游戏邦在:
杂志专栏:
gamerboom.com订阅到鲜果订阅到抓虾google reader订阅到有道订阅到QQ邮箱订阅到帮看

Android平台开放性使其日益获应用开发商青睐

发布时间:2011-05-07 15:13:29 Tags:,,

Gigaom撰稿人Ryan Kim就Android平台的优越性发表文章,以下是游戏邦编译的内容:

Android有些许iOS所缺乏的应用,如Swype和SwiftKey等键盘替换软件。尽管强势的苹果在应用上仍处于领先地位,但已有越来越多的新型应用优先选择登陆Android平台,而不是iOS。这有益于Android Market的发展壮大,该平台正不断前进,预计今年年末总应用数将超过苹果的App Store。这个趋势使开发商对Android平台的独特诉求显得更为突出,也就是说随着平台硬件销售逐渐升温,尽管开发商的盈利无法与iOS相比,但富有创意的开发人员可以在此平台上找到更多的乐趣。

过去半年来,我见过并选择许多首先在Android上发布的应用。Enterproid、Aro Mobile、ThruTu、Zazu、Contapps、Skifta和RadioMe只是跳过iOS的少数应用,我确信还有许多采取这种方式的应用自己未曾注意到。开发商兴致提升部分原因在于Android手机的成功,其销售量已超过iPhone(游戏邦注:依此来看,其他平台手机也落于下风。),众人可能有意在苹果饱和的App Store外开辟新市场。

这种趋势的诞生与Android的优势有很大关联,平台的开放性从某种程度上鼓励开发带有更多功能的尖端应用。苹果对硬件的限制及其繁琐的审查程序似乎也起到作用。尽管在iOS上赚钱仍较为容易而且Android的分裂(游戏邦注:因开发商不恰当使用代码,导致某些应用无法在所有Android设备上运行。)令许多开发商头疼不已,但随着开发商数量逐渐增加,优先选择Android平台似乎更有意义。

android-market

Android Market

Contapps(游戏邦注:一款联系人应用。)联合开发者及首席执行官Lior Romano说道:“越来越多的开发商偏爱Google的开放性,不愿忍受iPhone上的层层审查,他们只想要制作自己的东西并在市场上发布。现在随着Android系统的发展,Android Market的规模已同苹果App Store不相上下。如果你开发的是免费应用并希望能够得到用户的接受和回应,Android确实是个非常诱人的选择。”

Google刚开始便采取更为开放的方法,因而诞生出某些新型应用,如主屏幕更换和第三方浏览器。但依Lior所述,过去并非所有的开发商都想到利用这个机会,因为当时该平台用户还不多。但现在,许多开发商牢牢把握平台迅猛发展带来的良机,推出充分利用某些Android架构的应用。以Contapps为例,这款可替代联系人列表的应用甚为引人注目,将姿势搜索、社交整合和搜索以及地理定位融入其中。

Lior表示,Android内的架构为开发商提供更多触及手机核心功能的机遇,可以将更多第三方API和优秀工具整合其中。他声称自己也很担心苹果会拒绝这个应用,因为它可能与iOS固有的功能过于相似。Lior说道:“我们想要为联系和互动提供一站式服务,这个目标需要Android的开放性支持才能实现。使用Android,你可以从Google处获得大量入口,有机会构造出大型应用,而不是只浮于表面。”

上述言论体现出Android平台的些许魅力所在。开发商可以深入挖掘设备,制作出大量可与现有平台兼容或替代其功能的应用。以ThruTu为例,这款应用允许用户在通话过程中传输照片、联系人或用户位置。选择先期在Android上发布的Aro Mobile使用自有带语义技术(游戏邦注:语义技术指计算机通过句子或段落推断词句在上下文中的准确含义。)的云连接版本,替代设备上原本的联系人、邮件、搜索、电话和浏览器应用。Aro Mobile随后在iOS上发布,但由于该平台本身限制性较强,应用无法完全替代设备现有的功能。该应用只能与原功能并行,对用户的吸引力有所降低。像电话簿应用ON之类的其他应用,在苹果平台上运行时也大打折扣。

ThruTu

苹果的方法对那些寻找精致应用的消费者来说大有裨益,苹果的控制和排列方式也是App Store中应用下载量高涨的部分要素。但Zazu联合制作人Punit Shah认为,这种方法可能打击某些意图在苹果不怎么感兴趣的领域进行创新的开发商。Zazu是款个人辅助应用,可大声读出新闻、社交站点反馈和邮件,正致力于开发出帮助用户编排日常事务的功能。

Shah表示苹果的硬件设备很不错,但他在Android上可以做得事情更多。在Android设备上,他可以更容易获得拨号信息,而且能够在无需各个来源依次认证的前提下整合不同来源的联系人列表。Shah声称,这种开放性使得应用更为健全。Zazu近期刚刚完成iPhone版本应用的开发,但它是否能够通过审查还是个问题。Android没有审查过程,因而开发者能够保证自己的应用在Android Market上发布。他说道:“作为开发者,我想要做出某些好玩而有价值的新事物。但从公司的角度来看,如果存在过多可能导致应用夭折的不定因素,那么要实现上述目标便显得尤为困难。”

Enterproid(游戏邦注:这款应用可以区分企业和个人数据。)联合开发者Andrew Toy表示,他的公司正向所有的移动平台进军。但自去年起随着Android的发展,该平台现在可为开发商提供数量颇多的受众,形势已今非昔比。他声称自己选择在Android上发布应用也正是出于对苹果审查过程的担忧,这是许多新兴开发商的普遍问题,因为他们在确认苹果会批准应用前就必须投入资本。Toy说道,对那些喜欢快速更新并不断测试应用的开发商而言,审查过程显得更为棘手。他认为Android在盈利方面更为灵活,这也是选择的原因之一。

Enterproid

Toy说道:“Android让我们的开发变得更为灵活,我们可以快速修正漏洞、测试新功能和发布新版本。我们将产品投入Android的市场中,还可以探索不同的运营模式。这对像我们这样的公司显得特别重要,因为现有的广告或付费应用等盈利模式并不适合我们的目标市场。”

现在,分裂仍然是Android应用开发商面临的主要问题。Lior觉得屏幕尺寸不同、自定义ROM和操作方式会对测试造成很大的破坏,他也同意苹果更容易让应用产生利润的说法。但是随着Android设备销售量日益攀升,我们很可能看到更多开发商不只选择将iOS应用导入Android中,而是将Android作为他们工作的起点。需要特别指出的是,已有越来越多的开发商开始试验上述做法。或许我们最终会看到,某些应用在Android上的表现比iOS更为完善。这可能不会影响到各个平台的发展势头,但随着时间流逝,我们在Android上看到更多开拓性移动应用的可能性会逐渐增加。

Google仍然应该做出努力,确保平台能够兼容更多工具,允许更多API进入。Android Market中的购买体验也需要继续改善,确保其达到能够让开发商盈利的层面。Android早期将平台打造得更为开放的策略似乎逐渐赢得开发商的认同,这使得平台整体竞争力更胜一筹。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

Android Grows as Primary Target for Innovative Developers

Android has always had some apps that iOS didn’t, such as keyboard replacement software like Swype and SwiftKey. While Apple still holds a strong lead in apps, there is an increasing number of cutting-edge, innovative apps initially launching on Android before they go to iOS. It’s part of a larger build-up for Android Market, which is on pace to have more apps than Apple’s App Store later this year. But it highlights the unique appeal of the Android platform, which doesn’t make as much money for developers but is finding more interest from creative programmers, especially as hardware sales heat up.

In the last six months or so, I’ve seen — and been pitched on — a number of apps that consciously launched on Android first. Enterproid, Aro Mobile, ThruTu, Zazu, Contapps, Skifta, and RadioMe are just a few of the apps that bypassed iOS, and I’m sure there are many I’m missing. The growing interest from developers is due in part to the increasing success of Android phones, which are outselling iPhones (and every other platform, for that matter) and possibly the desire to simply target a space outside of Apple’s saturated App Store.

But a lot has to do with the advantages of the open platform of Android, which encourages more cutting-edge applications with a broader array of features in some cases. Apple’s limits on access to its hardware as well as its tougher review process also seems to be playing a role. It’s still easier to make money on iOS, and fragmentation is a headache for many Android developers, but for a growing number of developers, it makes more sense to start on Android first.

“You have more developers who love the openness of Google and don’t want to go through the iPhone funnel, they just want to create their own thing and get it out there,” said Lior Romano, the co-founder and CEO of Contapps, a contacts app. “Now with the growth of Android, the size of (Android Market) is now getting equal to Apple. If you develop free applications and want to get to scale and responses from users, Android is very inviting.”

Google has had a more open approach from the beginning, and that resulted in some innovative apps like home screen replacements and third-party browsers. But Lior said not all developers took advantage of the opportunity because the audience wasn’t there yet. But now, many are timing their apps to take advantage of their fast growth of the platform and are coming out with titles that make more use of some of Android’s architecture. Contapps, for example, offers a contact list replacement app that’s more visual, with gesture-based search, social integration and search and mapping built into the app.

Lior said building in Android offered more access to the core functions of the phone, the ability to integrate with more third-party APIs and good tools to build with. He said he was also worried about Apple stifling the app because it might be too close to the iOS native functions. ”We want to be a one-stop shop for contacts and interaction; that’s a big goal and we need the openness of Android to undertake those possibilities,” Lior said. “With Android, you get a lot of access from Google and the opportunity to build something big, not something skin deep.”

That’s some of the allure of the Android platform. Developers can get deep into the guts of a device and build out a lot of apps that work with the existing the platform or simply replace its functionality. ThruTu, for example, allows users to send pictures, contacts, their location or a vibrating “prod” while in the middle of a voice conversation. Aro Mobile, which debuted first on Android, replaces the native contacts, email, search, phone and browser apps on a device with its own cloud-connected versions with semantic technology. Aro Mobile later launched on iOS, but because of the platform’s more restrictive nature, the app wasn’t able to fully replace existing functions. It has to work alongside them, undercutting some of its appeal. Other apps like ON, an address book app, also have had to be watered down to work on Apple’s platform.

Apple’s approach has been great for consumers who are looking for very polished apps. And Apple’s control and sense of order has been part of why downloads have soared in the App Store. But it can be stifling for some developers looking to innovate in areas that Apple is less interested in, said Punit Shah, co-founder of Zazu, a personal assistant app that reads aloud news, social feeds, and emails, and is looking to help users plan for upcoming calendar events.

Shah said the Apple hardware is great, but he’s not able to do as much with it compared to Android. On Android, he gets easier access to dialer information and can incorporate contact lists from different sources without asking for additional authentications for each source. That has led to a more robust app, Shah said. Zazu recently completed an iPhone app, but there’s no guarantee that it will get approved. With Android, there’s no review process, so developers are assured they can launch on Android Market. “As an entrepreneur, I want to make something new that’s ridiculous and provides value. But from a company perspective, it’s much harder to do that when you have too many variables where you can be shot down,” he said.

Andrew Toy, co-founder of Enterproid, an app that creates a partition between enterprise and personal data, said his company is open to all mobile platforms. But with Android’s growth in the past year, it now offers developers the ability to get traction with a sizable audience, which wasn’t the case early on. But he said his choice to launch on Android was also prompted by Apple’s review process, which can be a concern for some start-ups, as they must invest before they’re sure Apple will approve their apps. The review process for updates can also be harder for developers who like to iterate quickly and constantly test their apps, said Toy. And he said Android is more flexible with monetization options, he said — another bonus.

“Android gives us the ability to use agile development. We’re able to fix bugs, test new features, and release new versions very quickly. Android also allows us to explore different business models as we bring our products to market. This is especially important for a company like ours, where existing revenue-generation models like advertising or paid apps don’t fit well with our target market,” Toy said.

Now, fragmentation is still a major issue for Android developers. Lior said different screen sizes, custom ROMs and operator additions can wreak havoc on testing. And Apple is still a better place to make money, he agrees. But with device sales running high on Android, we’re likely to see more developers not just port iOS apps over to Android, but instead begin their work on Android. Experimental stuff, in particular, may start showing up more on Android. And we eventually may see a class of apps that are more robust on Android than on iOS. This may not do much to alter the momentum of each platform, but there’s an increasing chance we’ll see more really ground-breaking mobile apps on Android as time goes on.

Google still has to do a lot to ensure that the platform evolves well with more tools, enhancements and access to more APIs, something we’ll like hear more of at Google I/O next week. And the buying experience in Android Market needs to continue improving to make sure it reaches its money-making potential. But it seems like the early bet on Android’s more open design is increasingly resonating with developers and that can only mean more momentum for the platform as a whole. (Source: Gigaom)


上一篇:

下一篇: