My scribble

While reading Marco Armet’s blog about removing instapaper-for-free, I noticed something that has been happening to Android for a while now.

He writes:

I don’t need every customer. I’m primarily in the business of selling a product for money. How much effort do I really want to devote to satisfying people who are unable or extremely unlikely to pay for anything?

(This is also a major reason why I have no plans to enter the Android market.)

Majority of app development directed towards direct monetization is happening in iOS with Apple coming out with end-user-pleasing products.

Despite Apple’s too much controlling of iOS dev platform, app market is still buzzing & it’d be safe to say that the best apps are being released for iPhone & iPad.

I do feel that Android & iOS can both stay Hot but it doesn’t sound realistic. There has been a staggering increase in Android sales in last few quarters in the US, yet with all devices combined, iOS still leads by a fair margin. Why are these millions in sales not helping Google & Android?

Its openness & flexibility have already benefited android but that market leadership still remains elusive.

What is it that Android can do to attract better app developer community (which would lead to the ultimate success)?

1. Fragmentation – the single biggest problem

Multiple (& confusing) Android platforms are a major spoilsport for a developer. It doesn’t help users either, causing frequent crashes when you try to download an app developed on a different platform.

2. Monetization

Google needs to come up with monetization strategies for Android, otherwise ‘serious’ developers will continue walking out. Of course, the recent monetization efforts from Google providing purchasing APIs, currency conversions have helped but it needs to stretch further.

3. Better ways to connect to the end-user

This simply means that Google needs to come up or have someone else come up with a kickass Android product. With several efforts underway, could Amazon tablet be that one killer punch that Android needs?

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So, out of all ecosystem-focused-and-open-dev-platform products – Facebook has just started making big money (only after reaching a gigantic user base), Twitter despite having more than 200 Million users is still figuring out a growth strategy & Android with its attractive options, seems struggling.

Time’ll tell!