App Developers Bemoan Fragmented Android Platform

Baird senior analyst William Powers, has released a survey of 250 working developers that highlights growing concerns about the Android platform.

Fortune originally reported the survey's results, which found Android to be the platform of choice among app developers. Indeed, 71 percent of developers worked on Android, while 62 percent worked on Apple. Powers's data also shows that other platforms, such as RIM's BlackBerry OS or Nokia Symbian, drew fewer than 27 percent of developers.

That said, not all developers were singing Android's praises. Many took issue with the platform's "fragmentation" among many different devices, a criticism that Apple's Steve Jobs has leveled against Google's mobile OS.

According to the survey, only 14 percent of developers were fine with Android's perceived fragmentation. Of the 86 percent who took issue, 24 percent thought it was a "huge problem," and another 33 percent said it was a "significant problem."

Android's various app stores were also a point of dispute. "Generally," Baird said, according to Forbes, "developers seem to prefer a unified, single store experience like Apple's App Store."

Developers ranked iOS as an easier platform to develop for than Android, and they also said that Apple developers were more likely to be paid.

These may be a few of the reasons that Google has begun to rein-in its open-source code.

Comments

[Uhgg]

07:11 PM on 04/07/2011

No Problem yet on my Thunderbolt made Verizon trade my i Phone for it could not stand the dropped calls and not having the 4g on the phone when paying for 4g data plan because Verizon is moving away from 3g

[Shawn Wolfe]

10:25 AM on 04/07/2011

I have had 3 droid phones.. the original Droid, the HTC Eris and the Samsung Captivate.. I love the Android OS but I finally had to turn to the Iphone due to the downward spiral of the performace and quirks in the phones I had.. The HTC used what it calls their "SENSE" overlay on Android 1.5 and was buggy and very slow.. HTC reluctantly released 1.6 to fix some bugs but never released 2.0 so I dumped it.. Motorola has been very good about releasing updates but their Droid interface was just too plane for me and the phone locked up frequently during calls. The Samsung.. OMG what total bogged down bugged out junk.. Plus Samsung made the default search engine BING and made it impossible to change it.

The iphone is consistent.. it is responsive and it just works.. Giving all these company's free range to mess up Android has driven me away. I would like to come back but it is not happening with all the hackjob versions being released right now

[Artamentous]

01:10 AM on 04/07/2011

Android will eventually win out. Once Google gets the stupid carriers to stop running 15 different Android phones with 6 different firmwares, they will win out. Linux is just a million times better.

[LeoDelati]

12:56 AM on 04/07/2011

I guess I may be the only objective voice. I have neither devices, because I feel most consumers are sheep. I have decided to try to develop an idea that appears no one has come up with yet. I am familiar with Eclipse so I was "all in" when I found out I could develop droid apps with it. The documentation has been inconsistent and when trying to run the emulator, it has been a 50/50 ordeal. I also have started working with Git, but not far enough to make a statement yet. My beef has been with the inconsistencies and glitches when trying to take an app from level to level of devices, some will not even start. I am a big fan of Open Source, but they need to reign in some of the coding. A simple misstep in a calculation could cause me to be sued by a potential customer.

[JasonMcl]

10:33 AM on 04/07/2011

"My beef has been with the inconsiste­ncies and glitches when trying to take an app from level to level of devices"

You mean changing from API level to API level? A good practice on Android is to build low and test high. At this point though, 90% of the install base uses Android 2.1 so that is a good place to start.

If you are serious about this, I can point you towards some resources that can help you get started.

[LeoDelati]

10:43 AM on 04/07/2011

Yes if you could please.(and yes API) I screwed up last night because I was having so many problems with the Emulator I did a full reinstall and now am unable to see Android as a selection for a new project in Eclipse. Everything is installed according the the ADK Manager, but cannot see the selection of Android in the selections for projects. Support has had me running around in circles.

[jxm]

09:30 PM on 04/06/2011

Casual and non-scientific observation: I've noticed that I see Android phones when I go to concerts and iPhone more at business events or on my business commutes. The iPhone is becoming the 'older folks' tech!

[RevSpaminator]

08:01 PM on 04/06/2011

I've been using Android since 1.1 (G1). Other than OS version I've had a very consistent experience. The phones of today (2 1/2 years later) have changed in many ways. The biggest point of fragmentation for Android is OS version. Vendors/phone companies are not forced to update their phones, so things get a little out of hand. How many iPhones still run iOS 3.0 and how many apps on today's store would still run under it? How many people are still using an original iPhones? The 3G is outdated and the 3GS is soon to follow. Does Apple even support the original iPhone? There is a lot of hair splitting going on, but the reality is that the tech market favors the latest and greatest, especially during booms. Smart phones are booming, thus any such device is obsolete after a year. Haven't we all seen this before in other tech markets? The only way to prevent this would be to artificially stifle innovation, but fortunately MS has no hold on the smart phone market.

[Brian Berneker]

09:46 PM on 04/07/2011

Love it or hate it, Apple has made a point of enforcing obsolescence in their development strategy, almost by decree. Floppy drives? GONE. OS9 compatibility? GONE. PPC Chip? GONE. As much as this hurts legacy developers, it does force a consistent and current platform on relevant specs, and is unburdened by trying too hard to drag the past along with them.
Consider Microsoft on the other hand, who's OS will still run the oldest windows 3.1 crap you can throw at it. It may have value for some customers, but is the bane of existence for developers trying to innovate with the platform.

[Mikhael Farah]

05:29 PM on 04/06/2011

Good job with the bylines geniuses!! some developers bemoan the fragmentation but most developers use the api more than their other phone counterparts. I love the Huffington Post but its tech section is a joke filled with nothing but apple fanboys.

[Onutz]

07:37 PM on 04/06/2011

((Post but its tech section is a joke filled with nothing but apple fanboys.))

Well, thank heavens someone invented the word "fanboy", or half these jokey posts wouldn't have a punch-line!

[Mydian01]

10:44 PM on 04/06/2011

i know right.. and notice that he referred to 86% (thats almost 90%) of those developers who use the sdk, considered the platform fragmentation a huge or significant issue as "some", trying hard to downplay the numbers.. typical. not to mention the fact that alot of these developers are also worried about being paid (thats gunna kill of lot of the community right there), as well as the fact that google is moving towards a more apple-like environment.. id laugh if it were not so poetic.

of course youd never hear the apple haters admit any of these things, because they simply dont exist in their bubble.

[Ipadroid nterface]

02:21 PM on 04/06/2011

Why isn't anyone talking about the Optimus V? It is clearly the best Android phone hands down!!! Where else can you get unlimited data for your phone, a wifi hotspot, and 1200 minutes prepaid? Not to mention I paid 90$ at Target!!!!

[gemini68]

01:39 PM on 04/06/2011

I think this has a lot to do with how Droids function very similarly to the way a PC would. And we all know that over time PCs can become slow.

[hagagaga]

12:16 PM on 04/06/2011

At least it's nowhere near as the overly-centralized, creativity-stifling Applegrad.

[gemini68]

01:37 PM on 04/06/2011

Do you work for Apple?

[Ipadroid nterface]

02:12 PM on 04/06/2011

Why do you hate Apple so much...Applegrad? Apple as of now is better, Android will get there. Be patient my young lad and stop all the Apple bashing!!!

[Onutz]

02:51 PM on 04/06/2011

((Why do you hate Apple so much...))

We're accused of drinking the Kool-Aid.
That's because for some reason they were all out of Hater-Aid...

[jalaroc]

11:52 AM on 04/06/2011

Got a Droid 2 and two words describe my experience with it: Glitchy and uneven. I've played around with a friend's iphone and the only thing I like better on the droid 2 is the physical keyboard.

[cfern]

10:20 AM on 04/06/2011

Of course Apple is easier to develop for, because they have only one device, so testing and debugging is a lot easier than worrying about the many variations of hardware a Android user might be using to access your application. However, Android developers have options when it comes to delivering their application to the user.

Google allowing device manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, and Samsung to alter their operating system was a mistake. The best experience I ever had with a smartphone was the vanilla install of Android on Motorola's Droid. The overlays that they slap on the phone now along with the bloatware that AT&T try to force into their phones is really hurting the Android brand.

[Christopher Buczkowski]

09:54 AM on 04/06/2011

not really too surprising. as a Droid user, I'm familiar with it, and every time I pick up someone else's iPhone and mess around with it, I'm really impressed with how responsive it is in comparison to my Droid. I have an HTC Hero, which isn't a bottom-of-the-barrel phone, although it's certainly not the fastest. at first I loved it, but after awhile it started getting slower and more temperamental, just like a PC would. I've also owned both Macs and PCs, and between phones and computers, it's becoming more and more apparent to me that the flexibility of open-sourcing comes at a great cost of stability. creating dedicated software/hardware just seems to provide a better experience for the average user, in my view.

[AllyCat7]

02:39 AM on 04/07/2011

rational argument. good job

[Tanker10a]

09:33 AM on 04/06/2011

"App Developers Bemoan Fragmented Android Platform"....Boo! Who cares?
If it is so fragmented, why don't they jump ship and stop developing for Android and move over to the IOS platform? Then people would not have to listen to them...
Unless these Developers want some cheese with their whine...

[Andy Sebastian Guillen]

12:01 PM on 04/06/2011

That is as dumb and fallacious as arguments get.

[bomland31]

04:28 PM on 04/06/2011

It's really kind of a statement. If they don't like it, go somewhere else. No apple bashing or anything, just stating that they don't have to work on this particular platform.

[pfenixfire]

04:50 PM on 04/06/2011

Telling people who point out a flaw--or at least an area that a product can improve upon--to shut up or leave always leads to a great outcome. /s

[Michael Interbartolo]

09:59 PM on 04/06/2011

but is a bunch of whining. PC game developers have no issues developing games for a multitude of Hardware configures from various manufactures let alone the home built ones and probably what 3 major OS drops (XP, Vista, W7) set a min spec for phone/tablet RAM, CPU and OS version and quit your complaining if not move on.

[DRaymond]

06:10 AM on 04/06/2011

Honestly I am a bit cautious about this story because nobody is linking to a report that can cite the survey methodology or the questions asked, both of which can strongly affect the results of a poll.  Moreover the survey doesn't really seem to have been run by a company with experience doing consumer research polls but by a financial consulting firm.

[Michael Interbartolo]

10:00 PM on 04/06/2011

it was instead of a yes no question Is Fragmentation a problem a No and 4 yes parts. is fragmentation a little issue, major issue, super headache or what fragmentation.