Ask HN: Develop on Android or iPhone? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Develop on Android or iPhone?

5 pointsriso14 comments

I would like to start doing some mobile development, but am stuck between the two SDKs mentioned. I have been playing around with both Android and the iPhone, and find there are things that I like and dislike about each of them.

My back-end language experience includes mostly c# and Ruby, but I didn't have any issues getting familiar objective-C, learning new languages is usually fairly enjoyable.

Does anyone have advice for which one to choose based off personal experiences?

Update: I should add that the two biggest deciding points for me are development enjoyment and speed of development.

I am not overly concerned with user base since it is possible that Android could gain a lot of ground in the next couple years.

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Since you mention that market size isn't a factor for you and since you don't seem to have a preference for one phone (though you've tried both), I'd suggest Android.

I wrote a prototype app with the Android beta last year, The Android beta platform was fairly rich in functionality and had a lot of stuff (background process, advanced location-based functionality etc.) that iPhone 2.0 did not have. Java programming on the Android will be closer to the (managed code) C# experience you currently have. So your overall rampup time with Android will be lesser.

Btw I myself chose to focus on the iPhone because I liked the device (as a user) and because there is a much bigger market for iPhone apps.

>Update: I should add that the two biggest deciding points for me are development enjoyment and speed of development.

This is subjective. Try both of them for a while.

If you need to decide first to buy the hardware keep in mind that the iPod Touch ($229) is essentially an iPhone without the phone/gps capabilities. So you can use it for testing if you're not going to use the phone functionalities.

You have to add $100 (it's a yearly fee) to apply to the developer program in order to upload your code on the device and to make your app available (even if for free).

The iPhone developement tools are pretty good, too. Haven't tried to develop on Android, yet.

> Try both of them for a while. That is what I am doing now. I have an iTouch as well as a mac book so the only purchase that has to be made is the yearly fee.

If you have a good idea for an app, go with Android and enter ADC 2.

http://code.google.com/android/adc/

It depends on what's your final goal. Many HN posts saying you can't get rich with an iPhone app ( anymore ). Maybe o good idea is not yet implemented on Android.

I've planned to build something for my iPhone but many things stopped me: a MacBook, AppStore freakness and now I'm just hearing that 100$ entry fee.

Now I'm rather building a mobile interface to my web app than sticking to a new platform

It depends on what's your final goal. Many HN posts saying you can't get rich with an iPhone app ( anymore ). Maybe o good idea is not yet implemented on Android.

I've planned to build something for my iPhone but many things stopped me: a MacBook, AppStore freakness and now I'm just hearing that 100$ entry fee.

Now I'm rather building a mobile interface to my web app than sticking to a new platform

I am not chasing a million dollar dream, but rather looking to the acquire skills that are marketable and satisfy the curiosity itch.

I am not a developer so cannot tell you which platform is more fun to develop for. I have heard that developing for iPhone is relatively simple and easy.

But, I can tell you that I have 2 same apps on android and iPhone and the number of downloads differ by a factor of 500.

Can you mention what app this is?

We have 2 common apps on the android/iPhone app store. GRE review and GMAT review. Search for Watermelon Express on appstore/android market and you will find them.

Try PhoneGap or Titanium Mobile. Both of them use Javascript, HTML, and CSS to build apps that can be run on both phones and have access to the native controls.

Based on market size, I'd go for the iPhone.

I-phone has a much bigger market share at ~11% of the smart phone market. You should also look into developing for the Blackberry. (~34% of smart phone market!!)

Or Nokia then BB. Nokia is still the dominant device outside of NA ~40%+. So if worldwide reach is important . . .

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