Just came across an article claiming the downfall of IOS, opinions please...

[whitedragon101]

The article says IOS only has 14.8% IOS market share and Android has 80.2%.

Quote -"To put it in its bluntest terms, what is the point of launching the new Candy Crush Saga on a platform that hardly anyone — in a global sense — uses?"

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-v-android-market-share-2014-5


Are they exaggerating this or do they have a point?

Does anyone have any numbers for revenue for the play vs App Store?

 

[roadbloc]

I don't think anybody will doubt that an OS on a wide range of hardware is going to become the most used over an OS that is on a small amount of handsets. History taught us that lesson in the 80s-90s. I'm not saying iOS will become unused or will have no apps written for it in the future, but Android will most certainly become the one with the healthier and more accessible app ecosystem.

Hell, even my BlackBerry can run Android apps easily. So it is more than just Android phones that will benefit from it.

 

[Jessica Lares]

When it happens, it'll happen. But until then, I'm happy being on a ecosystem that has the apps I actually want. Sure, the casual user doesn't want the same apps as I do, but this is ME we're talking about.

I was on Android for two years. It felt like a decade to me.

 

[dejo]

Here's a counterpoint to that article:

The long-awaited switch to Android-first app development hasn’t happened yet

Looking at 119 recent Y Combinator incubator participants and Google Ventures seed investments, of those offering apps, more than 90% had iOS apps, about half had both iOS and Android apps, and fewer than 10% only had Android apps. Among those with both, their iOS app typically launched several months ahead of their Android app.

 

[Mousse]

To put it in its bluntest terms, what is the point of launching the new Candy Crush Saga on a platform that hardly anyone — in a global sense — uses?

So Candy Crush Saga is the definitive yardstick on which to measure an OS's health. May as well use Flappy Bird as the gold standard.

If iOS was Mark Twain it would have this to say: ‘The report of my death was an exaggeration’ (the June 2, 1897 edition of the New York Journal)

If iOS was Granny Weatherwax it would hold up a sign saying, "I aten't dead!"

I would not go shoveling dirt on iOS anytime soon. It's just hitting its stride. Come back when iOS 25 gets released, then I'll start listening to iOS being dead rumors.

 

[firewood]

The article says IOS only has 14.8% IOS market share and Android has 80.2%.
...
Does anyone have any numbers for revenue for the play vs App Store?

Google just reported $5B (USD) paid to devs over the past year. While, IIRC, Apple reported it paid $2B (USD) to devs over just the last quarter, which is almost 2X more on an annualized basis. So that 80%+ market share isn't translating into enough customers who have and will actually pay money for apps (vs. only downloading free ones or getting them from pirate sites).

Maybe Android will reach rough parity with iOS in a year or two, but no worries for any big "downfall" in mobile game profits until years after that.

 

[whitedragon101]

Google just reported $5B (USD) paid to devs over the past year. While, IIRC, Apple reported it paid $2B (USD) to devs over just the last quarter, which is almost 2X more on an annualized basis. So that 80%+ market share isn't translating into enough customers who have and will actually pay money for apps (vs. only downloading free ones or getting them from pirate sites).

Maybe Android will reach rough parity with iOS in a year or two, but no worries for any big "downfall" in mobile game profits until years after that.

Thanks. I have been developing for IOS as i believed it to be the more profitable platform. I plan to code my IOS apps into Android at some point but all my efforts thus far have been in IOS.

----------

Here's a counterpoint to that article:

The long-awaited switch to Android-first app development hasn’t happened yet

Thanks.

I guess thats a good indication that other IOS developers with more business resources than I (and by that I mean more than one person ) have gleaned that IOS is as if not more profitable to develop for.

 

[APlotdevice]

I don't think anybody will doubt that an OS on a wide range of hardware is going to become the most used over an OS that is on a small amount of handsets. History taught us that lesson in the 80s-90s. I'm not saying iOS will become unused or will have no apps written for it in the future, but Android will most certainly become the one with the healthier and more accessible app ecosystem.

While history guide us to a point, it's important to note that there are fundamental differences between the 80s/90s and today. Such as:

• Even budget computers cost what, in today's currency, would be well over a thousand dollars, and thus pretty much excluded more frugal consumers from their platform's base.
• Computers of the 80s and early 90s couldn't do very much without purchasing additional software.
• Physical software distribution meant that different platforms had to compete for limited shelf space.

 

[roadbloc]

While history guide us to a point, it's important to note that there are fundamental differences between the 80s/90s and today. Such as:

• Even budget computers cost what, in today's currency, would be well over a thousand dollars, and thus pretty much excluded more frugal consumers from their platform's base.
• Computers of the 80s and early 90s couldn't do very much without purchasing additional software.
• Physical software distribution meant that different platforms had to compete for limited shelf space.

Some excellent points. However, how much they will actually effect what happens in terms of apps with platforms has yet to be really seen.

I don't think iOS is in trouble anytime soon. Maybe we'll start seeing something a little more interesting at the end of the decade. I don't think Apple will be able to keep this iOS hype going forever.

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

The article says IOS only has 14.8% IOS market share and Android has 80.2%.

Quote -"To put it in its bluntest terms, what is the point of launching the new Candy Crush Saga on a platform that hardly anyone — in a global sense — uses?"

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-v-android-market-share-2014-5


Are they exaggerating this or do they have a point?

Does anyone have any numbers for revenue for the play vs App Store?

I'm sorry to see such bad arithmetic in Business Insider. Following that same logic, Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes might as well shut down, because 90% of the world's cars are something else, like mass-produced Toyotas. Every market of every kind has different tiers.

The point is that not only are iPhones very profitable for Apple, but, what an app developer cares about is not what percentage of the worlds phones are Android, but, whether or not their iPhone app will be profitable. That depends on, among other things, the absolute size of the market, as well as the cost of developing and supporting reliable app on each platform.

 

[Michael Goff]

http://www.zdnet.com/the-problem-facing-android-users-dont-want-to-spend-money-7000031008/

User base means nothing if nobody is spending.

 

[cube]

iOS 7 and 8 could be. I know that I was waiting to see if a 12" iPad came out, but I cringed at the prospect of using that GUI.