Why do Android developers do not make money?

Okay now. Don't expect me to bring some new reasoning here. This is probably known to a lot of us (if not all). Even I have heard about it before many times. But only a few days back, I sort of got it (Eureka! Eureka!).


A friend of mine had bought an iPad 2 just few weeks back. He intended to buy an Android tablet (Asus Transformer) but somehow things worked out differently (that is another story and does not have a place here) and an iPad 2 landed on his lap. He has been using it for sometime now. A point to keep in mind is that he owns a Android Motorola Defy for quite some time and uses it a lot and likes it a lot (already rooted and flashed).


We were talking about apps on iPad (since I have been using one for sometime, I am considered a locally available subject matter expert - I suppose in the country of blind, the one eyed man is the king) for reading PDFs. Good Reader came up as a possible choice and we talked about the fact that its costs a few dollars and is not free. Then it happened...


My friend said: "I need a good app for reading PDFs and since I have already put in the credit card information into the iPad 2, I might as well buy a good app".


I heard that but it did not register first. And then it hit me! My friend has owned an Android phone for a very long time and has never bought an app in the Google Play store. He has never entered his credit card information in his Android phone till date. And he probably will never do it.


When an iPad 2 is registered with an Apple id for using the app store, one is mandated to enter credit card information. Google Android phones on the other hand allow the user to skip that part. That means that as a user, my friend never entered his credit card data in the Android phone but he entered it first thing in the iPad 2. I am sure he must have felt forced and wronged when he had to put the CC information in the iPad 2 and would have liked not to do it. But over a period of time, this just became a matter of fact for him. 


Eventually what matters is that Apple has his credit card information within just a couple of days of him having a Apple product and that has opened the door for his spending in the App Store within weeks. Where as Google still does not have his credit card information and he has not spent a dime in the Google Play store for close to a year.


Like I said, what I am saying is nothing new. I have heard it many times. But when you experience things first hand, it has a way of making things very clear in one's head. That is what happened with me and I had tell it everybody.


What should Google do? Should it force the consumer to enter her/his credit card information upfront? Will that push the consumers to spend on the Play store? Will that make Android a better platform for developers to develop apps? What do you think?.


  

Micromax Funbook seems to have some fun in it

Sometime back I came across a news item on the launch of Micromax Funbook. Seemed interesting and hence wanted to read it. Finally got to it today. Also watched iGyaan initial video review on youtube.

Few very good things going for it:
- Android ICS
- Price of 6.5k
- Capacitative
- Google Play available

The looks are also decent. A bunch of useful pre-loaded apps thrown in. Only thing which did seem a problem during the video is the browser speed/snappiness. That is a cause of worry. At the same time I think its worth checking out.

I am going to do that for sure. Given the price, I am very convinced to give it a shot. What about you?

Gadget's and their batteries

The new iPad boosts some great features - retina display, higher graphic performance, 4g connectivity etc.  Now all this is nice but what is nicer is the battery life claimed on it. All this and yet a battery life of 9 hrs is great. Of course there is a secret - bigger denser battery. Knowing Apple, they have probably patented it already.

Today's gadgets (smart phones, tablets etc.) are very smart and power hungry. My android phone and iPad are no different. Since I carry my phone around, I always keep a charger handy with me. I am even considering buying a travel battery pack (something like this but maybe of more capacity. May be someday.

Couple of days back I came across some news on silicon nanowire based battery which can hold 10 times that and tweeted about it. Now this was amazing news. 10 times more battery life will be dream come true. But then I noticed that the news item was from Jan 2008 or earlier. What happened after that? I did more digging...
Amprius is the name of the start-up which is working on this and I found an article in GigaOM for a later date (late 2010). It talks about work still happening on the technology to commercialize it. The start-up is backed by many venture capital firms and Dr. Eric Schmidt (I wonder who is that now). Also found this nice graphical piece of writing which explains the technology in simple terms. The amount of increase it can give (whether 10 times or less) is still under question but even if we get 3 times more that will be good.

If this start up makes commercialization of this technology viable then every gadget maker worth their salt (read Apple and Google) will be behind them. Now will some Dr.Schmidt have any say in the matter.

For me, I hope this technology does not get stuck with one of these big players. This technology can make a great impact to on our lives. So what do you think! 

Ubuntu for Android

With the news of Mountain Lion out in the open, a lot of integration between iOS and the new OS is being talked about. The desktop OS is trying to be closer to the mobile one thus making the transition seemless. People are also talking about how this might impact the mobile industry and work against Android. When I thought about it, I felt that the argument made sense.

Today I saw the news on Ubuntu for Android. I read further about it in here, here and here. This is a truly novel idea. One device which gives you two different experiences and without any compromise (if it really works like it says). I truly will be able to use a device in two different fully functional and integrated modes (ok, that is repeating the previous line but I just am amazed at the idea). And best part is that it is favorite desktop OS too. Just reading about the amount of synchronization and synergy there will be (sharing the same kernel surely helps) and what can I do with both is really amazing.

One thing that is not clear is the kind of ubuntu based application that will be available on this ubuntu version. More news might trickle down the line.

Now, if you don't want to read all of these links which I have provided above and just want to taste of this thing then jump straight to the below video:

Appbooster by AppsFire

Mobile application development is currently a hot thing to do. I can see a lot of people developing apps for the smart phone platforms like iPhone and Android (even school kids). I too want to and hope to do it some point in time (at least that is the excuse I gave when I bought these devices).

When I hunt for apps, I read of lot of review comments from other users. This is especially useful in the Android platform (it is useful in IOS too but it is less so) and I make decisions on whether to try it out based on these comments.

While these comments are very useful for peer users, I wonder what it does to developers. I have seen many developers mentioning in the description to send them emails if there are any issues instead of giving review comments. There is two fold advantage for developers in this. First of all they can avoid negative reviews coming in the market/app store which will affect their app download/usage. Secondly they can have meaningful conversation to get a better understanding of the problem. They might even be able to get new feature ideas from their customers. All in all better customer engagement which is something a developer should love to have.

Today I came across a news item which talked about Appbooster. A short description talks about how the sdk can allow developers to easily build an in-app feedback and notification mechanism. Direct engagement is what this is driving. While the feedback part seems to essentially talk about what is described above, the notification stuff is cool. You can send notifications to users based on geography, version etc. You could tell them about new features added or new features coming in etc. All of this is inside the app. This also could mean that developers need not push notifications to the common notification bar (it really annoys me sometimes) if they don't want to. Not sure whether they will not want to.

The platform also makes possible cross promotion of apps. This can have an advertisement angle - developers collaborating to provide ads for each others apps. They might even push ads for app related merchandise in due course of time. Now that won't please Google or Apple.

The sdk page says that it is available for iOS and Android. Appbooster is currently in beta. So interested developers please jump in and let others know how good (or bad) it is.

p.s.: While reading about Appbooster which is part of Appsfire, I realized Appsfire itself is app discovery engine (like chomp I guess). Will try it out and let you know. 

The fate of the Aakash Tablet

When I read this article on Aakash, I felt really bad. I was happy that there was innovation happening at our own education institutions. Also felt good that there was effort to make things better and the inventors were trying to push the manufacturers to get out better quality stuff.

But the stalemate is not going to help us in anyway. I am not sure whether the Indian government will do a good job in breaking the stalemate in the proper way and in the proper time.

I look up at the sky and hope and pray that Aakash makes it.

Intel unveils Android tablet & smartphone line for 2012

Intel is getting into mobile and table space finally. At least they are showing prototypes. This is a long awaited development. With ARM almost monopolizing the space, Intel has to make a start. We heard at the Intel developer event about Google's android for Intel chips and this is offshoot of that.

One thing to note is that Intel is going to have android 2.x on mobile!! That does not inspire confidence. The tablets are planned to ICS, which is good.

The picture - take a quick look and it seems to resemble the iPhone 4(S) . They better not go down that path (I am tired off all this patent war news (see posts below).

Let's wait and watch.