In today’s world, despite all the dazzling hardware and uber-cool designs, the quintessential smartphone is still largely defined in terms of its apps, as is counter-evidenced by RIM and Nokia, who’re still reeling from the lack of a strong apps market for their platforms. Apple and Google, on the other hand, have clearly spelt out the massive advantages that come by fostering a strong apps ecosystem.
So when you set out to have your app developed, the very first thing to sort out is the choice between Android and iOS. There are a whole lot of issues like personal choice, finances, target audience etc, for which you need to gain some key Android-iOS insights at start.
To begin with, what do developers think of Android and iOS? Is there a clear favorite? Perhaps yes! It’s a bit ironical that though Android owns almost 50% of the smartphone market, it lags the iOS when it comes to being a developer’s favorite. In fact, iOS developers roughly outnumber Android apps developers by about 4-times.
Why?
Quite simply, it boils down to one thing—revenue creation. Over the years, several market studies have unanimously pointed out that iOS users are better purchasers, with the average iPhone user willing to shell out more on apps than users over all other platforms.
Another key metric for developers is that iPhone users are very well-heeled, generally. According to latest Forrester report, young U.S mobile (Gen X,Y,Z) app users make up about two-thirds of the whole, and the more affluent amongst them seem to root for iOS. This young brigade is more receptive, and adapts to new apps quickly. It’s a no-brainer then that the platform with the higher percentage of wealthier, early adopters is the place to be.
This is a major draw, especially for brands looking for a return from their investment in apps. All other factors considered equal, consumers who enjoy bit more financial freedom and open up to new apps readily, make for a better target audience.
Fragmentation
Over the years, Android’s fragmentation has become a growing pain for developers, almost to the point of being clichéd. iOS versions of apps, for a fact, still get adopted faster and in higher volumes than Android, which still suffers hugely at the hands of carriers and vendors. This has always been a concern for Android developers, a growing majority of whom are confronting the fragmentation anomalies that lead to unnecessarily higher turnaround times.
Android apps trail iOS, still!
This is something that even Eric Schmidt found hard to refute—more apps are launched on the iOS first than on Android. In a recent finding published in the Guardian, “For every ten apps that developers build, roughly seven are for iOS.” This 7:3 ratio in favor of iOS has stayed the same since first quarter 2011, even though the total number of apps developed has doubled from 9,000 to 18,000 between 2011 and second quarter 2012.
Retention
Apps users have been, for the most part, rather volatile in terms of loyalty. But recent study reveals users now are retaining apps more readily than ever. And once again, iOS users seem to stacking up better numbers.
Acquiring more number of loyal consumers will, in times to come, become crucial to apps makers, even more important than number of overall downloads, which can be inflated. Nielsen points out that as against 74% percent of Android users, 88% iPhone users are app downloaders – another key reason why iOS is better for user retention.
Roundup
While targeting the most lucrative audience over the most feasible platform is a key metric, measuring up application costs against potential returns is the ultimate decision point for businesses. And from the looks of it, it appears that iPhone apps slightly edge past Android on that front.