Android Is Coming On Strong
Developers at the Informal Android Developer Meetup occasionally ask about the future of Android,especially in comparison to iPhone. The latest news shows that Google’s efforts and Android’s open source programming are paying off. Third party counts of the apps on the Android Market peg the number at 50K, which is quite a nice boost from the 40K or so apps on it last month. The iPhone apps still number around 200K, but many of these apps are probably being converted right now.
The number of iPhone devices are three, the iPhone, the iTouch, and the new iPad. Currently, there are 36 devices running Android. Forecasts have said that there will be about 50 Android devices released this year, about 1 a week, which will keep Android developers busy.
The future of Android looks bright. I have always thought of iPhone as a cell phone on training wheels. It taught people, especially Americans, how to use a smartphone and the potential that smartphones had. Now that people are familiar with smartphones, they can graduate to more advanced smartphones that fit their personalities. We are seeing the past playing out again. Like the PC vs. Mac arguments, the open nature of the Android OS will result in a large number of devices that have a wide range of capabilites and prices. The closed nature of the iPhone will result in a beautiful, well-thought out device that is extremely expensive compared to others and slowly adds new features.