Motorola or HTC’s smartphones.  

If you want to compare operating systems and app platforms then compare all of Android with all of iOS. 

You can’t have it half one way and half the other way just to make sure your favorite platform wins.

As far as Verizon sales are concerned, do you really think sales on that carrier will stop now?  Haven’t you seen AT&T’s iPhone sales numbers which each quarter keep growing in leaps and bounds?  Why would that not continue on Verizon as more customers come to the ends of their contracts as well?

Regarding Galaxy Tab sales, we all know Android boosters like to crow about Samsung shipping 2 million tablets.  Don’t change your tune just because it destroys your argument of “we should only count smartphones”.

-Mart

Thanks for the link. It seems my article and your article contradict each other. As for “but rather the fragmentation of the ecosystem. So many different shops, so many different models.” I Believe competition is always good. Now that Amazon is in the business of Selling Apps as well, Google can’t sit back and relax and neither can Amazon since it wants to make money. End of the day consumers have a greater choice and developers will slowly get more bargaining power. Fragmented eco-system? All I see is potential. Consumers have been trained to be babies by Apple and have the one-stop-all shops but with Android we will be able be Smart Consumers and shop around. whats wrong with that?

Let me share some numbers with you then. http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/26/nielsen-consumer-desire-for-android-grows-unlike-ios-and-blackberry/
Here Nielsen shows that the Desire to buy an Android over the iphone is greater. I’ve seen this a number many times and till that it used to be the desire for an Iphone was much greater than Androids. This clearly shows that consumers going forward might opt for an Android over an iphone. Itouch on the other hand is clearly a different story.

If you say that it is only “fair” to compare iSO to Android OS, I cannot agree with that at all. From a Developers perspective, yea iOS numbers might matter but in purely “fair” comparison of Apples to Apples, it is not. iOS usage share consists of ALOT of Itouch’s, I don’t have the numbers between iphone vs itouch’s in the iOS but I bet you do. The COST of owning an Android or Iphone is soooooooooooo much greater than the cost of owning an Itouch. So it is not a fair comparison just like apple fan boys love touting that Iphone to Android is not a fair comparison. When and If Android starts targeting the PMP market, (not just manufacturers building PMP using it), it can be called a fair comparison. The point is Android has clearly eclipsed the iPhone in the Smartphone race, even when consumers have to shell out ~$100 a month, where as the owner of an Itouch does not need to do that. Steve Jobs said once Android was nothing to worry about, now Android is outselling his Iphone. So now its iOS usage has nothing to worry about. We will see.

If you have been following Android vs iOS or Iphone drama over the last two years, like I have, you cannot deny that fact that each and every month when statistics come out from comscore or neilson or ndp or mobilix, a Statistic that Once showed Iphone was dominating was slowly but steady being crushed by Android. My Point stands, If Apple does not do anything drastic, Android will continue to dominate and developers will jump ship towards Android.
FYI opening up the App Store was Drastic move by Apple, one that it clearly opposed at having at the start of the Iphone, but later changed its mind on. (if what I remember is correct) It was the hacker community who showed Apple what an amazing phone it could be. So Before you go around touting Apples App Store is the Best, learn your history. If it werent for the hacker community, who Apple hates, your amazing App Store you love to defend would not exist.

To refute some of your points
“It is as if when comparing the Windows operating system versus Mac OS X or Linux you only ever considered laptop numbers.”
This is clearly a horrible anecdote. Iphone vs an Itouch clearly has a phone part to it which carries a huge monthly expense. A consumer could easily buy an Itouch without worrying about paying more money every month. Iphone, an Android not so much.

“I am not denying that. What I am pointing out is that Android growth is now quite obviously slowing down and plateauing even though Android fans desperately try to deny it.”
We will see if it plateaus at all or not. It is way to early to say anything. In the same regard I could say Iphone is losing market share month to month and a developer would be dumb to put his hopes on it?

“In fact in Q1 2011, for the first time since Android began it’s break-neck growth, NPD reports that Android’s share of quarterly sales in the US smartphone market shrank quarter-to-quarter (by 6% in fact) to 50%.”
This was during the quarter that the iphone 4 was released on Verizon. Probably A lot of people bought it and it tipped the scales a little in Apples favor, Same will happen again when Iphone 5 is released. BUt Android phones are released year around and therefore you cannot argue that its plateauing from this number.

“What’s even more amusing is you are more than happy to include the Dell Streak, the Samsung Galaxy tab”
I don’t believe these sold that well and therefore would have minimal impact on the usage numbers.

Unless you bring more valid points and useful information to the table other than stats, stats, and more stats, I’m done commenting. This was entertaining but now I’m bored reading All thos stats.

Peter Verterbacka, the “Mighty Eagle” of Rovio, makers of Angry Birds on 27th of December said:
“Apple will be the number one platform for a long time from a developer perspective, they have gotten so many things right. And they know what they are doing and they call the shots. Android is growing, but it’s also growing complexity at the same time. Device fragmentation not the issue, but rather the fragmentation of the ecosystem. So many different shops, so many different models. The carriers messing with the experience again. Open but not really open, a very Google centric ecosystem. And paid content just doesn’t work on Android.”

-Mart