Apps no longer differentiator in iOS vs. Android war, services next battleground

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 79


    By "he" are you referring to Gene Munster (a/k/a Genius Munster to his peeps)? Is this the same guy (analyst) that has wrongly predicted a large-screen category-changing super-thin Apple-originated flat-screen TV…for the past 3 years?

    Herman Munster.
  • Reply 42 of 79
    doxxicdoxxic Posts: 100member

    Quote:




    Originally Posted by JONOROM View Post





    Agreed. What actually distinguishes the iOS ecosystem is the long tail of tens of thousands of very high quality paid apps.

     

    To me as an iOS user, this is still very important, plus the amounts of complaining I hear from Android users.

     

    And the following two arguments are exactly what I was thinking and they make a valid point as for why the research may be invalid, but they are also based on the kind of wishful (snobist) thinking typical for me and quite a few iPhone users. 

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Sigma4Life View Post



    App ratings are based purely on customer expectations. Given the preponderance of rubbish in the Google Play store it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that many android users have lower expectations for their apps.

     

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by muppetry View Post

     

    I thought it was the quality of the customers that distinguished the platforms.


  • Reply 43 of 79

    "Equalized?"

     

    It's not that there aren't a lot of great apps, it's that you have to research anything you might "test out" on your phone. Android did not avoid the "million plus" dupes of the same fart button app that Apple tried to police. And every other app could be a trojan and the "flash light app" you installed requires access to your addresses book.

     

    Having an actual Android phone that is NOT one of the top tier, I don't install but a few apps and the experience is a bit sketchy. I could see that a business policy would be to lock down the phone.

  • Reply 44 of 79
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by vaporland View Post





    Broken clock is right twice a day?

     

    It's amazing he isn't an analyst for TV News. If you have a track record of less than 10% -- you are a shoe in as "TV Expert." They literally could not be worse (on average) if they made decisions by using darts on mad libs.

     

    It seems that "expert" is another word for "paid marketer" in many cases.

     

     

    *sigh*  I've got to find something to be more positive about -- that's two whiny comments about analysts and the quality of Android apps this morning. I don't want to add a "get off my lawn" to complete the picture. OK -- the number of analyst comments and the number of android apps is "way more" than last year. Is that positive?

  • Reply 45 of 79
    I used to agree that Android apps weren't as good as iOS apps, but let me tell you that recently Android app developers have made leaps and bounds. Most Android apps are almost equivalent to the iOS counterparts and in some cases better and more intuitive. I have jumped ship from the iPhone (had every single iPhone since the 3G up to the 5S) to Android and frankly there's nothing that would motivate me to come back to the iPhone at this time.

    My biggest gripes with iOS are the basic ones such as not being able to set a default email app or browser, etc... It's something so basic and would go a long way! I don't need to be told by Apple what I want as the default application for something. Third party keyboards would also be a nice to have feature. Swiftkey is a total godsend.

    I realize that this is an Apple site so most people are going to be biased towards Apple products and I'm not trying to start a "iOS is better!" "NO Android is better!", but rather just stating that as much as I loved iOS it does have it's downfalls and that Android has pretty much caught up in app quality as well.
  • Reply 46 of 79
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Out of interest (and before the lynch mob arrives) which Android apps would you say are better and more intuitive than their iOS counterparts?
  • Reply 47 of 79
    arlorarlor Posts: 531member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Crowley View Post





    Wasn't that always the case? Anyone who relied on raw counts of apps to prove iOS's superiority was best ignored.

     

    I always thought so, but there were a lot of those people. I think Jobs and Cook even made reference to the relative number of apps. 

     

    Most apps that I've used on both systems are identical, but Carcassonne on iOS is way better than the Android version. I can't imagine why the company hired different developers. 

  • Reply 48 of 79
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    The average Android customer/user demographic is quite different from the average iOS customer/user demographic.

    This is why comparing ratings in the manner in which the article suggests is useless.

    If I'm an Android user and I use X-app on Android and I'm impressed by it, my only basis for comparison will be other apps *in the Android ecosystem*. However, if I try that same app on iOS, I'll be blown away by that version. Most Android users will not be comparing apps platform to platform.
  • Reply 49 of 79
    App parity...I'm not convinced that it's been fully realized, but it's coming.

    What Analyst/Critics like Munster (not a fan) ALWAYS miss is the customer-service factor. Apple's (1) retail stores and (2) customer service philosophy is a killer advantage when considering the device life cycle.
  • Reply 50 of 79
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    quadra 610 wrote: »
    However, if I try that same app on iOS, I'll be blown away by that version. Most Android users will not be comparing apps platform to platform.

    Have you tried apps on Android to make that claim? Because I have both iOS and Android devices in my household and there's really no discernable difference in apps. Some apps are missing a feature or two but nothing that really takes away from the overall experience. Now I will say that iOS has quite a few quality apps in which there is no Android version.
  • Reply 51 of 79

    That's it, thanks for digging it up. I was on my iPhone and searching for old threads can be painful.
  • Reply 52 of 79
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    MathieuLLF wrote: »
    [blah] I have jumped ship from the iPhone (had every single iPhone since the 3G up to the 5S)
    ...

    Smells like bullsh1t to me.
  • Reply 53 of 79
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    dasanman69 wrote: »
    Have you tried apps on Android to make that claim? Because I have both iOS and Android devices in my household and there's really no discernable difference in apps. Some apps are missing a feature or two but nothing that really takes away from the overall experience. Now I will say that iOS has quite a few quality apps in which there is no Android version.

    Not even in loading, lag, or touching elements on screen when using iOS v Android? I've experienced and noticed that every time I've used an Android app I'm familiar with on iOS. Now one could say that it's not the 3rd-party developer's fault if Android OS or the HW vendor has its own issues but it does still effect the app experience since the app runs atop this OS and HW.
  • Reply 54 of 79
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member
    crowley wrote: »
    Wasn't that always the case? Anyone who relied on raw counts of apps to prove iOS's superiority was best ignored.

    Totally right. Just because Jaffray is linked to Apple doesn't make their analysis less nonsensical. Of course apps on iOS have always been better not because there are more but because...they are better.
  • Reply 55 of 79
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Not even in loading, lag, or touching elements on screen when using iOS v Android? I've experienced and noticed that every time I've used an Android app I'm familiar with on iOS. Now one could say that it's not the 3rd-party developer's fault if Android OS or the HW vendor has its own issues but it does still effect the app experience since the app runs atop this OS and HW.

    The lag and other factors are a permanent disadvantage in Android. As I recall, Apple has implemented touch at the core of their OS, whereas Android has not. It's possible they will never be able to do so because of key patents held by Apple.
  • Reply 56 of 79
    What reckless reporting%u2026the idea that iOS and Android have reached "app parity" simply because apps are rated similarly in their respective stores. It doesn't consider the real-word scenario that several of the apps people use every day are on iOS exclusively.
  • Reply 57 of 79
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

    As I recall, Apple has implemented touch at the core of their OS, whereas Android has not.

     

    That’s what happens when you take a BlackBerry knockoff and turn it into an iPhone knockoff without any low-level work of your own. <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" />

  • Reply 58 of 79
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,042member

    Sorry I do not buy it totally, I agree with one point he made, apps and how many iOS and android is no longer decision factor, it now expected and most users are not making a purchasing decision on how many apps there are or whether a particular app is available or works well on a platform. I use both platforms and I can tell you the reviews on Android apps tend to be useless, most with 4 or 5 star simple say works as expected or something similar, and the one with 1 or 2 stars usually is some person's rant or they found out it does not work on their version of the android phone they have.

     

    This analysis also confirms much of what most everyone else has been saying for a long time, users of android tend to favor free apps, it is evident by the number of reviews, they get a free phone and then expect free apps, they also rate the free apps higher, why most likely because it was free, so expectations are very low. The mere fact it works probably gets a 4 or 5 stars.

  • Reply 59 of 79
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Not even in loading, lag, or touching elements on screen when using iOS v Android? I've experienced and noticed that every time I've used an Android app I'm familiar with on iOS. Now one could say that it's not the 3rd-party developer's fault if Android OS or the HW vendor has its own issues but it does still effect the app experience since the app runs atop this OS and HW.

    My GNex has no discernable lag, but my Nexus 7 is a laggy and buggy POS that I've given to my son (it actually plays games lag free, go figure) and replaced with a iPad mini. I have the same games on the the N7 and on a iPod Touch 4th gen, a few run laggy on the iPod but run smooth on the N7. I also have a easier time using AI mobile version on my GNex than the iOS app. I gave some serious consideration to getting a 5s but since I still have unlimited data with VZW and I can *cough* tether for free I didn't make the switch.
  • Reply 60 of 79
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    The lag and other factors are a permanent disadvantage in Android. As I recall, Apple has implemented touch at the core of their OS, whereas Android has not. It's possible they will never be able to do so because of key patents held by Apple.

    I do really think that they'll one day abandon Android and go with a Chrome mobile OS.
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