As the GOOG Turns: the Android Soap Opera
by
on July 15, 2008,
"Android Developers Revolt." "Android Developers Flee to iPhone Platform."
The headlines on tech blogs lately are starting to read like supermarket tabloids, so I dug a little bit deeper to see if all the smoke has a fire behind it. What did I find?
Yes, there is a petition asking for more information from Google. Yes, I read it. But here's what it looks like to me: a vocal minority of Android Developers are frustrated and comparing the Android development process to that of the Apple iPhone. Let's compare the two, however, shall we?
Apple released its iPhone last year, with no SDK. Zero. No developers on the platform. No one seems to remember that the iPhone SDK wasn't released until March of this year, giving developers just slightly over four months of development time until the Apple App Store would be launched. And even then, it was limited to a set number of developers, not open to all. Google launched the preview release (and let's remember that's what they called it) of the SDK in November 2007, which would allow developers approximately a YEAR of development time, including planning, design, and coding, before handsets would hit the market.
We also need to look at price. Apple's SDK comes with a $99 price tag, a 30% cut in the App Store, and an iron-clad terms of use agreement including not building a GPS turn-by-turn application, giving no reason behind it. The Android SDK was released for free, and open-sourced.
Lastly, we need to look at the priorities of any development team. The Apple platform team had any amount of time to develop the platform, interface it with the (proprietary) hardware, and then get it debugged before ever releasing an SDK. The Android team is developing a platform that works with any number of phones. I, for one, would assume their priority is making sure the platform runs on the phones, not handholding developers, who should respect what directions the team is being pulled in and adjust their expectations accordingly.
Google has closed ranks after one of their team communicated his own frustrations to the rabble-rousers, giving them a bigger soapbox to stand on. (And I think I've made my opinions on developers talking to the public very clear.) A request to talk to Dan Morrill received no reply. Google did, however, issue a stealth response with an "accidental" email that went out to more than just the Android Developer Challenge Finalists who were "supposed" to get it, reading:
ADC Entrants,
We're pleased to announce that SDK build 84853 is now available on your private download site. This will be the last build released for ADC Round 2 and is the build that you will need to submit your final application under.
In addition, the final ADC deadline has been extended to Tuesday, August 5. This is the final ADC deadline.
Thanks!
Android Developer Challenge Team
I think that's a response letting the developers know that it's coming, and already in the hands of some of the developers who aren't whining and starting petitions.
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Susanna
Svetlana Gladkova
65bus 
Irel Johnson 
Thank you, Cyndy!
Your summary of the situation is flawless.
You see the big picture that so many people seem to be missing!
I know there are others out there who also understand, but it’s this disgruntled group of developers/journalists who are making such a big deal out of this because they think they know how the world should work. Everybody should be very grateful for the “early look” SDK.
He seems to be not a developer…
Um, you’re comparison is not really that accurate. You obviously didn’t try out the Apple SDK.
First, the Apple SDK is free. The $99 cost is for gaining access to their App Store. Google has not announced, as far as I know, how they intend on distributing application to end-users. If you need to distribute directly through the carriers, believe me you’ll be spending more than $99.
The fact that the iPhone was out for a year before third-party applications were allowed on it means the platform has been proved as a stable and reliable platform. No one is calling Android stable or reliable. Google isn’t even sharing the latest version of the platform with developers, one of the reasons developers are getting frustrated.
You can’t compare the maturity of the iPhone SDK to the Android SDK. Developers don’t like to develop on a moving target. Android’s subsequent releases of their SDK have changed many things, cut out whole sections, etc. So essentially Google has not yet released a final SDK yet, and until then developers cannot finalize any applications, as the the APIs they’re developing towards today may not even be there tomorrow. Of course the reality is that you can ship applications for the iPhone today, and no announced phones using Android have a set shipping date. The size of the Android ecosystem is unknown, while the iPhone is one of the best-selling phones on the market, and before you argue that there will be many Android phones, not just one, keep in mind that developers will need to develop to many phones then instead of a single target, which means more complexity. It’s not surprising then that developers find the iPhone a better platform to develop on:
- there’s a finished SDK they can work on
- there’s a sophisticated IDE to work with, including a supported interface designer
- there’s a single form-factor to develop towards
- the iPhone is one of the best-selling cell phones on the market - and there are millions of phones out there
- Apple has provided an App Store which is available to all the existing millions of iPhone users, allowing a simple way to get your apps to users all over the world
- Android phones are not expect to ship until next year
- Android is a moving-target with APIs changing in every revision
So develop on a completed SDK for a device that is shipping in the millions, or develop on a incomplete SDK towards unknown devices that may or may not ship sometime in the future. Seems an easy decision to me…
Apple tortures their developers too. This is why I refuse to develop for the iPhone.
http://pragdave.blogs.pragprog.com/pragdave/2008/07/if-you-work-for.html