Android apps do have to paid for, true there are some freebies, but there are freebies in the iStore thingamy whatsit.
Yeah, but there are more free apps on Android. Still, that isn't the point. The point is that it is more difficult to get well paid on Android. I have read and heard this basically everywhere. I don't know how this manifests itself, but I have my suspicions. It may be piracy, and it may just be that expensive apps just don't sell much among the Android crowd, forcing developers to reduce the price.
My bf's company has just demanded that he make and app for iOS and in order to do this, they are having to buy a top of the range Apple laptop with all the latest software and stuff on it, and he will have to reload an "iOS Friendly" version of Linux. We both dislike Apple's design over function style and think it is hilarious that in order to even look at making a single app, they will have to shell out for all this new tech because you cannot make an iOS app on anythong other than an Apple product.
I know about Apple's policies, all right. They are big on combining their various product into a system. Yes, it is restrictive, but there are advantages to that, too. They can keep greater control over all parts of that system, which benefits them, but could also benefit the customer, due to less fragmentarion. Yes, they are probably doing it for their own benefit, mainly.
Still, if what I read and hear is true, the iOS community is probably paying for most of your bf's salary, so I think a few things can be endured.
What I can't understand is why people are still willingly buying into a product that is so closed from all other OSs and is still DRM encoded, it is just insane.
Because it is rather effortless to handle, from a user perspective. Some people don't like to be overloaded with tons of unnecessary crap on the desktop, and needless customization.
I am not really a technical noob. I have studied computer science and programming at university, but even I find it relieving not to have loads of things to set up.
Plus, the closed system means it is more closed to viruses and malware (although it exists, despite what Apple says). Considering there are LOADS of people without any particular technical interest at all, who just want to call, SMS, browse the web and send some mails, I strongly disagree with your opinion that it is hard to understand.
Plenty of people pay for Android apps, but the average Android user is less likely to complain openly and strongly enough about not being supported than an Apple user, they hope that eventually Android apps will be released, or, they will make their own and put it on the Android Market (now for some reason called the "Play store").
It doesn't matter if you think plenty of people pay for Android apps. The fact is that basically every source I have seen on the subject say they pay (much) less. This being the case, they have far less right to complain. The party that is relatively reluctant (statistially) to pay for a service must endure more shortcomings in that service.
Every other phone uses Android. Only Apple uses iOS and it isn't even a very good OS.
Oh, I very much beg to differ. It does what it sets out to do rather flawlessly, and it is intuitive. I realize the closed system isn't for everyone, but then just don't buy it. Why do you have to make such a fuss about it?
Look at the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet I have, and compare it to and Apple iPad...the iPad looks like a child's plaything rather than a useful business tool, but Lenovo are an old company, that work well and are reliable and enduring. But hardly anyone knows who they are. And that is one of the main reasons I think people are purchasing Apple products. Apple are dominating people's minds so much that people don't even know that there are other, better options out there, or that Apple isn't actually that original...
Better for business, why? Apple's products's simplicity of usage, consistency and lack of malware means business risks less, and allowing them to focus on their main business goals.
Apple is easier to buy stuff from, if you have an iTunes account (I am really hating putting a stupid little i before all their words...) and Android people don't have that ease of access.
Exactly, and that is most important for a lot of (paying) people.
But again if you get a new device, you have to rebuy all Apple apps.
Last I checked, the iTunes account remembers apps you already purchased, so "rebuying" them is just a matter of downloading them to the new device.
Android is an open platform which is great. Apple isn't. For Apple users there is no other option than their iStore or whatever it is, for Android, there is a much much wider choice...
Do you know that App Store is still the largest collection of apps? Yes, larger than Google Play. And that is, despite more rigorous quality checks, that they actually work on devices. The rest of Android, I am not sure about, but I heard some manufacturers have their own stores.
That first article ends with "The combination of great hardware, great operating system and a great application ecosystem makes iOS THE premier smartphone platform of our times. The profit numbers prove it". Now that is a horrific way to determine the 'best'. Profit is silly, Apple are overpriced so will have bigger profit anyway, but are they saying Apple's profit are better than Samsungs? or Sony Mobile's? Or all Android mobile systems?
Yes, Apple makes by far the greatest share of the profit in the mobile market, if the numbers I have read are anywhere near correct. Not that it proves it better, no. It makes it most sustainable, in a market economy, though.
Also Betamax was significantly superior to VHS but VHS still won that battle. Profit does not indicate 'better'. is an IKEA flat pack desk unit 'better' than a more expensive hand crafted by a carpenter made to fit your exact dimensions required desk because IKEA sell more of them? No. The hand crafted desk is better. It suits perfectly what you want it to do and costs more, but they sell less of them and so have a much smaller profit than IKEA's compromise skinny make do desk that sort of does what you want it to.
Ok, now let's get things straight, here.
In your previous post, you complained that iOS gets prioritized over Android by app developers. It was in that context that I explained the profits are in that platform. Just ripping the whole profit argument out of that context is kind of fallacious, to be honest.
Moreover, you just pull a quote out of an entire article to discredit it.
The fact is that not all app developers are enthusiasts making things for the benefit of the community. Some are, but not all. There are companies, and create an app with expenses of developing it only to have it pirated and/or sold at lower than expected prices will make said companies lose interest in the platform, especially when another platform makes piracy awfully hard (or maybe impossible) and the users of that other platform can and will pay more. The choice to make apps for iOS first, Android second (if at all) is only natural for companies that actually make the apps to get paid. Small companies might not even survive if they make app for the platform where they will get paid less.
And anyway, profit isn't really all that silly, at least within the current economic system. It is what drives all companies in a market economy. Granted, people can get shortsighted by only looking at that, and I don't like people with an ultra-economic outlook on life, but the point was still that app making third party developers have been given more incentive to develop for iOS.
I am not saying Android will die. Not at all. It clearly has plenty of fans, and they may develop their own apps. However, its users may have to live with certain developers making their apps later (if ever) to that system.
Basically, an open vs. closed system is clearly a tradeoff, which is where I think we disagree. You seem to only want to see the good things of the open platform, ignoring any weaknesses it might have that might drive developers away, and therefore pin any problems you encounter that fundamentally has to do with your favourite system on something else, that has to do with the other system (Apple or its users complaining).
Yeah, ok, cool.
Basically, if you prefer the open system, then fine, go for it. Why does it bother you so much that there is another system, though? It isn't like you have to buy it.
And frankly, if it is your bf's work to make an app for iOS, your rant comes off more than a little bit as biting the hand that feeds you. Do you resent the source of what possibly makes up a major part of of your bf's salary all that much?
