What is more interesting from the developer’s point of view? Starting with an application made for Android may seem very interesting. However, the question is better considered more than once before getting down to work.
Many studies have shown that 90% of the content and use of the internet from mobile devices (high-end cell phones, smartphones, and tablets) occurs in applications developed for certain specific purposes. In other words, companies that want to take advantage of and grow their businesses today have a great opportunity to connect with their customers through the development of a mobile application.
Why it’s not worth starting to develop Apps for Android
The application developer always has the doubt in front: where do I start, Android or iOS? Before a first view of the data, the most immediate, many decide that starting with Android is the best decision, then turning to the development of applications for iOS. However, Dave Feldman, co-founder of Emu, does not agree with this.
Currently, creating mobile applications has become a recurring theme for both Freelancers, Start-Ups, and SMBs. The added value of creating mobile applications for any business is no longer achievable by web pages.
In an extensive and conscientious article, Feldman explains with hairs and signals what he calls “the first Android fallacy”. In case you do not know, Emu is a messaging service appeared in 2012. At the time the small team after Emu decided to start launching the application for Android. Why? Very simple, the first Android allows you to simply replace your messaging service using the same medium, which means theoretically making applications for Android is easier than for iOS easier user adoption. Secondly, although Android users, in general, have less tendency to pay for content and applications, they are more globally, so there is nothing to fear.
Finally, explains Feldman, in the debate on the development of applications for iOS or Android, the latest decision on the idea that making applications for Android are simpler than for iOS, including the possibility of overcoming the limits of the hated fragmentation that leads us all. There are even great examples of interesting companies that have shown that Android can be the basis of great applications with a careful and elegant user experience. It seems that betting on Android first is the right decision, right?
Not all that glitters are gold
Feldman said in his article that they were wrong with promising facts that turned against him as soon as he got down to work with the application. According to the account, they set out to develop the Android application, discarding an iPhone prototype that they already had available, for which they had to improve their Java skills and something else, launching the application on April 2 with the hope that, when first launched on Android, users could appreciate the gesture positively. Currently, however, the co-founder believes that maybe one day they will return to Android, but it will not be for the moment due to the small size of their team who thinks that the development of applications for iOS is a better decision.
Application development for iOS
“We have serious development problems, ” he explained. Although the promise of an integration with the SMS / MMS system of Android, the truth is that, as he states, the API on Android SMS is not well documented and is changed every so often. In fact, with versions prior to Android 4.4, individual applications can block other applications to receive SMS which is a problem for your own application using Before Android 4.4, applications could block other applications to receive SMS the same system. MMS is such an inconsistent and obsolete system that they suppose a huge headache, something that gets worse incredibly if fragmentation is taken into account.
In fact, the fragmentation, which is usually in a state of permanent denial by Android users, is an added difficulty to Android applications, something that with the development of applications for iOS does not occur. When companies themselves put their particular modifications, and usually not documented to a system, it is not uncommon that this translates into unexpected errors. As there are so many versions and they are so widespread, what seemed like something positive suddenly becomes a nightmare. Android has a big limitation in the constant updates that the applications require to function properly coupled with the cost of such updates.
Not all the effort is acceptable
As if all this were not enough, Feldman says that the tools for developing Android applications, as well as their documentation, are much worse and clumsier than those used for the development of applications for iOS. Xcode, although it is not perfect, at least it is faster, cleaner and direct. From far. For example, some problems that the Emu co-founder complains about are performance problems with the included JSON library, several problems with the text layers that led to real horrors in the UI or failures in the integration of maps and images, for example. quote some. Not to mention that the documentation of Google, although something more accessible is much more confusing and inconsistent than necessary in the development of applications for iOS.
The Google documentation, easier to find, is also more inconsistent and confusing. Since the vast majority of small businesses or independent developers work in small teams, all the effort to work to correct constant problems and replace documentation failures is something that is not It can be assumed. The development of applications for iOS may be excessively demanding, but this means eliminating 80% of all these failures as you are obliged to develop according to these same requirements. And be careful, what demands does not have to mean limitations, at least in terms of what we expect from our application.
In addition, subsequent maintenance and bug fixes are infinitely easier to do for a single operating system. What does this mean? That the development of applications for iOS is easier to take by small developers and that the problems suffered from Android are very mitigated. Of course, developing for Android has its advantages, but these are not always acceptable for application developers. Before getting carried away, it is always best to make a good analysis of the situation, although of course, there is no better teacher than experience.
