Android soars, Apple down

Bryn said:
And yet Apple makes 92% of all smartphone profits and is the only computer manufacturer to increase their shipments last quarter. Say what you will about iOS, OS X and the cost of Mac hardware, but there's no denying Apple knows how to run a business.
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Yup. But if their total worldwide users also start declining then eventually it will start eating into their sky high profits. Unless their decreasing customer base will be happy to cough up even more to keep Apple's profits stable. But we are talking about fanatic isheep here...so it might just be possible.
 
SeRpEnT said:
But we are talking about fanatic isheep here...
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From a factual point of view, as in, things that I can show on a device, higher spec'ed Android devices perform worse than lower spec'ed Apple devices (on my own software and games at the very least). So factually I disagree, because it shows that the quality is better on Apple. While Android might be more open and accessible than Apple, it's less secure. Performance wise Apple devices perform consistently better than Android during my game development and I therefore have to make far fewer adjustments to make things work on Apple compared to Android. So simply put, more often than not, what simply works on Apple, needs further optimization to work on Android. I get better frame rates out of the box on Apple and can build bigger, more complex recursive functions before I run into stack problems on Apple (as a silly example). I own Apple and Android devices, before you ask.

From a personal point of view, I hate to support a company that discriminates against me, which is what Google does. As a developer, I can earn a living selling apps on the Apple App Store. I can't on Google Play, because Google doesn't pay to South Africa (https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/table/3539140?hl=en).

Therefore Apple is willing to both take money from South Africa, as well as Pay money to South Africa. Google is only willing to Take money from South Africa.
 
Lazy said:
higher spec'ed Android devices perform worse than lower spec'ed Apple devices
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It's probably because the Androids can do, well, almost everything. Whereas the Apple is limited to few basic tasks.

It's not a bad thing. I have recommended Apple products to my mother, grandmother, stepfather etc - but as soon as someone sounds like they understand technology, I move over to Android recommendations.

EDIT : That said, things are getting better with every iOS update where luckily, they're adding Android features. I think by iOS9 they should be the equivalent of Android 4.4.4 which is fantastic !
 
Personally I will break down Android when making these comparisons as it is bound to ecosystems rather than the devices, this includes the Windows mobile ecosystem.

The Android market do not only compete with the other ecosystems, but with themselves as well. The Android vendors has been pushing android devices on this continent extremely hard. Entry-level Android smartphones have a unique place in the market when taking their ecosystem competitors into regard. They can close the gap with units, but not necessarily the growth - something which Samsung (Mobile) is struggling with globally.
 
Dolby said:
It's probably because the Androids can do, well, almost everything. Whereas the Apple is limited to few basic tasks.

It's not a bad thing. I have recommended Apple products to my mother, grandmother, stepfather etc - but as soon as someone sounds like they understand technology, I move over to Android recommendations.
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Yeah, it would be unfair to simply imply that Android is poor quality, I don't think that's the case at all. It serves a different purpose and is an open platform that runs on a variety of hardware configurations whereas Apple is a closed platform that runs on a small subset of hardware configurations. Of course they would lose a certain level of performance the moment they support nearly everything while Apple get to focus on optimizing for their own hardware. So in the end both have their pro's and con's.

Also, Apple's product gives me as a developer a superior product to work with, because I have far less variance to worry about while on Android nearly every device I want to target I have to check that it works. In many ways, it's the old Symbian problem with J2ME all over again, though not quite as bad. I dread working on Android, it's that much of an annoyance to me. Granted, I worked for Vodacom years ago and spent a lot of time cross porting J2ME stuff between the multitude of handsets, a task I hated so much I don't even put it on my CV in fear I'd have to do it again so maybe I get annoyed a little too soon on Android. It doesn't change the facts though.

So I know it's not a popular opinion, but it's the truth at least in my experience and in that of those peers I have who also make games.
 
Bryn said:
And yet Apple makes 92% of all smartphone profits and is the only computer manufacturer to increase their shipments last quarter. Say what you will about iOS, OS X and the cost of Mac hardware, but there's no denying Apple knows how to run a business.
Click to expand...

They make 92% of smartphone profits but the likes of Samsung arent struggling either. I think the media should do a report on how much money Samsung's hardware division
is making. Samsung manufactures many components for the iphone.

Sony's mobile division might be struggling but their camera division is making bank. Sony sensors are found in every major manufacturer.
 
Lazy said:
Yeah, it would be unfair to simply imply that Android is poor quality, I don't think that's the case at all. It serves a different purpose and is an open platform that runs on a variety of hardware configurations whereas Apple is a closed platform that runs on a small subset of hardware configurations. Of course they would lose a certain level of performance the moment they support nearly everything while Apple get to focus on optimizing for their own hardware. So in the end both have their pro's and con's.

Also, Apple's product gives me as a developer a superior product to work with, because I have far less variance to worry about while on Android nearly every device I want to target I have to check that it works. In many ways, it's the old Symbian problem with J2ME all over again, though not quite as bad. I dread working on Android, it's that much of an annoyance to me. Granted, I worked for Vodacom years ago and spent a lot of time cross porting J2ME stuff between the multitude of handsets, a task I hated so much I don't even put it on my CV in fear I'd have to do it again so maybe I get annoyed a little too soon on Android. It doesn't change the facts though.

So I know it's not a popular opinion, but it's the truth at least in my experience and in that of those peers I have who also make games.
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Well the truth of the matter is, you will develop apps for android for many years and i dont see that changing anytime soon. Android will always be dominant in emerging markets.
 
Due to proliferation of highly specced but more affordable Android phones.
 
arr0w said:
Well the truth of the matter is, you will develop apps for android for many years and i dont see that changing anytime soon. Android will always be dominant in emerging markets.
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Of course, but why exactly would I spend my effort on Android if there is no return on my investment? I'm not saying I don't still do Android, I'm saying it's very hard to justify.

EDIT: And of course, there's Tizen.
 
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Lazy said:
/snip

So I know it's not a popular opinion, but it's the truth at least in my experience and in that of those peers I have who also make games.
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The truth is more along the lines of Android devices being better specced than Apple. If you want all those specs on Apple they simply aren't there. Sure it's a performance trade-off perhaps but that isn't always the case as there are some good Android devices out there. What the Apple fans do though is compare a R1500 Android to a R5000 Apple and expect them to perform the same. They won't.

As for Android being less secure that's probably correct which is why Apple fanboys jailbreak their devices to be more like Android. :p
 
Swa said:
The truth is more along the lines of Android devices being better specced than Apple. If you want all those specs on Apple they simply aren't there. Sure it's a performance trade-off perhaps but that isn't always the case as there are some good Android devices out there. What the Apple fans do though is compare a R1500 Android to a R5000 Apple and expect them to perform the same. They won't.

As for Android being less secure that's probably correct which is why Apple fanboys jailbreak their devices to be more like Android. :p
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In general I think you are right, in my case no. I'm a little more scientific than that and compare like for like. I look not only at specs, but feature sets, architecture support etc etc.
 
Lazy said:
Of course, but why exactly would I spend my effort on Android if there is no return on my investment? I'm not saying I don't still do Android, I'm saying it's very hard to justify.

EDIT: And of course, there's Tizen.
Click to expand...

Do any companies pay you to develop apps? They will obviously request that you make an android app aswell. How is it a loss of income?
 
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