Developers: Why You May Not Want To Listen To Robert Scoble | Hacker News Reader

Developers: Why You May Not Want To Listen To Robert Scoble

manyniches.com

23 pointsBrandonWatson16 comments

I think Scoble's "The bar is low" is better expressed as the fact that it's an undeveloped market. Whether or not there is a gold-rush for this app store remains to be seen, but his other points still remain valid. By using the builtin APIs it's difficult to get a view to scroll smoothly, whereas with the iPhone it's in every scroll view. And yes, statistically I believe that the type of geeks attracted to Android are stingy, but there are other people on the platform as well (I don't have any actual percentages).

If I was head of Windows Phone 7 Developer Relations I wouldn't be writing public blogs critical of Scoble's evangelizing Android development.

People might misinterpret my motivations.

Round 2 of the mobile wars will be won in the same way as Round 1, by casting the widest net amongst all the platforms.

People make money by producing many apps on iPhone now. People will make more money producing many apps on many platforms in the near future.

Correct. Despite popular belief, most devs don't have an infinite number of well-formed ideas in their head. I'd say do your apps on iOS first. Then do the same apps on the other platforms. It's relatively easy, and gives you time as other ideas formulate.

With phones screen sizes are all fairly similar, 3.5 - 4.? inch screens and developers accommodate for these screen sizes. Tablet's are different, an iPad app is designed to fit that screen real estate and features of that device.

If Apple released their own open OS they wouldn't be able to develop in the way they do. Not that they would but hypothetically.

iMovie for iPad: Editing and viewing video is designed for their custom screen resolution and if Apple made a 16:9 device or allowed the OS to run on many devices they'd need to make a version which fits with many screen sizes meaning they'd skimp on UX and try and make a satisfactory experience on as many devices as possible.

Android devs will have to constantly think about 7", 10" and other sized tablets and if their app will work well on each. Other wise buttons, specific features and controls won't work well with smaller screens.

This won't kill but slow their inovation, Android needs more specs to be developed to how one of these apps should look and feel on multiple resolutions. "This is what an Android tablet app looks like".

Yes...except for this: Getting to focus on your algorithms and overall experience, and not dealing with ridiculous, time consuming, soul sapping optimizations which shouldn’t have to be discovered in the first place.

I work in a consulting shop that develops apps for all three platforms. I love my windows phone and I think the development tools and the framework are better than iPhone/Android. That said, there are some serious performance problems on wp7 and it takes a deep knowledge of the platform to avoid them. I've spent way too much time optimizing on wp7 just to get passable performance for a list of items with thumbnails. This is a such a basic scenario and it's extremely hard to get right. The navigation stack isn't good either. I like the back button as a user but dealing with scenarios where a user can jump to the first page of an app or when you need to navigate and avoid putting a page in the back stack and you run out of options.

List box perf == top priority

I saw Jeff Wilcox tweet a bit about this (don't lose him, he is awesome...so is David Anson). Good to hear. I love the phone and I think you guys are doing a good job.

When I read Scoble's post, it was clear that he was being sarcastic.

I'm surprised that anyone (and especially a senior Microsoft guy who claims to love Scoble :) would write a long serious response criticizing individual points from that post.

I think you're overestimating Scoble's incredulity. From reading him, and seeing him speak, and meeting him in person, my impression is he's nearly incapable of sarcasm.

I think I share some of his "quirks." If you see reality from a point of view far enough removed from the mainstream, some of the things you used to see as funny now just seem stupid. Some of the things you used to see as stupid actually have some substance, and there are other things you find painfully hilarious that most others just won't get.

If you do iOS consulting, partner with someone who does Android development - you can both benefit. Android is not Java, but it helps.

A two-for-one deal (Android + iOS) is a better marketable offering if your clients have to attempt to reach most of the mobile marketplace.

editorial selection from the AppStore tribunal

Exactly who is being referred to here?

Apple - when they put you into a featured listing, sales jump. It has a much more positive impact than a TechCrunch article.

IF they put you into a featured listing! First you have to figure out who to sleep with on the App Store team.

Someone should put up a parody dating site about this.

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