Startups Apparently Do Not Care That Android Is Better

In a must-read post for the tech industry, Twitter experience designer and serial startup founder Paul Stamatiou writes: “Android is Better.” His op-ed serves as something of a wake-up call for the industry, where developers building the next generation of mobile applications still heavily prefer the iPhone, not only as their personal smartphone of choice, but also as the launch platform for their latest creations.

Many who have already heeded Android’s siren song found themselves nodding along to nearly every point Stamatiou made, ranging from the minor details, like how Android handles notifications, to broader statements about Android’s “magical user experience,” which involves the use of a global back button, Google Now integration and Android intents for app-to-app interoperability and communication. While obviously an opinion piece, Stamatiou’s thoughts came across as reasoned and well-argued, and didn’t at all resemble the fanboy-ish op-eds often published to incite religious wars between the iPhone and Android zealots for website traffic’s sake.

Most Tech Companies Are Still iOS-First

Having recently made the switch from the iPhone 5 to the Nexus 4 and then back to the iPhone 5 myself, the pro-Android argument struck a personal chord. It’s at least the third time I’ve attempted to leave the iPhone. For all the same reasons, I too had found myself again falling in love with the Android operating system. But there’s one thing that keeps pulling me back to iPhone: the apps.

As an early adopter, and technology enthusiast in general — a mindset TechCrunch readers probably share — being solely on Android can be a frustrating experience. Today’s tech companies are still launching their mobile applications on iOS first. This includes apps from the smallest of startups to some of the largest, like Twitter, which launched its video-sharing app Vine as well as Twitter Music on iPhone first (the latter of which is not yet on Android, four months after its debut).

The iOS-first mentality is so ingrained in the culture of the tech and startup scene, in fact, that Facebook had once plastered large signs around its offices begging employees to switch to Android. Later, the company released its own take on what Android users supposedly want with “Facebook Home,” an Android launcher that quickly tanked. Had Facebookers understood the true ethos of Android, they would have perhaps realized that Android users favor the customization and personalization aspects of the platform. Meanwhile, Facebook Home was a full-on takeover of the entire Android interface and experience, with little wiggle room to change much of anything about its behavior.

If you look at Android’s top charts, you’ll find they’re continually filled with apps that let users tweak, customize, and better control their Android devices. For instance, in July of this year, the top five paid Android apps included a keyboard replacement (Swiftkey) in the No. 1 position, a fairly geeky utility for users who had rooted their phones (Titanium Backup) in the No. 2 position, and an alternative launcher (Nova) as No. 4, according to analytics firm Distimo.


The constant tweaking and customizing is fun, but at some point, it becomes just another way to pass the time while waiting for the latest and greatest new application to make its way to Android. You know – eventually.

This is not the story you’ll hear from headstrong Android devotees who point to the sheer number of Android apps available today. Of course, it’s true that the Apple and Android app stores are roughly close in terms of the numbers of applications offered, and have been for some time. There are over 900,000 iOS applications, while analysts estimated as of May there are over 800,000 Android apps available. It’s not that there aren’t enough Android apps out there. There just aren’t the brand-new ones early adopters might want — those from startups you may read about here on TechCrunch, for example. Those almost invariably go iOS-first.

It’s hard to even think of tech companies that launched on Android first in recent months, but there are a few. Any.DO, a mobile task list app was on Android before iPhone; mobile messenger Invi bet on Android, too. Imgur launched on Android before iPhone, but only because it had to clean itself up a bit, in order to be approved for distribution through iTunes. And Zillow, with what feels like an awkward nod to the demographics of Android users, launched its Rentals app on Android first last fall. (These are off the top of my head. I asked on Twitter, and a few responses trickled in, including Smoopa and … um, does Google Now count?)
To be clear, there are certainly many, many Android applications that aren’t on iOS, but this is mainly the result of developers taking advantage of the Android platform in ways that Apple would not allow. This includes the tweakers and customizers, but also the suite of Google apps that are better baked into Android, such as Google Now. (On iPhone, “Now” is more like a feature within the Google app — a standalone experience.)

 

iOS Apps Still Missing An Android Counterpart

Ignoring games or children’s apps, which are also too often iOS-only, I took a look at my iPhone to see what apps I would have to give up to make the switch to Android today. As it turns out, there are still quite a few. Here’s a short list of iOS-only apps broken down by category:

I can live without most of them, sure, but a couple are painful to give up. A caveat here is that the list includes companies that have already promised Android is in their future. It also includes some well-known iOS-only publishers who will likely never come to Android. But a good chunk of it includes the tech companies who, with limited resources, just decided to pick iOS first.

Why Apple? Revenue. Development. (And Everyone Else Is Doing It.)

There are a number of reasons for that choice, of course. Tech companies are often lacking in in-house Android expertise, or are influenced by the fact that they and everyone they know uses an iPhone. Plus, according to Vision Mobile’s most recent report, 44 percent of more experienced developers (3-5 years experience) choose iOS, while 31 percent pick Android. These are the folks building startups.

Companies also like to say that most of their users prefer iOS devices, citing mobile web statistics. This seems to be true – iPhone users spend more minutes on their devices than Android users.

But most importantly, there’s the revenue situation. Apple’s App Store still earns roughly double that of Google Play. (Depending on who you ask, it could be two times or as high as 2.6 times.).

Android’s Time Is Coming?

That being said, Google Play’s revenue capabilities are growing, having climbed by 67 percent in the past six months, per Distimo’s estimates. At some point, as Android market share grows (Android now leads by a wide margin, outside of the U.S.), the revenue possibilities may begin to shift in favor of Android. The large install base will start to matter. And it’s easier to reach the top 250 on Android than on iOS.



The startups that “make it” to Android will have acquired developers with the chops to code for the platform, and perhaps one day, they’ll take those skills to a startup of their own. Today, 40 percent of new developers choose Android, and only 21 percent pick iOS. In other words, there’s still the potential for the market to change.
And there is some indication that Android users are hungry for great apps. A year after Instagram arrived on Android, for example, half of its users came from that platform.

In late 2011, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt once proclaimed that a wave of Android-first apps was on the near horizon. Over a year and a half later, that hasn’t happened yet. That’s not to say it never will !!

( This was orrignally posted at +TechCrunch )

We would love to hear your Feedback !!

Startups Apparently Do Not Care That Android Is Better

Android Is The New Windows

A flexible, customizable operating system that’s farmed out to third-party hardware makers and dominates market share but not profits? You’re not the only one experiencing déjà vu. The parallels of Android and Windows are striking. But can that which is unique about Android save it from the fate befalling Microsoft’s stumbling OS?

Let’s look at the similarities between the Android of today and the Windows 95 of … ’95:

• Android is a growing platform with endless form-factor diversity (or fragmentation, depending on how you look at it) and strong OEM support, just like Windows has had and still enjoys.
• Android’s flexibility for users and developers created an explosion in app variety, but also an unruly app store with a growing issue with malware. The same was true of Windows during the early days of the Internet.
• Android, like Windows before it, followed Apple into its market by leaning on third-party hardware firms. The plan helped both to surpass Apple’s hardware shipments. Android tablets currently outsell the iPad globally more than two to one.
• OEMs looking to boost per-device profit tweak the Android operating system and often cut at its daily functionality by over-skinning the platform among other similar issues. Windows PCs still suffer from the same issue, as OEMs pump them full of crappy bloatware before delivering them to consumers.
• Android devices are often cheaper than iOS units, but at the same time can compete at the higher price and quality tiers. Just as it has long been simple to pick up a cheap laptop that runs Windows, you can also spend untold sums on a gaming or media machine that can handle anything you throw at it if you want. That wasn’t true with Mac, and it isn’t true now with iOS. But if you want to buy a massive-screened Android you can.

Perhaps the most important point of the Android and Windows comparison is that of longevity. Windows has been around since 1985. Hardware-based operating systems last.
Just as computers have changed since 1985, so has Windows. And smartphones and tablets will change, too. But we still have PCs, and we’ll still have smartphones and tablets in a decade. Android is currently using a similar strategy to Microsoft’s Windows play to take over the hottest two segments in hardware and software.

People now say that, while Android has huge market share, it’s iOS that is beloved and profitable. But if history repeats itself, the smartphone wars will be decided less by short-term profits and app figures, and more by who will control the smartphone world in five, 10 and 15 years. That’s increasingly looking like Android
.
And it’s firmly ironic that Microsoft is currently working to build tablet and smartphone market share against Android, which is using its old playbook against it. If only Microsoft had taken its own advice sooner.

 ( This was orrignally posted at +TechCrunch )

 We would love to hear your Feedback !!

Android the new Windows

Pinterest And Path To Battle Over Letter “P” Logo Trademark

Are the Path and Pinterest logos too similar? Path apparently thinks so. The mobile messaging startup is currently working to prevent Pinterest from acquiring the trademark to the letter “P” as a stylized design (like the one shown here, and below). The U.S. trademark office allowed Pinterest’s trademark registration on this proposed design mark, but recently Path asked for an extension in order to file an opposition.

It’s a bit too early in the process to see where this fight goes, but if Pinterest was granted the trademark to the “P,” it could then potentially prevent Path, and other apps, from using similar designs, explains patent attorney Lenny Kravets, who serves as Patent Counsel at InterDigital Communications.

This is the kind of battle that happens all the time in the trademark world, as companies struggle to come up with logos that are unique and differentiated from their competitors and industry peers. However, this particular case is interesting because of the increasing similarities between the design styles of both the Pinterest and Path applications, which could contribute to so-called “consumer confusion” and make the trademark issue more significant.

As you may recall, in July, Pinterest’s mobile application received a significant update to its design, which introduced a new interface and animations. The animations are very similar to those Path popularized – little, round circle icons that pop up when a user taps the screen directing the user to other actions that can then be taken.

In Path, users tap the plus “+” button at the bottom of the screen to pop up a series of post types they can make, like “photo,” “music,” “location,” and more. But in Pinterest, the animations only appear when a user presses and holds on a shared pin. Then, you would have to slide your finger over to the action you want to take, like “favorite,” email, or re-pin, for example.  (Pinterest, we should note, isn’t the only one to adopt this design style in recent months –  Tumblr too introduced a similarly inspired interface earlier this year.)

But the fact that Pinterest adopted a design style that Path had already introduced can help to make the case against Pinterest gaining rights to this trademark. Before the Trademark Office registers a mark, they first examine the mark against prior registrations, and check for a number of factors, including whether the mark could confuse the public, or is deceptive, among many other things.

Explains Matthew Mitchell, patent attorney at Mitchell Law PLLC, the trademark office publishes the registration, allowing the public – individuals or companies – to file an opposition. Objectors can also request an extension up to 30 days – which is what the document (see below) references. Path is asking for an extension, which typically allows an attorney the time to draft the objection, laying out the merits of why a mark should or should not be registered.


If Path is able to successfully make its case, that wouldn’t mean it could stop Pinterest from continuing to use its logo, however. “If Path wanted to stop Pinterest from using the logo, they’d have to basically make the case that Path has a trademark to the “P,” and that Pinterest is infringing on it,” says Kravets.
Instead, Path is looking here to only stop Pinterest from gaining the design trademark, which it could then use against Path and others if it chose.

 ( This was originally posted at TECHCRUCH )

We would love to hear your Feedback !

Pinterest And Path To Battle Over Letter P Logo Trademark

Getting paid apps for free (ANDROID)

Enable Your Device To Install From Unknown Sources :-

If you have not enabled installation of applications from unknown sources on your Android device before, then read on. Otherwise skip this..

Or else Just follow these steps below.

1. Click the “Menu” button on your home screen.
2. Go to “Settings”.
3. Now go to “applications” tab.
4. Now tick the “Unknown sources” option.

That’s it. Now you can install any application from outside the Google Market also.

How to Download Android Apps for Free :

1. Download Blackmart Alpha Application
2. Install it in your Android Phone.
3. Open Google Play Store and search any paid application.
4. Pick Name of any paid application which you want to download.
5. Now Open Blackmart Alpha Application.
6. Search the name of application (paid in google play store).
7. After find any application (paid in google play store) and click to download.
8. Install in your phone.

Done ! In this way you download paid android applications for free.

Don't forget to give your feedback in the comments. Thanks !

How to get paid apps for free on Android