Android vs. iOS: Who Will Reign Supreme?

The battle continues over which is the superior platform – Android or iOS. Everyone from users to marketers have weighed in with their future predictions, past musings and current praises and complaints. From a developer’s perspective, things remain uncertain and, at times, contradictory. Here’s the low down based on the latest research.

A couple of months back, the general opinion was that app developers were turning their attention to Android over iOS, because of its rapidly increasing market share. A survey from Appcelerator indicated that the momentum was shifting in favour of Android, closing the gap on current app development that traditionally favoured iOS. The idea behind the supposed shift was that the Android platform is considered to have the best long-term outlook.

The latest news, however, turns that theory upside down. It appears that Android continues to take a back seat to iOS, in part because, well, it’s not as mainstream cool (those Mac commercials still make us chuckle). While Android operating system is still the big winner on the charts (46.3% of US smartphone owners running the mobile operating system) according to the Strategy Analytics’ survey, “App Developer Attitudes and Behaviours,” it seems that Apple’s iOS platform remains near and dear to developers’ hearts, with 51% saying they plan to write for the “iTeam” (iPod, iPad and iTouch) platforms in 2012. Yes, Android is fast approaching a majority share in smartphones among US customers, but it now seems that the platform is suffering among its app builders, with interest rising only 30% from 23% in 2011. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

That being said, it seems that Apple’s status among the people writing app code comes from the multiple device types now using the operating system, with the iPhone down 26%. In fact, the real growth for iOS comes from the iPad, which attracted only 8% of developers last year, but will get 19% in 2012 (+138%). With more than half a million apps now cataloged in the Apple App Store, over 150,000 are compatible with or written specifically for the iPad.

Experts such as Strategy Analytics report author and Director of Apps Research, Josh Martin, expect that money will talk and developers will continue to favour platforms that offer the most diverse ways of generating revenue.

Piper Jaffrey recently estimated that Apple’s App Store substantially outperforms the Android marketplace for developers, with Apple responsible for about 80% to 90% of revenue generated by the app market.

What do you think? Will iOS continue to corner the market in app developers despite Android’s appetite for market share? Or will the interest in the iTeam fizzle out and watch Android steal their fan base?

April 4, 2011 — Pizza Pizza and Plastic Mobile Delivered a One of a Kind Pizza Ordering iPhone App.

Plastic Mobile has joined Pizza Pizza, Canada’s leading pizza chain, as their mobile agency to help build and launch an iPhone application to make ordering and delivering pizza both convenient and fast. This free app is available for all iPhone models, the iPod Touch, and the iPad. The app will let users build the pizza of their dreams; a half order of ham & pineapple and the other half Italian sausage, extra mushrooms, no cheese, and easy on the sauce? Looking to order a gluten-free pizza? Pay through your application or when it arrives. It all can be done with the Pizza Pizza iPhone App.

This innovative application will fundamentally change the ordering experience, making it fast, visual and convenient for the customer. By using location-based services (LBS) to locate the nearest Pizza Pizza restaurant, as well as allowing users to simply pay within the application, the app provides a seamless experience.

The application, delivered by Pizza Pizza and Plastic Mobile, can be downloaded from the App Store on iTunes. For more information on this app visit http://www.pizzapizza.ca/mobile.

Check out our news release here.

Imagine how convenient it’ll be to make payments at restaurants or stores with your iPhone or iPad! Imagine how great it’ll be to have a fast checkout process and not have to wait in line. According to Bloomberg’s report, Apple’s next iPhone and iPad are expected to have NFC technology.

NFC technology (near field communication) that is gaining popularity, allows various forms of data transfer between the iPhone and other NFC capable devices. NFC technology receives and sends out information at distances up to 4 inches. This means iPhone and iPad users will soon be able to make payments using NFC.

The key to this is iTunes, or better say the payment system within iTunes that is already in use by millions and millions of people around the world. By entering the payment service market, Apple has a massive opportunity. By including NFC into its iPhone and iPad, Apple could use its existing iTunes accounts and give consumers an alternative to traditional financial services by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal.

Right now, Apple has launched a prototype for the payment services by allowing smaller businesses to scan NFC-enabled devices.  Upcoming versions of the AT&T iPhone and iPad 2 are expected to have the technology enabled and the technology is anticipated to be available by mid 2011.

If Apple can nail NFC and tie it directly into their iTunes payment system, it could change everything. This can be an evolution of the payment system within iTunes.

This could be the greatest tactic they’ve ever pulled. Is it possible that Apple and iTunes will replace Visa and Mastercard? From our perspective, it seems unlikely that they will go that far due to the complications and the financial burden associated with giving consumers credit.  But I guess we will never know how far they will go and we will just have to wait and see!

The most interesting article that I came across this week was about cell phone payments and an interview with RIM CEO Mike Lazaridis.

I have been particularly interested in payment processing with mobile devices for some time now and specifically noticed that its really starting to take off in other places of the world such as Asia.  I always imagined that if payment processing were to take place, it would really need to be driven through the carriers.  I guess Mike Lazaridis also sees it that way.

In his interview with Laptop, there were discussions about PayPal and the ability for apps to be paid for through Paypal.  Unlike Apples iTunes model, this means that Blackberry users have one extra step and that is to sign up with PayPal.  Obviously Lazaridis recognizes this barrier and has mentioned that they are working with carrier partners to get the payment processes to be handled on their end.  If this does in fact happen, the mobile space in North America would forever be changed.

The only reservation I have is where the carriers would draw the line on payments.  Would they allow for payments only from applications or would they allow payments to be processed through retailers and be billed to a cell phone bill at the end of the month.  And if they did in fact allow for billing by retailers would they ultimately become a credit agency?  Would they allow some of their users to make purchases and they would prohibit others?  Will they begin to replace VISA, MasterCard and AMEX?

I can’t say for certain what role they will play but I am sure that they will take a larger role in our daily payment process. This is only a little while away and it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.