My thoughts and some graphs on how bad of a problem Android’s fragmentation is for developers and users.
Measuring Android Version Fragmentation
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Tag Archives: apps
The Difference Between the Top 10 iPhone & Android Applications
Maybe the best example of the differences between iPhone users and Android users is the difference between the top apps for the respective devices. Here are the lists of top apps from Retrevo:
Top 10 iOS Apps
- Angry Birds
- Angry Birds Rio
- Tiny Wings
- Fruit Ninja
- Where’s Waldo?
- Tetris
- Words With Friends
- The Sims 3
- Cut The Rope
- Plants Vs. Zombies
Top 10 Android Apps
- Beautiful Widget
- Rom Manager *Premium*
- Root Explorer
- Fruit Ninja
- Better Keyboard
- Robo Defense
- SetCPU
- Weatherbug Elite
- Titanium Backup Pro
- Power AMP *Full Version*
As much as Android fans love to tout how customizable their phones are, I think the fact that the top apps are almost all ways to change CPU settings, manage RAR archives, and other random hardware tweaks is a little crazy. I’m not sure what a normal Android user thinks when they first check the app store and sees this kind of stuff.
Bypass Lane: Skip the concessions line with an app
Bypass Lane is a service that lets you use your phone to order food and then skip the concessions line at ballparks. It’s a great looking app and well designed website too. There’s an HTML5 web app along with native apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. I originally saw it advertised at the Ballpark in Arlington. I didn’t get to try the app at the game (the service isn’t available up in the cheap seats) but it seems like a great idea to avoid long lines at a big game.
Why Mobile Apps Will Soon be Dead
A great article talking about the many advantages of the mobile web. A couple of great notes from the article. First, on the reach of the World Wide Web compared to the app stores:
One word: distribution. There are 2 billion web users versus 50 million iOS users.
And what’s in it for developers…
With web apps, developers could code once and be reasonably confident their app will work on any object — phone, tablet, laptop, etc. — with a standards-compliant browser. The implications for developer time and resources are profound.