Apple, Windows, or Android..

Monkey Archive Forums/Digital Discussion/Apple, Windows, or Android..

Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#1]
Sup peeps..

Currently sitting with an iPhone 4, contract should be coming up for renew in a few months at which point I will be able to pick my new phone.

I love the iPhone it's simply a dream to use, but given that I dont have an apple computer to develop with I am considering either a Windows Phone or some Android phone, was wondering which you guys would recommend.

Is the Android market, or is it googleplay now ? still heavily pirated ? whats windows 7/8 market like ?

I will of course be releasing to the phone I get so am interested in how their current markets are doing.


Xaron(Posted 2012) [#2]
It is Google Play now. ;)

Ok my 2 cents here. I have an Android phone (with Android 4.0 ICS) and a windows phone (WP 7.5) plus an iPod touch.

Here are my views on the markets:

Google Play

Pros:
- very easy to submit apps there
- no reviews, instant updates
- they pay even if you've only made 79 cents in a month (like I did in the beginning LOL)
- you can set ANY price you want to, even 0.01$
Cons:
- no reviews, a lot of crap, virtually millions of useless apps there
- it's very hard to get attraction
- paid apps can't be made free and vice versa!

I can't say anything about piracy here, I haven't seen any impact but I guess because I'm not important enough. ;)

Windows Phone Marketplace

Pros:
- less apps, less high quality apps, so your apps might be found easier
- you don't have dozens of different hardware, OS versions and resolutions to care about which is a horror
Cons:
- WP7 store and app submission was a bit, well, special which is totally different (and much better!) for Windows 8 now
- they pay after you made $200

Apple Appstore

Pros:
- hmm... it's just THE appstore
Cons:
- hard to get attraction there, harder than for Android I'd say
- with iOS6 you can only see ONE app and have to swipe left/right to see the next one instead of having a list, so if you are not in the first five search hits, forget it

All in all my most successful app Battleship (now called Sea Battle because of Hasbro) has been sold very steady in a ratio of 20:10:5 (Android:iPhone:WP7). WP7 was very strong in the beginning because there where just only a few apps so your app can be found more easily, a hope I have for WP8 as well!

But what's the BEST market so far for me is Amazon! I've more than twice the downloads compared to Google Play.

Regarding Windows Phone 8: If I had to choose to buy a new phone I'd probably buy one of the new Lumias. I already like WP7.5 and think that Microsoft has created something very solid here.


Gerry Quinn(Posted 2012) [#3]
The money seems to be in iOs right now. It is popular, and its users buy software.

Windows apps that are out early will surely get a boost.

Androids are cheap. You can develop on PC and test with any cheap device.

Still, the whole point of Monkey is that you can be target-agnostic. I guess if you look at the posts from people who have made successful products, you can try to parse where the market is - but with any individual product, you really don't know anyway.


Paul - Taiphoz(Posted 2012) [#4]
Yeah well it will deff be either Android or Windows, I really cant afford the cash to buy a Mac at the moment, so the app store is out unless they change their policy on xcode .

Thanks for the info guys, I am leaning toward Android at the moment, how much of a pain is android when it comes to all the different versions, and screen sizes and all that crap ?


Xaron(Posted 2012) [#5]
To be honest, the Android platform is the worst regarding all different device resolutions/hardware and so on.

But, it's not that much pain. All you need is some clever virtual resolution handling. That's not a biggy.

If you want to submit an app for iOS as well, let me know. I can help you with that - using your dev account if you trust me (I take that very confidential).


Tri|Ga|De(Posted 2012) [#6]
I have published games for all three platforms and must say that iOS and WP gives more downloads.

As for payed Apps I only have Apps on iOS and Android and here the best place to earn some money was iOS. But thats in my case I don't if thats different for other people.


smilertoo(Posted 2012) [#7]
I'm considering upgrading my wp8 to a lumia920, ios is the biggest marketplace but its flooded with 0.69p games.


Why0Why(Posted 2012) [#8]
I am definitely buying a Lumia 920 the day they hit. This is by far the tightest piece of phone hardware available. I think MS hit a homerun with Windows Phone 8(and Windows 8.) The OS is very innovative and with the gorgeous hardware and ease of use, I think it will start getting market traction.

It was a bold move to go cross platform like they did, but necessary, IMHO. Everything I have read in the last day or two makes me want the Lumia even more. Come on AT&T, get it in stock already!

I wish I had the foresight to get something together and get it out there with the release of these phones. It is probably the best time ever before the market gets diluted like iOS and Android has.


Gerry Quinn(Posted 2012) [#9]
With Android at least you can download the emulator and try a variety of virtual machines, and hopefully get some sort of adequate interface on most of them.


Gerry Quinn(Posted 2012) [#10]
With Android at least you can download the emulator and try a variety of virtual machines, and hopefully get some sort of adequate interface on most of them.


Why0Why(Posted 2012) [#11]
The new Windows 8 Phone SDK has an emulator as well.


Gerry Quinn(Posted 2012) [#12]
I didn't know that, but I kind of assumed that it wouldn't be too hard to develop for Windows given any sort of windows machine.


Xaron(Posted 2012) [#13]
At least you need Windows 8 to even install the Windows Phone 8 SDK. ;)


skid(Posted 2012) [#14]
Android is about 3 years behind for audio / music apps and none of the big names are publishing for it.

It's the same for 3D entertainment, sure Android has 1 gazillion Unity games made by amateurs but they are all pants from what I can make out.

If you haven't got any apps on your current phone that you could live without and want cheap dev costs I would move to Android, Samsung outsell Apple in most parts of the world by a huge margin and hence the market sizes are becoming very large indeed.


Sammy(Posted 2012) [#15]
Android is an easy dev platform, grab your phone/tablet, install the SDK and that's it. No farfing around with MacOSX unless you want to, no forced purchasing of Apple hardware... just stick the device in and go, what a relief it was to me to find such an easy to develop for mobile platform compared to all the hoops Apple put in front of you.


Gerry Quinn(Posted 2012) [#16]
Plus, the fact that the software on Android is so bad generally should at least mean there are opportunities to do better.


Xaron(Posted 2012) [#17]
LOL true.


Why0Why(Posted 2012) [#18]
The problem is finding good software is like finding a needle in a haystack with half a million crappy apps. It is amazing how much bad stuff is out there.