Is there a reason developer aren't converting apps over to android market?

[knighthonor]

Can somebody here with some experience in the apple iphone development field clear this up for me? Why aren't apple developers converting their apps to android market? Is the a issue in doing so? Seems like a good idea on the surface. Because in multiple markets, the developer would be able to sell more.
Why limit? That's the overall question.

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[SixStringTheory]

Well take my friend for example. Him and a friend write iPhone apps. Some proprietary stuff for companies, some apps for the market. But they don't have Android devices, don't know much about them. They're very good programmers but just don't have any experience with Android.

It would be a legitimately large amount of work to port things to Android. Some programs like Titanium allow you to write in javascript/python and cross compile to multiple platforms, but not everyone uses it, and even then it's only so powerful compared to writing natively.

So its' not like you just take an iPhone app project, hit "build android app" and submit it to the Android Market. Even large companies would have to devote a lot of resources to supporting a separate development team for Android. And if they use their current iPhone developers, that slows down iPhone development.

And for really big companies, these decisions take a long time to make. A lot of people need to agree on it and those meetings aren't short. You'll see most companies develop for both in time. Most big apps like Pandora are quickly available on all platforms.

 

[hookbill]

I think it's because Android people don't want to pay good money for quality apps. I've said this many times.

 

[stumbleflyx]

It seems like apple hogs up all the apps for musicians like guitar port where you can plug a guitar in to your iphone sanoma wire works doesn't make for android. Line 6 as well

sent from stock dx

 

[garrett]

I think it's because Android people don't want to pay good money for quality apps. I've said this many times.

bingo...

there is very little money to be made in the android market vs the iTunes store. I don't blame them one bit why waste their time porting an app to android when its not going to make much money when you can make another iPhone app and make a decent living.

not to mention its too easy to decompile an app to get the source code on android then someone can steal your code and use it as their own. When on iphone/ipad/ipod the source code is pretty well protected.

 

[cpjr]

I think it's because Android people don't want to pay good money for quality apps. I've said this many times.

+1000, unfortunately.

 

[debdroid1a]

They don't think there's a market for Android because no one said anything. Android users didn't ask them to or enough Android users ask them. Or they think there isn't enough Android users out there.

They don't think there's a market for money (as said in above posts) for Android because they think everyone wants free aps (would 30 million people downloaded Angry Birds had it been a paid ap? not saying they're not making money off the ads, but several play in airplane mode or root to get rid of ads).

They think Android isn't long lasting, just a fad. I don't agree with that, but some people don't think Android will last, especially with the iphone on Verizon.

iPhone was their first app and with each new apple item they have to keep up with updating and changing the apps. An iphone app may have to be changed to work on an ipad and then for the ipad2, same with the iphone versions. So they don't have time to make Android apps.

And as said above, the time, knowledge and skills required to make it into an Android app.

Just some thoughts as to why...

Now some of these can be reversed to get Android Apps.

Letting developers know we want them on Android.
Paying for quality Apps.
Not saying you'll switch to Apple if....
Supporting Android devices.

 

[turdbogls]

I think it's because Android people don't want to pay good money for quality apps. I've said this many times.

this is complete BS imo. I, as well as many others, are completely willing to pay $$ for a good app. dont make your personal opinions about the entire android fan-base.

the main reason i believe is because it takes time to port it over...it basically has to be completely re-written since they are in different code languages. obviously there is money to be made in the android market...take angry birds for example....it is free and brings in millions for the developer because it is a great game. i think if other great app store games make it to android, they will be a huge success. but they have to take into consideration the plethora of apps already available in the android store that do the same thing as their app does. for some, it makes sense to do, for others (mainly app makers not game makers) it just doesn't seem worth it.

 

[SkullOne]

A lot of it honestly is because of Apple's BS about what you can and can't use to develop the iOS application. The applications Apple allows don't play well with Android since the code base is different. This forces most developers to choose between the two platforms. Which one is better is totally up to the developer.

Early on some developers used development programs that are now deemed illegal by Apple. In layman's terms these applications kind of "wrapped" the code in an iOS blanket so that ran correctly under iOS. That same code could then be "wrapped" for use on Android as well.

However, you do see some great applications cross-platformed even now. Zenonia and Angry Birds for instance. I think you would see more cross-platform applications if Apple would allow developers to use whatever development application they wanted.

 

[kodiak799]

Most good and profitable apps will find their way over to Android. And to the extent this discussion often seems to be more about games, the next gen of phones along with Gingerbread advancements is going to help tremendously.

Where you probably will see things fall through the cracks is an app with limited purpose/audience might do ok selling 25,000 copies on IOS. But spread across the Android ecosystem it just might not be profitable enough.

There's probably cool stuff out there I might like and use, but personally I'm very satisfied with what I have and it covers pretty much everything I need and want. Honestly there are probably only a handful of programs I regularly use and they are all excellent.

 

[czerdrill]

I think it's because Android people don't want to pay good money for quality apps. I've said this many times.

bingo...

there is very little money to be made in the android market vs the iTunes store. I don't blame them one bit why waste their time porting an app to android when its not going to make much money when you can make another iPhone app and make a decent living.

not to mention its too easy to decompile an app to get the source code on android then someone can steal your code and use it as their own. When on iphone/ipad/ipod the source code is pretty well protected.

Exactly. If you want money, you don't build an android app haha. Piracy runs rampant on android and it's honestly not worth the time for successful ios developers (individuals) to port their successful apps over to android. Add on top of that the fragmentation, and you're getting an even less return on investment.

However, major companies will definitely port their apps over, only because they have to provide for their users.

 

[debdroid1a]

Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer

 

[ilikemoneygreen]

Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer

Just speculation on my part but i think its because Pocket Legends is a good quality game. Their arnt too many of those on Android, which is why their are so many downloads. Most games i play are simple and are like low quality puzzeles, Pocket Legends is eye candy in a good game. Just my Opinion. If you had 200 good games like pocket legends then i think income would even out more with iOS and Android.

 

[czerdrill]

Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer

Pocket Legends has a huge following on ios and thats what explains its success on Android. Same with Angry birds. There is no "basement app developer" who can make the same amount of money on Android as he could on iOS. And remember the developers of these games are companies who have the money to make money (marketing). They're not some individual trying to become successful. If you're trying to make serious money developing apps as a basement dev, Android is the last place you want to do it.

 

[ilikemoneygreen]

Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer

Pocket Legends has a huge following on ios and thats what explains its success on Android. Same with Angry birds. There is no "basement app developer" who can make the same amount of money on Android as he could on iOS. And remember the developers of these games are companies who have the money to make money (marketing). They're not some individual trying to become successful. If you're trying to make serious money developing apps as a basement dev, Android is the last place you want to do it.

+1 He speaks the truth. I guess one newbie could strike lucky with a simple $3 app on android but you really have to put in some money to get a quality product which IMO prolly has a couple devs in and then you release it. Quality products make more moolah which really isnt surprising. iOS i have a different expectation as Android. Android i expect mostly free apps with a couple paid but on iOS i expect to pay out $$ for an app with a rare free one once in a while. Usually paid apps are more polished though, because $$ keeps the devs interested. I would love it if more apps were ported like Netflix but what can you do? Own both platforms, lol, thats what. iTouch for the funny buisness like games and Netflix and Android for all my mail and important stuff with a couple simple games and my music. Not that iTouch sucks at the music, i just flat refuse to deal with itunes;iTunes code is not allowed to touch my pc (it will blow up into a million pieces!!).