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With Respect To Gaming, Android Still Lags Behind iOS (bgr.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the platform-wars-never-end dept.

An anonymous reader writes: No matter what you think about the Android/iOS divide from either a hardware or software perspective, there's simply no getting around the fact that many developers still take an iOS-first approach with respect to app development. With games, where development costs are already sky-high, the dynamic is even more pronounced. For instance, one of the most addictive, successful, and highly rated apps currently available on the App Store is a great snowboarding game called Alto's Adventure. It was originally released this past February for the iPhone and iPad (and now the Apple TV). Still today, nine months after its initial release, an Android version of the app remains non-existent. Now if you're an Android user who happens to enjoy mobile gaming, it's easy to see how this dynamic playing out over and over again can quickly become an endless source of frustration.

4 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is iOS simply more profitable?
    Is Android harder to program or support?
    Is code easily portable?
    Do iOS devices have more hardware resources?

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    1. Re:Why? by Pieroxy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think your first two points are the reason. People using iOS are far more likely to actually PAY for a game (or any other app for that matter). The fact that the iOS platform is far more homogeneous (At any point in time you have to cover 2 versions of the OS, three tablets and three phones to address 90+% of iOS users) make also development costs lower. Lower costs, higher profits, yes, the iOS platform is most likely an order of magnitude more profitable than Android.

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    2. Re: Why? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah there may be a million more Android users than iOS users but a good chunk of those are still on gingerbread or Froyo even and infested with exploits. It's hard to do tech support for a $3 app when the platform is probably at fault. Google is actually hurting its revenue picture on the app side by encouraging the abandonment of older devices through its policies. Android is popular enough now that Google really could tell the carriers the way it's going to be like Apple has been doing. It's a shame they're squandering that commercial capital this far into the game. On the other hand who wants to put 5 million dollars into an app only to have Apple's capricious censors reject it?

      They have the two best options right now but neither of them are creating as functional, dynamic, and profitable a market as they could be.

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    3. Re: Why? by rsborg · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There are popular Android games not out on iOS. There are many games that can never come out on iOS due to content restrictions.

      Some claims that require citations. Care to share? Please leave out games that are functional equivalents to iOS editions.

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