Why I chose Apple over Google

The App Store. Apple’s application supermarket. Where a person can choose from over a quarter of a million apps and purchase with the press of a finger. It is a revolution. Not because it is an online app store, it is in fact something bigger. When I was “choosing a side” between developing iPhone Apps or for Android, the two competing app stores played a large part in my decision making process. Of course there are other mobile app opportunities but these are the big two in the game today. Sorry Simbian, Palm and RIM, you weren’t even in the running on this (in spite of Symbian’s rather large install base).

On one hand, you have the Android Market. The name sounds cool. The developer license is a reasonable price. The language is familiar (Java) which means there are a ton of tools, tutorials and developers out there to help a programmer out. It is the cheapest of the developer licenses at $25 USD for a lifetime membership. It is also making up a lot of ground. 70,000+ apps currently available in the Android Market. The biggest reason would have been because it is Google. A brand most have come to trust and rely on.

As you may tell from this blog, at this time I chose to develop for the Apple App Store. I have a few geek friends who condemn me to no end. “Android is so open”. “Google is not an evil empire like Apple”. “Java is awesome”.  This may be true depending on your perspective but I know what Android isn’t. It isn’t a media superpower.

Wait…what? Google is not a powerhouse? No, not in the same way that Apple has solidified itself in the mobile market. The App Store has several things the Android Market does not. Here are a few things:

• Music. Yes you can put your own music on your Android phone but you cannot purchase a song with a single click and have it wirelessly download to your phone. A quick Google search shows that there are many people who have asked how this is done.
• Video and TV shows. Same as above. The iTunes catalog is full on media and all can be purchased from the device.
• App consistency. Some will argue with me on this but one of the best things about an app in the App Store is the consistency with which they are developed. Yes, developers will complain about working in Apple’s walled garden but as a consumer and as someone who has done usability testing, the fact that you can expect a certain behaviour out of the app you purchased is huge.  Consistency is paramount to good usability. The walled garden approach and *cough* careful app review *cough* (not always) by Apple makes this possible.
• SIMPLICITY. I can’t say this enough. Put each device in the hands of your great gramma and see which one she likes better.

The draw to Android comes from it’s openness. But with a myriad of seemingly small user issues such as “how do I sync music” or “how do I do x, y and z”? It is still catering to the technically sophisticated group. I recently flew to Chicago and sat next to someone who has just purchased a Nexus One and had no idea how to use it. This gentleman was a sales engineer for a top IT consulting firm. Is the Android a better phone platform? Many would say yes but I say the best phone is the one that serves as many different people with as many different technology levels as possible.

The final reason I chose Apple, is I can focus my software support on a few platforms. At most you may have to support 3 or 4 versions of iPhone. You can easily understand the limitations of older devices and they follow a predictable upgrade path. With Android phones, being made by a bunch of different companies it becomes a support nightmare. Dozens or potentially hundreds of devices with different specs and capabilities means your software will never work the same on two devices. It really doesn’t matter if your phone has double the RAM and processor speed as my iPhone. When I create an app for iPhone I can utilize every last bit of iPhone power confident in how it will run on other people’s iPhone.

That’s my $0.02. You might have change coming.