Android’s Slow Climb Over Apple

Apple has dominated the mobile market for the past two and a half years when it comes to sales in hardware and in software and in overall mindshare. In fact, I believe people have reached a state of hypnosis by Apple in which all they can do is praise the iPhone. But when it comes down to it, does the iPhone and its app store have a shot at Google in the long run?

I remember when I first saw the iPhone in action. It’s fluid flick scrolling, intuitive interface, and overall beauty when it came to both the hardware and software design. When the app store came out, I thought the concept was genius. But that was two and a half years ago. And guess what, that interface that popped out at me two and a half years ago is getting very old.

If anything it was the first glance at the phone that put the hardware in the hands of the consumer. If it wasn’t the sleek, trendy look, then the status you gained as a person was enough to go out and buy one. Anyone who wanted to look up-to-date or important had an iPhone in their hands pretending to do something. But, that effect wears off eventually. Scratches on the screen and the repetitive menus soon become bland and consumers look for something else new and flashy to look at.

Since then, Android has come out of the Google womb and grown right into success as expected. The developers have done a stunning job modifying and using the help from the open source community to improve their code. I was always a fan of the Android platform because of the freedom it allowed. People could modify code at will, make any application they desired, and didn’t feel dependent on Google to solve their every problem.

Apple was the complete opposite. Firmware update after firmware update released to improve upon software glitches and security issues. The community was hardly involved in the modifying of the Apple OS and, although the developers over at Apple are very good at what they do, they are human and make mistakes like the rest of us. Depending on someone else to debug and run the code that protects your files and information can be a bit demanding. So why did so many people bother buying the iPhone? It was the app store.

Apple’s release of the app store was the major revolution in the software development world. Anyone with a For Dummies book and enough patience to conquer the SDK could start raking in profit from app sells. Soon the business boomed and more divisions of the app store began to break out. It had become a living, breathing, money making animal. Developers had dollars signs in their eyes as they made app after app. Some actually useful, and some not so much. But it was this dividing feature that allowed Apple to separate itself from the crowd as a phone manufacturer.

This community of home-grown developers has now reached a limiting point for a couple reasons. For one, there are just so many apps created that no one can hardly be heard in the app store. Secondly, is Apple’s approval process. Apple and AT&T’s forbidden app features (i.e. duplicate functionality) has drastically reduced the subjects in which apps can be made. Just about every app in the store has its duplicate (how many fart applications do we need?)and developers are starting to realize that the big bucks have already been taken and its time to move on to another platform. Just take a look at this chart:

[via AppsFire]

This chart shows the percentage of people who have downloaded an app at a certain rank. So if your app is ranked anywhere after the 1000 mark barely anyone is downloading your app if anyone at all. It’s a harsh world trying to make an app that will sell well in the app store. And that’s a turn off to developers.

So where am I going with this? Well Apple has this head start on the Android project, so it was not surprising Android phones did not sell well at first. But look at them now. Android-based phones are now becoming some of the most powerful and respected smartphones on the market. Especially now that a bunch of rejected and lonely developers are looking for a new place to call home.

The Android platform has already beaten Apple in hardware diversity. With many phones (and other mobile devices) on many networks coming out with some version of Android on them, the availability of Android is spreading. Just in the past few months Android has released the majority of their phones onto the market and they already have upwards of 10% of all phone OS’s used in the United States.

[via GetClicky]

Let’s also accept the fact that Google has teams devoted toward supercharging their apps by using their own brainiacs to code them. Take, for instance, the recent releases of Google Goggles and the free turn-by-turn navigation. Both natively coded by the teams over at Google, and not surprisingly, there is no way for Apple to match that.

Google has fostered this community to life by providing them all of the tools and just about no limitations to how each developer uses them. This Android landscape is the most diverse communities out there ranging from Google’s own PhD devs as well as Billy, the 13 year old kid with an interest in programming. With this landscape of community collaboration, it’ll be very hard for Android to end up failing in the end.

Just in conclusion, Apple is in decline. It’s booming business has hit its peak, developers are not getting noticed, and there are just too many apps to compete with. Their shady approval process and their guidelines that apps have to follow are a huge limiting factor in the creativity of the developers. However, Android is looking up with many devices being released on all carriers and apps being made in the Google laboratories as well as a suburban home. As time goes on, Android will grow more and more, while Apple will, at best, maintain its number of users.

Agree or disagree? Drop a comment below.

E-mail the author [hunterclarke at layeredbyte dot com]