On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 8:12 AM, Peter Jeffe <[email protected]> wrote:
> I really think Google > needs to create a more mature developer program that has at least pay- > per-incident support and other levels of support for the developer > community, with dedicated support resources. You aren't dependent on Google doing this. If there is value in such a thing (money to be made), it seems like a good opportunity for someone to provide a service. For what it's worth, I think it is unlikely for Google to do such a thing itself -- it would be hard to justify giving away more money to provide significantly more dedicated support people, and trying to put together a profit making (or just break-even) for-pay support organization just doesn't seem to fit well with Google's business. > If Google doesn't > put this level of investment into building the community then I really > don't believe you can create the kind of ecosystem you need for > Android to thrive. Let's say Google has X amount of money to invest in all of the Android stuff they are giving away... would that money be better invested in supporting device manufacturers to bring out devices, or developers to develop for those devices? Certainly at this point in Android's life, I think getting more devices out is key, so that is the better place to invest. At any rate, Google is already throwing lots of money in to developer support, but doing that in ways that get the most bang for the (given away) buck: SDK documentation, tools, and other high-leverage work. Personally I am very much of the opinion that you have a strong ecosystem primarily by having a lot of shipping product (and thus customers for your developers). I mean, let's say Android devices have 50% of the market... if the Android platform manages to provide a fairly consistent API across those devices, is it going to matter much to the strength of the ecosystem if someone is providing high quality for-pay third party developer support? -- Dianne Hackborn Android framework engineer [email protected] Note: please don't send private questions to me, as I don't have time to provide private support, and so won't reply to such e-mails. All such questions should be posted on public forums, where I and others can see and answer them. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
