Going back to the original topic of comparing with iPhone, here's how I summarize my experience with both platforms so far:
1. Android is a more powerful platform with greater flexibility in what it allows developers to do, both in terms of applications features, and development process & tools available. 2. In terms of potential for the future, Android holds forth much more promise by being ported to a variety of types of devices, and getting contributions from companies & individuals coming at it from different perspectives, whereas iPhone will go only where one company wants it to go. The true openness of Android may be debatable (as evidenced in this thread), but the true closed nature of iPhone is undebatable, as is the RELATIVE openness of Android compared with any other mobile OS. 3. Perhaps as a result of this greater openness in the SDK, Android pays a price in terms of poorer performance and stability (when multiple apps are running amok with their background proceses on a phone) and slower concerted movement and progress in any one direction,. 4. Apple exercises extremely tight-fisted control over the developer's pipeline in terms of provisioning profiles, phone ID's, certificates, itunes to phone restrictions, and such. After tasting the openness and free-wheeling nature of developing on Android, the iphone dev process feels very stifling. Add to that Apple's imposition of a gag order on discussion of its SDK's limitations, and the whole experience leaves a bad taste in the mouth. 5. However, Apple's approval process and SDK restrictions actually result in an iphone user experience that is MUCH more satisfying within each app, and a MUCH more happy ownership experience for the iPhone owner, while restricting the range of apps that can be built; whereas the lack of supervision, marketing and support on the Android front makes it more akin to the wild west both for users and developers. So, in my experience, it is a very mixed bag, with no clear winner. One platform is more mature, far more user-friendly, larger in volume with greater immediate promise of $$, but discouragingly restrictive on developers. The other platform is (relatively) a joy to develop on, has great potential, but also very frustrating for the lack of support and direction provided. So while this debate can rage on ad infinitum, in practical terms as a developer committed to mobile app development, I see no alternative but to have a leg on each side of the fence, while hoping that Android by year end will be in a much more happy place in terms of volume and streamlined direction from Google. PS: As a point of comparison, Blackberry I feel is somewhere in between in the App World JDE development model. The API's are more capable that iPhone's but less than Android's, their support is excellent & better than the other two, their rules far less restrictive than Apple's; but I am finding a lot of vagaries and bugs on their latest device, the Storm. I'd be very curious to hear how the new Palm OS stacks up against these incumbents. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" 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-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
