iPhone Backward Compatibility

Following up my recent post on Android Backward Compatibility, the same problem seems to strike back to iPhone developers now. As Ars Technica reports, many iPhone developers seems to struggle with Apple’s latest changes of the App Store review policy, forcing applications to both run on iPhone OS 2.2.1 as well as the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0:

Apple also disclosed that any application currently in App Store that did not run properly under 3.0 would be removed from the store.

Many developers have expressed concern over this move. Although Apple stated in the e-mail that “[e]xisting apps in the App Store should already run on iPhone OS 3.0 without modification,” some developers have told Ars that they’ve found otherwise. Apple has always stood behind its public APIs, guaranteeing that bug-free programs that ran under earlier firmware would continue to run in later releases. Developers worry, though, that solid 2.x applications may not run properly under 3.0, causing them to lose their place in App Store.

…

This introduces a brand new puzzle into the iPhone development equation. Business plans that were predicated on getting applications ready for the 3.0 launch, whenever that should happen, must now start building 3.0 compatibility into their 2.x products. If a company wants to release a bug fix or offer any updated features over the next few months, they’ll need to task their engineers with a whole new development effort. There’s no way to keep programming for 2.x until 3.0 debuts.

This actually changes the situation a lot.

Sales Stats of Best Seller iPhone Game

Firemint, the company behind the best selling iPhone game ‘Flight Control‘, has put together a fascinating report outlining the sales trends the company has seen over the last month, from March 24 to April 25. The application has dominated the App Store over the last few weeks, reaching the #1 paid spot in over a dozen countries (though it’s currently fallen to #7 in the US). Since launching on March 6 the application has been downloaded over 700,000 times.

Read the whole story at TechCrunch: ‘Flight Control’ Sales Stats Offer Fascinating Look At Inner Workings Of The iPhone App Store.

Android Backward Compatibility

Following up a post on the Android Developer blog, TechCrunch writes about the possible problems deriving from caring about backward compatibility:

As an open platform, Google isn’t requiring backward compatibility for all Android apps. But as more devices and applications come out, that could be an issue. As Google writes, “do you want to allow your application to run on all devices, or just those running newer software?” Plenty of iPhone apps answer that very question with the latter. And while you might think that may be limiting, it ensures a certain level of simplicity in the App Store — and perhaps more importantly, in developing for the iPhone.

The iPhone platform already has a massive lead in terms of applications built for it over Android. Anything, such a backwards compatibility code, that adds complexity to developing for Android is certainly not going to help.

While I can not see the benefit for the user in having non backward compatible applications, I fully agree that setting backward compatibility as standard expectation for Android applications will make it even harder for Android developers.

This adds up to the complexity of not being able to know the hardware specifications your application will run on, which I wrote about in my post “Is Android’s Flexibility a Disadvantage?”.

Is Android’s Flexibility a Disadvantage?

A recent post on the Android Developers blog highlights problems, Android developers have to cope with but iPhone developers doesn’t:

Android 1.5 includes support for soft keyboards, and there will soon be many devices that run Android but do not have physical keyboards. If your application assumes the presence of a physical keyboard such as if you have created a custom View that sinks keypress events you should make sure it degrades gracefully on devices that only have soft keyboards. For more information on this, keep on eye on this blog as we’ll be posting more detailed information about handling the new soft keyboards.

Since Android is not coupled to the hardware as the iPhone OS currently is, developers should not do assumptions on the available hardware, their application is running on. The situation might get worse, if Android will also be used on Netbooks. 

The State Of The iPhone Is Strong — Very Strong

TechCrunch features a very interesting analysis of the iPhone’s state:

People can downplay the actual number of iPhones in circulation all they want — the fact of the matter is that it has changed things. While there were some third-party mobile app developers before Apple’s App Store, they received almost no attention, and as such, it wasn’t really a viable business. Now, everyone and their mother is flocking to develop for the App Store. And every major mobile player is rushing to make their own app stores. But Apple’s already has over 35,000 apps — and in a few short hours, there will have been one billion apps downloaded in just 9 month.

…

Android on netbooks?

Ars Technica reports today that HP is considering Android as possible platform for a netbook:

HP, the dominant PC manufacturer, could potentially be preparing to develop a netbook product with Google’s Linux-based Android software platform. According to multiple reports, HP has confirmed that it is studying Google’s operating system, but has not disclosed specific plans for adoption yet.

They are summarizing the pros and cons coming to the conclusion that

Android, in its current form, is not well-suited for netbooks. Companies like HP are evaluating the possibility, but it seems unlikely that they will make a major commitment to Android on netbooks in the near future. This seems especially true in light of the fact that the platform has been slow to gain traction on smartphone handsets, which is its target market.

I will be interesting to see, how this story continues.

Read the full story on Ars Technica …