Smartphones – Android and Apple Iphone Apps competition heats up
Posted on | December 14, 2009 | No Comments
Google has recently named the winner of their second Android Mobile Phone apps competition in an ever increasing display of ”I’m up for trying to fight off the dominant Iphone app store”..
Whilst the contest itself might not seem the most exciting thing, Google pulled together a top list of judges to help get the PR machine in motion and show how much they are trying to build and push their place in the app market..
Judges came from a variety of places such as Google, T-Mobile, MTV, and Twitter all helping decide the best apps from categories such as education, entertainment, games, media, and productivity.
What was the overall winning Android App though? The killer of Iphone apps and soon to be app demi God??? Well, it’s called “Sweetdreams” and it allows a user to push all late night voice calls striaght to voicemail!!!
Woooo.. If I’m not mistaken I’ve been doing that for many years.. Try just turning your phone off or at the very least just put it on silent..
Straight form the horses mouth though – What the Doodle!?” nabbed second place by offering Android users a real-time online multiplayer drawing game. The “WaveSecure” app took third place and it enables users to back up data, wipe data remotely, or lock down a phone remotely if it’s lost or stolen. Now these apps I can actually see being useful…
So, the lucky overall winner bagged a massive $250,000 whilst the category winners took home a humbling $100,000 but what was more interesting about the event was the number of developers who have started to voice concerns over the Android apps potential for profitability and the fact that with Android being adapted to more and more smartphones the difference in screen sizes, resolutions etc all mean Android apps are a pain to build. Pair that with the fact that paid for Android apps are linked to Google Checkout and you have a few more problems with the less sophisticated crowd..
In contrast ,the iPhone has the app store wrapped up at the moment. With 3 version of their phone with the same specs (you know what I mean), it’s easier to build and maintain apps and monetise through a variety of payment methods accepted through Itunes. Funnily enough, Apple have also just compiled their favourite iPhone apps of 2009, and its top sellers. For the latter, an air-traffic control simulator came out on top but can you read about the top 10 here: http://bit.ly/5DNHIE
Yes Itunes can be a pain, yes the iPhone is a walled garden (unless you crack it) and yes people are getting tired of the slow inovation of the iPhone but nevertherless, it is still a winner in many peoples minds and being released onto a range of different UK mobile networks means the iPhone crew can keep on growing.
Many people, including me, are thinking about moving from the iPhone world to embrace Google powered phones (I fancy the Milestone) but the tide’s not turing just yet but Apple should be very very careful.
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