At the leWeb conference on December 7, 2011, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt was asked why developers are writing apps for iOS before Android. Schmidt replied that because of the rising number of Android users “my prediction is that six months from now you’ll say the opposite.” (The quote is at about 43:00 in this video on YouTube.).
Well, its six months later.
I don’t see major apps coming out for Android first. In fact, the most recent version of the Google+ mobile app came out for iOS two weeks before the Android version. Any comment Eric?
My Take: It makes sense to think that if Android has more users developers would target that platform first, but the issue isn’t the number of the users. The issue is what kind of users they are. Studies have shown that iOS users are better customers. iOS users are more likely to pay for apps and make in-app purchases. Developers go where the money is, so iOS is the place to try out apps. If there is success, they can port to Android to increase the user base. This tends to be the pattern for paid apps. Free apps, such as shopping or servicing apps (e.g. banking), are a different story. These apps tend to appear on iOS and Android together.
Don’t be too hard on Mr. Schmidt being wrong about this. He also said in the same conference that by summer 2012 “the majority of televisions you see will have Google TV embedded in it” so he clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Sources: TechCrunch, IntoMobile
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