Android

Blog Post: How Concerned Should Apple Be Over iPad Market Share?

This time last year, Apple’s share of the tablet market was still in a dominant position. Even though Android was technically higher in terms of tablet OS use — 51% to 47%, respectively — the split of Google’s platform among all the OEMs can help make iOS more appealing to developers.

Unfortunately, a lack of innovation and release of new products has changed that argument tremendously.

With a 14% decline in iPad shipments this past quarter, Apple now only owns 28% of the share of the tablet market.

2012 vs. 2013 Market Share

Many are pointing to the lack of a new version of both the 10-inch and 7-inch iPads as the main reason for such a steep decrease in sales. With more recent releases from Samsung and Google, in addition to the Windows offerings, the competition has more than caught up to Cupertino.

Earlier this year, I read projections by many industry experts reporting that Apple’s lead in the tablet market will remain for much longer. Of course, those reports weren’t counting on Apple standing pat for this long. Some are now opining there won’t be an update to the iPad Mini in 2013 period.

That sound you hear is the continued drop in Apple’s stock price.

I still have hope in the fall announcement that Tim Cook promises will be ground-breaking. Who knows what it will include, but if it’s anything like last September’s it should be a doozy.

One could argue that it may not be enough, in time. We shall see.

Blog Post: How Concerned Should Apple Be Over iPad Market Share?

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Blog Post: Google Makes It Rain Rejections

I love this article, mainly because it proves something Apple fans have been saying for years. While it is nice to have a big open field to play in, you can’t be upset when the local weirdos come over to throw the frisbee.

It’s been all over the news today, but a ton of apps have left the Google Play store. I don’t want to gloss over the fact that not all were at the behest of Google, most of them were.

Now that services such as Applause can actually quantify that the quality of apps are higher for iOS, looks like the Android owner decided to do something about it.

I have actually come to appreciate some of the perks associated with Android lately. When most of your team walks around carrying HTCs and Samsungs you start to ask why. The argument against the platform is niche, and can seem a bit elitist. I’ll admit it. When over 60k apps get booted because of spam or quality, however, the argument becomes germane again.

Blog Post: Google Makes It Rain Rejections

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Blog Post: What Have You Assumed About Mobile?

When it comes to the Web, nobody is a bigger authority and innovator than Smashing Magazine. This article is evidence of just that, pointing out current myths that some decisions makers may have made about the direction mobile is headed. If I may, I wanted to provide feedback and also steer a few in the proper direction.

First, it’s brilliant to assume that we think of mobile users in terms of the platform or device that accesses the amazing new features product development managers are thinking of. However, it’s just the tool and not the end point of the discussion. Simply put, mobile is about the user. 

While easily stated, it is very difficult to define. Users tell us more about who they are in the types of data they search for and record instead of the browser they perform these tasks on. It made Google a leader, WebMD a household name and Facebook a giant. Want to know more about your potential customers? Look at the data they hold dear and find a way to give it to them in an easier manner.

Another assumption made is that everything needs to move to iOS, or at least start there if you want your app to succeed. It’s absolutely true, but one mindset I would love to be a part of changing is that we need to focused on which platform or user experience is better. 

Apple enjoyed dominance until the Android platform burst on the scene. I have read many articles on how users either use their devices differently or expect them to behave differently. This is a very wrong-footed approach. Developers should be caring about to create a unified experience regardless of what device users pick up. How incredible would a service be if users could pick up any device (Samsung phone, Apple tablet, Asus laptop, Pebble Smartwatch, Sony television) and everything was a single experience? It starts with designers design with the user in mind, not the platform.

In that same vein, I can’t in good conscience endorse the idea that apps are just a fad. More and more Internet traffic is flowing from mobile devices every day, and it’s not through mobile browsers. Part of the reason is web designers still don’t employ responsive design in it’s truest form. So, until that paradigm shift occurs in web development, we are going to use our apps. 

In the end, however, these are just my thoughts. I love that we can engage in conversations about this subject to build a much better mobile and connected world.

Blog Post: What Have You Assumed About Mobile?

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Blog Post: The Value of ‘Enterprise’

Did anyone see the new Samsung commercial this weekend? In it, a gaming company announces they will allow employees to bring any mobile device they want and use it in the office. There are some of the usual advertising tactics of making the cool kids the one using Samsung devices and the also rans. At the end of the day, the leaders of the company announce they will launch in four weeks. Guess who are the ones excited about such a short window? 

The Samsung users. 

Granted, this kind of commercial doesn’t draw the ire it used to. Whether you are promoting a soda, smartphone, clothing, or any other product, this is the theme your commercial will probably have at some point in time. Having played with a few of their offerings, I’m even inclined to think in that a Galaxy device might be a pretty cool thing to have.

Let’s not kid ourselves, however, Android is a long ways away from catching iOS in the realm of the enterprise.

Today’s link comes from Apple Insider (yes I know, consider the source) that argues this very idea. What I think many of us will realize, is there is a lot of truth hidden in these words. With the decline of RIM in the last half decade, it is only fair to assume the iPhone took the crown away from the Blackberry. Whether they intended to or not, Apple’s walled garden approach to hardware was made for big enterprise.

The value is of course tremendous. While many companies do not provide phones or devices, they would be more likely to select an iPhone over a Galaxy SIII if they did. Will it always be this way? Of course not. There is something to be said for developing a little residual inertia and riding it out. Microsoft made billions off of that principle.

It’s hard to say what device my kids will want to play with once I let them own one of their own. Thankfully, those days are far, far off. Regardless, if you want to be successful in enterprise products, you have to take a page out of the Apple playbook. Because of that, Android is going to be playing catch up for a while.

Blog Post: The Value of ‘Enterprise’

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