Google is beginning to dominate the smartphone war according to new research, which shows the number of Android handsets shipped during the fourth quarter of 2010 topped 32.9 million worldwide.
But local app developers say they aren’t convinced, arguing that because there are so many Android handsets using different versions of the OS itself, making an app that can work on every platform and hardware is much more difficult than relying on the iPhone.
Keith Ahern, chief executive of development studio MoGeneration, says Android is a compelling platform but the fragmentation is an issue.
“I think most developers are taking the stance that we do. You’ve got Android shipping a lot of units, and that’s certainly impressive, but it really comes down to how many people are being engaged.”
The new research from British firm Canalys shows that in the fourth quarter, Android shipments reached 32.9 million units, beating out Nokia’s Symbian which reached only 31 million units. Actual smartphone shipments reached 101.2 million units for the year, representing year-on-year growth of 89%.
Canalys vice president and principal analyst Chris Jones said in a statement that “the speed with which the market has recovered has required real commitment… and vendors have risen to the challenge”.
But despite the growing number of Android shipments, developers aren’t impressed. Google brags its platform is much more open than the iOS software and as a result, developers are able to create apps easier and access features they can’t on Apple’s developer program.
But Ahern says that openness is actually a two-edged sword. While developers may have the ability to create more powerful apps on the Android system, there is a lot of fragmentation – updates to the Android OS aren’t universal and one user could have a completely different version from another.
“The Android platform is too diversified. It’s split across four different versions, and you can’t be guaranteed that your app will run really well across all the phones – which is one of the reasons Angry Birds was released for free. Because they couldn’t guarantee a good performance.”
While Ahern says MoGeneration will continue to release apps on the Android platform, he says it will be awhile before Android becomes the norm for app developers.
“There are so many systems to keep in mind when developing for Android. It’s the irony of this open system. You think it’s easier to develop for, and it is, but the engagement is less.”
Daniel Kagan from Lookout Mobile, a Melbourne-based app studio, says clients who want Android apps suddenly shy away when they hear how expensive it will be.
“When clients say to us that they want an Android app, and then we give them a price and tell them that we can’t just take the code from the iPhone app and move it across, they suddenly start questioning it.”
Kagan uses the street for his market research, he says, and argues there are too few Australians using Android phones to constitute a demanding user base.
“Once you have a phone that’s dominating with Android, then yes, that’ll happen. But at the moment, it’s fragmented. Once we see a market trend, we’ll go there. But my market research is done in the street, and I don’t see too many people on Android.”
The Canalys research shows Google topped the market with 33 million shipments, while Apple came in third with 16.2 million. RIM followed with 14.6 million, while Windows only managed to reach 3.1 million shipments.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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