Why Developers Choose iOS Over Android and Why that Needs to Change?

Android just hit 1 billion users mark with the launch of Android KitKat. It is clearly chasing rainbows with their high popularity and variety of devices. Apple on the other hand has been very steady and have managed to sell 700 million iOS devices so far and are still continuing to do reasonably well in the smartphones market. But one can’t deny the fact that Android has been roaring all this while, but developers don’t think so.

Yes, The app developers are choosing iOS over Android. If you look at the most recent super successful apps like Vine or Instagram, you will notice one thing in common that they were both built for iOS users first. The list of such apps goes on and on.

Let’s have a look at some of the reasons why developers are happy developing apps for iOS.

Ecosystem

As you know both iOS and Android have different ecosystems; there are a limited iOS devices with perfectly configured versions of iOS for each one of them. The iOS versions have been steadily updating and the updates are available for almost each and every device at the same time. Android on the other hand is known to be a bit scattered at that, having a fragmented ecosystem. There are a lot of manufacturers involved. Therefore, tons of devices with different hardware use, different screen resolution and of course varying price range are available, which means the app has to be tested on different OS versions, different hardware levels, and different screen resolutions. That’s a lot of effort there.

Developers love tight ecosystems. With the explanation of both the ecosystem above, you can tell which one will need more resources and more time. It’s Android, hence, developers go for the iOS app first.

Money Matters

It’s a known fact that Android users will not pay for the apps as easily as iOS users would. Android users like their apps for free. And that forces the android developers to earn money via putting up ads in the apps that they develop. Putting ads is probably not the greatest way to earn money.

iOS users on the other hand like to purchase their apps from the app store, that means more money. If you were a developer you’d probably choose iOS platform as well.

Piracy Kills

With Android piracy at its peak, there are a lot of third party websites that provide the paid apps for free, which is a real set back for many developers. It doesn’t mean there are no piracy issues with iOS but they are very limited to jailbroken iOS devices.

Lack of good Android Tablets

Believe it or not, but this factor does play an important plan in setting a particular mindset for the developers. Apple’s iPads are indisputably the best piece of tablets that you could buy from the market. It has definitely been able to change the smartphone markets by filling in with a lot of large sized smartphones. More iPads selling means more reach, and more reach means more business. That’s enough to make up developers minds to go for iOS first.

Manufacturers like Samsung, LG, ASUS are working on Android tablets but not as good as Apple, and while some tablets are doing good, there are no tablet friendly apps for those devices, which ultimately adds up to less sales and leads to less android apps.

Customers force Developers to go iOS First

In most cases, customers want developers to go iOS first in which case developers have no other option. For example, Facebook rolls out most of their significant updates on iOS devices first. Here, the developers working under Mark Zuckerberg have no option but to follow the orders.

Why This Needs to Change?

Well, things are changing now. The famous Android vs iOS war is taking a big turn. Android has now released Android Kitkat, which according to Sundar Pichai, head of android, will support on all the devices ranging from cheap galaxies by Samsung to expensive “Ones” by HTC. What does that mean? That means less to no fragmentation in the ecosystem. Developers will need less resources and more importantly less time to create Android apps.

With Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, Google’s flagship tablets, Google has been able to break the less-sales-less-apps chain and both the tablets are doing very well with Nexus 7 topping the Amazon sales charts. Technically both the tablets are feature rich with great displays and are very cheap. This should boost developers morale to go for Android first.

The growth rate of Android has been very impressive and assuming that Google will be able to get rid of the piracy that Android is going to be the best thing for the developers unless Apple acts.

With Android KitKat, Google is looking to get to another billion soon while iOS is yet to hit the billion mark. And as we know that money matters, the billion mark should give the message to developers on how big Android is going to be in next few years.

The last and probably the best argument would be, “Android is Open Source”. You have heard of it over and over again and this is the reason Android took off in the first place. It still remains the single reason for a lot of developers who like the sense of openness and independence.

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