Steve Jobs grossly exaggerated Android tablet app market size

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
While introducing iPad 2 last month, Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs described the competitive market for tablet apps on Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb as having "at most 100 apps." The actual Android catalog appears to be closer to 17.



Jobs noted that the iOS App Store now has over 350,000 titles, of which 65,000 "take full advantage of the iPad," drawing attention to "consumption apps, creation apps and fantastic games, and a lot of apps for business and vertical markets apps like medical. The things people are doing here are amazing," Jobs said.



"That compares to our competitors, who are trying to launch these days with at most 100 apps. And I think we're being a little generous here. This is a huge advantage we have," Jobs added.







A review of Google's Android Marketplace tablet offerings "featured for tablets" depicts just 50 apps, but as blogger Justin Williams notes, "most are upconverted and offer no significant advantages on a tablet other than a larger screen."



Looking only at apps that either require Android 3.0 or have a user interface "specifically designed for a tablet experience," Williams counted only 17.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 147
    He's not infallible? Sacrilege.
  • Reply 2 of 147
    mhiklmhikl Posts: 471member
    Steve is just being kind. He knows from experience so understands what it is like to be an underdog so why kick Androidophiles when they are so far behind even if the dog doesn't have a hind leg to stand on. I am sure Droids get their fair share of time in his meditative thoughts. Release anger, hug your enemy and peace shall clear the mind. Something like that.
  • Reply 3 of 147
    aviumavium Posts: 7member
    Negligible difference.
  • Reply 4 of 147
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by avium View Post


    Negligible difference.



    You are absolutely right, Android tablet apps are negligible.
  • Reply 5 of 147




    Guess if I knew how to code in Android,

    I could just "copy" so many of the excellent iPad-specific Apps, that I have on my iPad2.



    And laugh, All The Way To the Bank !!!



    Ha Ha Ha Hahhhh



















    or maybe Not
  • Reply 6 of 147
    kerrybkerryb Posts: 270member
    that's not even legal
  • Reply 7 of 147
    jglavinjglavin Posts: 93member
    To be fair he did mention that he was being generous on this one. But if at this point they are still at 50 apps total, that's pretty bad; especially considering Apple themselves had at least a thousand iPad apps at launch.
  • Reply 8 of 147
    luisdiasluisdias Posts: 277member
    They are actually 20, and counting. The link is updated to 20. When I first heard about this on John Gruber, it was 16. It may assymptoticate to 30 or something.
  • Reply 9 of 147
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    When will Android ever catch up to Apple?
  • Reply 10 of 147
    luisdiasluisdias Posts: 277member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mhikl View Post


    Steve is just being kind. He knows from experience so understands what it is like to be an underdog so why kick Androidophiles when they are so far behind even if the dog doesn't have a hind leg to stand on. I am sure Droids get their fair share of time in his meditative thoughts. Release anger, hug your enemy and peace shall clear the mind. Something like that.



    No, it's more like "I can't fucking tell them the exact number of apps android has, 'coz they will find one or two more and then say in all newspapers that I am a liar, that once again big Steve is distorting reality, instead of focusing on the iPad.... ok, I'll give'em a hundred and they will fucking shut up 'coz if they don't someone will figure out they actually have ten or less and that will be fucking embarrassing for them.... twice. Heheh, they are SOOOO burned"
  • Reply 11 of 147
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LuisDias View Post


    They are actually 20, and counting. The link is updated to 20. When I first heard about this on John Gruber, it was 16. It may assymptoticate to 30 or something.



    As long as Honeycomb has great full-power, easy-to-use tablet apps that can match the quality of GarageBand, iDraw, SketchBook, Numbers, Keynote, iTeleport, and a few hundred more of the very best, plus a couple thousand really good games to choose from (because we all want choice), who cares if Android tablets have less of the mediocre and poor apps?



    So... how do these Honeycomb apps stack up with the best of iPad offerings? Are they “good enough” in the sense of marking a checklist (“we have an app for that”) or are they truly great?





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkalu View Post


    When will Android ever catch up to Apple?



    It already has... someday in the future!



    (That, quite literally, is the stance of all nine Android tablet zealots, and the most dedicated Android phone zealots too. The rest of us wait and see and hope for healthier competition to arrive some day. I think it might happen AND I think it could be from Android... but only if some big company takes Android and makes their own unique, incompatible, closed flavor of it, and manages to design it as well as Apple has. A tall order, but time is long!)
  • Reply 12 of 147
    ssquirrelssquirrel Posts: 1,196member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkalu View Post


    When will Android ever catch up to Apple?



    at this rate probably never
  • Reply 13 of 147
    myapplelovemyapplelove Posts: 1,515member
    lol, very funny article Dan. Truth is funnier than fiction, 17 apps, but let's not forget, they run great on some superb vapourware devices!
  • Reply 14 of 147
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    But it is open... Oh wait!
  • Reply 15 of 147
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkalu View Post


    When will Android ever catch up to Apple?



    "When will then be now? ...Soon."
  • Reply 16 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LuisDias View Post


    No, it's more like "I can't fucking tell them the exact number of apps android has, 'coz they will find one or two more and then say in all newspapers that I am a liar, that once again big Steve is distorting reality, instead of focusing on the iPad.... ok, I'll give'em a hundred and they will fucking shut up 'coz if they don't someone will figure out they actually have ten or less and that will be fucking embarrassing for them.... twice. Heheh, they are SOOOO burned"



    Haha...Thats hilarious.
  • Reply 17 of 147
    nkalunkalu Posts: 315member
    I dream of a Hybrid Device that would unite Apple and Android and give us the best of both worlds. Is it possible?
  • Reply 18 of 147
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 513member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkalu View Post


    I dream of a Hybrid Device that would unite Apple and Android and give us the best of both worlds. Is it possible?



    Of course it's possible. If you want the best of both worlds, get an iPad2.
  • Reply 19 of 147
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Predictions as to when Honeycomb will have 100 native apps?



    I say 60 days.
  • Reply 20 of 147
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkalu View Post


    When will Android ever catch up to Apple?



    In the tablet space... when more Android tablets are out in the world so the developers have a reason to build Honeycomb apps.



    Right now... The Xoom is the only Android tablet on the market... so would a developer spend lots of time making apps for it? There can't be that many out there...



    Apple didn't have that problem. By the time their App Store opened in 2008... there were plenty of existing iPhones and iPod Touches in the world since 2007. Then add to that all the new iPhones that were purchased in 2008 and beyond. The apps kept coming as more and more iOS devices were bought. And that trend continues today.



    It's gonna take a long time for Android tablets to reach critical mass.



    If I was a developer... I'd focus on iPhones and Android phones... and the iPad.... looong before I spent time making apps for Honeycomb tablets.
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