This is exactly what I was thinking. It is an interesting question- do consumers follow developers or do developers follow consumers? It seems that those agreeing with the OP would argue the former while those disagreeing would argue the latter.
History seems to suggest that developers (especially those who want to get paid) go where the consumers are.
The only exception is, perhaps, DOS/Windows? I'm not sure I remember the history right though. It could be that consumers switched to Windows because of the cheaper hardware, and developers followed.
What? 160,000 new Android phones are now activated each day I thought?
But to answer your question I don't know how many iOS devices are shipping each day. Do you?
It's always a comparison.
> But to answer your question I don't know how many iOS devices are shipping each day. Do you?
No, which is why I'm asking. If I knew I wouldn't have to ask.
Probably not yet.
I'd blame this mostly on the low number of "killer" apps in the android market. Many good apps have arrived, but the number is nowhere near the appstore, yet.
Here's the kicker, though: This will inevitably change. It is already changing. When you compare the android market today versus a few months ago then you'll notice quite a number of high-profile apps have appeared.
As a developer you can't ignore android anymore. You're not building an iPhone app nowadays, you're building an iPhone app and an android app.
And it won't be long before the priorities reverse.
Once android devices outnumber iPhones by 10:1 the question will be whether you build an iPhone app along with your Android app - not the other way round.
Remember Apple is at its absolute peak today. There's nowhere to go from here in terms of features or polish.
Sure, they can add voice recognition, brush up the hardware even more and perhaps they'll even find another killer-feature or two to add. But HTC and Google are breathing in their neck now, the gap in user experience is closing. From there the primary differentiating factor becomes price. And competing with HTC on price will be tough[1].
[1] http://moconews.net/article/419-android-sales-exceed-iphone-...
There's nowhere to go in features or polish unless they add more features or polish more - what kind of argument is that?
From there the primary differentiating factor becomes price.
Because Apple have always been driven out of markets by competitors with lower prices...
I meant to say that they're about to hit a wall with that. What do you think they could add or change to prevent android from catching up?
Because Apple have always been driven out of markets by competitors with lower prices...
Depends on your definition of "driven out". They have about 10% of the desktop market - which may be considered "driven out" by some.