日前，科技博客主约翰·格鲁伯（John Gruber）在一篇名为“Anroid的杀手级应用在哪？”的文中称，Android平台远逊苹果iPhone的主要原因在于：Android Market缺乏独一无二的应用产品。

在格鲁伯看来，苹果常常能提供一些更强大、针对高级用户、让一般iPhone用户只能眼羡的应用产品，而Android最缺的就是这种差异化的应用体验。

ANDROID-VS-IOS

这也导致了Android与iPhone相比总会不上档次，苹果致力于将iPhone打造成为一个类似于Xbox 360、PS3形式的“应用掌机”，所以iPhone用户在其他手机用户面前，总能因拥有这些独家应用软件而产生优越感。

格鲁伯在博客的开篇写道，“我向一些第三方开发者了解到的情况是，Android拥有的正是苹果不想要的东西。”

根据TechCrunch网站公布的一份Android前30名应用列表，格鲁伯得出一个结论：Android平台上的大部分顶级游戏在iPhone上也有，而且还有不少内容只是iOS游戏（比如《Doodle Jump》）的克隆版本。

格鲁伯表示，“仅在过去几天，我就已经购买了三款专门面向iOS平台的游戏，《Astronut》（Iconfactory公司出品）、《Rage》高清版（id Software工作室出品）、《Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner》（LucasArts公司出品），这三者中的任何一款都比Android排名靠前的游戏要强得多……Android与iOS之间的对比，好比是Windows之于Mac系统，虽然Mac软件质量总是超过Windows，但Windows的游戏一直不赖。”

App Store-vs-Android Market

不过，Android为何不能与苹果匹敌，创建自己的“应用掌机”却仍然无人可以解答。

格鲁伯称Android Market只不过是开发商针对Cydia、而非App Store本身的一个替补性选择，只能提供一些被苹果应用商店禁售的产品。

反观WP7上的Windows Marketplace，推出促销活动还不到一个月，就已经可以提供大量曾在App Store独家销售，但目前仍未投放Android的游戏，例如《Assassin’s Creed》、《Need for Speed：Undercover》和《Star Wars: Battle for Hoth》。虽然这很可能是微软意在招徕开发商的一种象征性举动，但也足以反衬出Android应用商店的寒碜。

尽管Android平台越来越受欢迎，但格鲁伯仍然认为，从手机应用角度上看，Android仍然落后iPhone一大截，“Android第三方应用软件与iOS平台相比仍然很逊色……虽然Android的手机销售额已经超过iOS，甚至在总体销量上也可能很快和苹果扯平，但要注意，不能说大部分的顶级手机应用都是专为iOS量身定制，而应该说几乎所有的高端应用都是面向iOS平台……在过去一年中Android开发商数量确实在不断增长，但速度远远不及Android手机销售额的增长。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber reckons Android’s lack of exclusive games is a significant gap

What factors make an iPhone user jump ship to an Android handset?

According to technology blogger John Gruber of Daring Fireball, it comes down to one thing alone: apps. More specifically, exclusive apps.

In a piece titled ‘Where Are the Android Killer Apps?’, Gruber goes to great lengths to explain just why, having previously been a Nexus One owner, he doesn’t actually miss his brief experience with the Android platform.

In Gruber’s view, Android lacks any exclusive body of apps beyond those that exploit areas of the OS barred by Apple that would make an average iPhone user jealous.

As such, Google’s platform trails iPhone by some distance, because Apple has sculpted its handset into an ‘app console’ – a format that, like Xbox 360 or PS3, attracts consumers by flaunting a line up of exclusive software.

Console wars

“I’m talking about third-party developer exclusives – and the only ones Android has are ones that Apple doesn’t want,” Gruber says in the entry.

Using a list of the top 30 Android apps of all time compiled by guest contributor Alex Ahlund on TechCrunch, Gruber summarises that the majority of top games on the platform are either already available on iPhone, or are simply clones of top iOS franchises like Doodle Jump.

“Compare and contrast with the library of exclusive games for iOS,” Gruber adds.

“Just in the past few days alone, I’ve bought three new exclusive iOS games, any one of which would surely beat any of the exclusive Android games on Ahlund’s list of all-time best ones: Astronut from The Iconfactory, Rage HD from Id Software, and Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner from LucasArts.

“That games of this caliber are all exclusive to iOS is, arguably, the biggest hole in the argument that Android is to iOS what Windows was to the Mac. Say what you want about the quality edge that Mac software holds over Windows, but Windows has always had the games.”

App appeal?

However, just why Android isn’t able to compete with Apple and serve up an app console is a mystery.

Gruber claims developers are currently using Android Market as an alternative to Cydia rather than the App Store itself, serving up emulators blocked from sale on Apple’s marketplace.

In contrast, after less than a month on sale, Windows Marketplace on Windows Phone 7 currently boasts a number of former App Store exclusives that are still absent from Android – Assassin’s Creed, Need for Speed: Undercover and Star Wars: Battle for Hoth to name a few – although Microsoft’s decision to put its money where its mouth is might explain a large portion of its draw with developers.

Nonetheless, Gruber claims Android is currently a long way from challenging iPhone on the app front, even though the platform is ultimately proving popular at the tills.

“Android, today, is thriving despite the fact that its third-party software library is very weak compared to iOS’s,” he concludes.

“It’s not that most top-notch mobile apps are written for iOS – it’s that almost all of them are, despite the fact that Android, by most accounts, has surpassed iOS in phone sales and perhaps drawn even in unit sales overall.

“Android developer support has grown over the past year, but at nowhere near a rate that’s commensurate with the growth in Android handset sales.”（source:pocketgamer）