Historically, creating apps for Android was no treat for developers. For the same reasons that customers like the platform, it’s been a pain when it comes to developing for it—namely, fragmentation. While the ability to customize is a plus and Google doesn’t hold to the same strict constraints as Apple, every time a new feature is added to an app, that’s a feature that has to be tested on the many different Android devices, screen sizes, and processors. (That link is worth clicking on for the accompanying photo alone.)
Just last year some developers were doing software quality assurance testing on 400 Android devices for each app they created, but this year it’s down to a quarter of that. The streamlining is mostly thanks to Samsung’s hardware cornering the market. The manufacturer’s devices and display components becoming the standard has greatly helped developers, said Yat Siu, CEO of the parent company for Animoca, which famously tested on the hundreds of Android devices.
Siu said that last year most of the devices were outdated handsets, largely used in their Asian market. “You have to cater to low-end devices because otherwise, you cancel out your biggest audience,” he told TechCrunch. “But all the new hardware is pretty kickass, and more and more devices are getting very capable.”
In addition to hardware standardization, Android’s software is also making developers’ lives easier. The latest platform, Jelly Bean, has fewer variants than previous Android operating systems Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, and Google’s platform development kit accompanying Jelly Bean helps hardware manufacturers implement updates faster. And for Linux fans, a new version of the recently released Linux kernel also features support for Android with its Goldfish virtualized development environment letting developers start an instance of Google’s software on a kernel fairly easily.
Other developer raves in Android’s favor include the preference for using Java, the user interface guidelines that are different from those for iOS, not needing to submit your app for approval, and even just the fact that a Mac isn’t required. Continuing the Apple-vs-Google debate, some developers also dislike the iOS-mandated Xcode and prefer Android’s ability to use integrated development environments such as Eclipse or the mobile app AIDE.
Possibly due to the relatively recent efforts by Android to make developing easier, this year for the first time ever, analysts are predicting that more smartphone apps will be downloaded for Android than for iOS. ABI Research also forecasts that Android’s advances in the smartphone market, combined with the improved conditions for app building, will lead to more developers creating for Android first.
Do you find Android development easier now than before? Would you develop an app for Android before iOS?
