What is keeping retailers from making apps?

[alostpacket]

it is EXTREMELY hard to perfect an app when you have all the different builds and devices to contend with...

I'm sorry but this is just a fallacy. It's a minor annoyance at worst.


Don't get me wrong, as a developer myself (though not for Android) I appreciate the extra work developers do to make sure they are covered on all platforms, but to say this is extremely hard is laughable. There's not some cadre of companies out there who are sitting around wishing they could develop for Android but holding back because it's "too hard" or has "too many versions"

Hell the iPhone has, what, like 4 versions? 1/2/3/3GS?

The only reason you don't see more companies developing for Android is very simple. Market share. That's it. And now as Android is picking up steam you will see a tons more apps coming down the pipe. Almost all the major iphone apps have Android equivalents now.

Last.fm
Pandora
Slacker
Bank of America
NBA
The Weather Channel
Shazam
PicSay
My Space
Friendster


Just to name a few off of the top of my head.

 

[DanSan]

a lot of the iphone apps are just stupid flashy apps.

i mean come on, how many "flashlight" apps or "noise" apps are there on the app store, probably like a bajillion. things like UPS or fedex is nice, very easy and saves you some time by opening the web browser. would be good to see those style apps on android.

i really want chipotle to make an android app lol.. im always in class and use my friends iphone to place an order. leave class a little early and get myself a tasty burrito

 

[ari-free]

I agree completely with this. A lot of apps (from companies big and small) are really cool and useful, but an equal number of them are just a little ridiculous. When did it become a problem to order a pizza or make a reservation over the phone? Are people just lazy? Averse to social interaction? You're still using a phone, you might as well do some phone things with it. We might as well just evolve beyond the need for vocal cords and do everything via text and data.

The next step will be video calling. In the future, people will laugh at the time when people talked to others without noticing their facial expressions and body language. "A human voice disconnected from its body? How odd..."

 

[droid99999]

I never said Android didn't exist. I never said Android wasn't big. I said Android wasn't mainstream.

As it is today, Tmobile and Sprint don't have the market coverage to make something mainstream.

You hit the nail on the head with Verizon advertising the Droid. Like it or not, a) the advertising and b) Verizon selling so many Android devices, is what is currently taking Android mainstream. I'm sure Android being mainstream would have happened with some other phone sooner or later, or more likely several other phones, but as it is today Verizon can take the credit for taking Android mainstream.

Mainstream doesn't happen right out of the gates, it takes time; Android is now in the early stages of mainstream with end users and developers alike.

If Android was mainstream before, this thread wouldn't exist.

That statement.. whoa.... Not sure why people seem to think Android didn't exist until the droid it was big over a year ago when Tmobile sold 1 million G1's it was big 9 months ago when Tmobile started selling the MyTouch3G it was big when sprint started selling the Hero 6 months ago... Why now that 1 of the devices is finally being advertised would it be any more mainstream than it has been.... itll be even bigger in 4 more months when 3 new phones are out... the droid did not make it main stream it was already there.... just another step to the top of the mountain... And having written apps i can honestly tell you the issue is the amount of versions and overlays that are holding us back.... it is EXTREMELY hard to perfect an app when you have all the different builds and devices to contend with... and unfortunately most will base things on the build with the widest coverage at this point thats 1.5

 

[trick202]

The next step will be video calling. In the future, people will laugh at the time when people talked to others without noticing their facial expressions and body language. "A human voice disconnected from its body? How odd..."

I disagree.

The 3 network in the UK have had this for many, many years now and it's a total flop.

While I do realise there are other countries on the planet (unlike some US posters) - I think it would have taken off by now if it was going to. The technology has been freely available for a long time now.

 

[ari-free]

well, you need an unlimited data network which I don't think anyone has yet. It's not going to work as a specialty item paid per minute.

 

[mrqs]

i think the bigger reason is that it's just plain impractical

 

[pavirotten]

Woo Hoo! I called my bank last night. Even though they do not have an Android app available now, I was told there is work on one, and the anticipated release date is in the first quarter of next year.