Android Phones Gain Ground Against iPhone, but Android Market Lags Discussion

[Jacqueline Emigh]

While Android phones seem to taking over market share against Apple's iPhone, and also catching up in sheer numbers of software apps, Google's Web-based Android Market still lags behind Apple's online App Store, despite a recent refresh to the Google site.

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[sjpearsall]

Perhaps this is part of the HTC Sense interface but the Android market on my HTC Eris has a search box at the very top of any page in the market app. So not all Android phones are lacking the ability to search in the market.

The search function looks through both title and the description text of the app. The search box appeared in both the original 1.5 and upgrade 2.1 versions of Android I have run on this phone.

[Hook]

Welcome to Brighthand, sjpearsall!

It's not Sense UI, however I think Jaqueline is talking about being able to search on your computer before you own a the device. However, that is disingenuous. You only get to search for iPhone apps if you have iTunes installed.

Apple used the humble iPod to create a killer content delivery system, and then turned software development into yet another content stream. Given that people have a tendency to prefer the infrastructure they know, it is actually quite amazing if Android is over-taking iPhone market share. I'm a little skeptical there though-- lets look at the numbers after the iPhone comes out and, also, lets factor in numbers across a bunch of companies versus numbers for one.

Still, the good news is Android is doing well and that means it will attract developers as it has been. People frankly aren't going to look through 185,000 apps before buying an iPhone either. In either case, it is simply important for most consumers that there is "a bunch of apps." They are going to look more at categories of things the platform can do. If they want games, they are likely to be drawn more to the iPhone than Android.

[Magellan]

Did everyone miss the part at Google IO about the forthcoming market desktop search with the ability to send apps to your phone OTA?

[JRakes]

Given the age of Android vs Apple's OS, I think it's remarkable that Android is gaining such ground. Various companies have attempted to market the so-called "iPhone Killer" device, and we've all seen the crashing and burning along the way. Thinking back to where the iPhone platform was at a comparable time-point after its debut, Google and Android would certainly be considered a winner, IMHO.

Are there still shortcoming with Android and their Market? Sure. Just as there still are with Apple's ecosystem.

As for searching capabilities in a platform's market / store being a factor in deciding on a device: For myself, I won't seriously consider a device unless I can do some real research on what I might be getting or have access to. And I'm not going to buy a device just to "try and see." While I do have iTunes installed (for my iPod,) I'd never install such a thing just to "look around" for device research. The fact that I should need to tells me that a particular platform's isolated, walled-garden approach is not something I want any part of. My decision would be made based on my own, independent, free-wheeling research. If a platform wants to constrain even my shopping, I'll walk away and won't easily be convinced to return.

I think this bodes well for Android - It looks as though, at least to me, the platform is well on its way. Given that Palm threw me to the curb, WM is closing the door in my face, and Apple won't let me in, I'm excited about this!