Comparison between mobile platforms for App Development

Comparison between mobile platforms for App Development

Many programmers will be eager to start developing their first application on mobile platforms. The first dilemma that many will be facing is to which platform to start developing apps on. Android, iOS, Windows Mobile are the popular ones and hence I have made an attempt to provide parameters that will help you decide the right platform to start with.

Native SDK vs Cross-Platform tools

There are many tools available using which one can code once and publish to multiple platforms. Tools like Adobe PhoneGap, Unity 3D, Adobe AIR, Appcelerator, Whoop etc. can be used to achieve it. Though they provide basic functionality, these tools may be limited to some of the rich features of the OS like using Bluetooth, Camera, magnetometer, etc and also may not be able to use local libraries such as Google Maps, ad libraries etc.

So it is always a better option to develop using native SDKs so that one can later write applications which can target platform’s rich features instead of getting limited by the feature-set of the tools.

Programming Language

Being aware of the programming language before writing code is as important as knowing the local language of a country while talking to local people there. This will avoid us from looking for language syntax and we will have to concentrate only on the platform SDK APIs and their usages.

So if you know Basic Java or C++, it’s easier to start developing apps for Android and Windows mobile than for iOS. If you know objective-C then iOS will be easier. Objective-C has less scope outside iOS app development but Java or C++ programming knowledge will be useful vastly as most of the companies’ code will be in Java or C++.

Cost

Not all developers will be comfortable about spending lot of money on tools and publisher account for just trying out mobile app development. All tools are free if you want to start app development for Android and you can develop apps for Android from any OS (Mac, Windows or Linux).

For app development on iOS, you need Mac machine with XCode and if you want to test the app on an iOS device, you need to have the publisher license. To obtain the publisher license you need to open a developer account with 99$ per year fee. You don’t need publisher license if you are testing using the emulator.

Reach

The most important aspect of selecting a platform is the number of users who can access and download your application once you publish it. Android wins here hands down as almost 84% of smartphone market share is with Android* and this lead is expected to stay even till 2018. Around 1 million android devices are activated worldwide every day.

iOS devices’ share is around 12% and Windows phone is around 3%. Windows phone market share is steadily increasing and it always helps to be early developers in an emerging platform as the visibility of the apps will higher.

(Source:  http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp)
 

Approval Process

Developers would like to see the fruits of their work instantly and that keeps the enthusiasm up. So when the app is published to the Google Play on Android, the app will be visible to others for download within 2 hours after basic screening for maturity level based on permissions etc. However on iOS and Windows Phone, the approval process takes around 1 to 2 weeks. Many a times I have provided updates to my apps on Google Play more than once in a day. Such liberty is not available on iOS and Windows platforms.

The pre-approval of apps before making it available for all to download has its advantages too. Developers/publishers need not worry about the app getting suspended after it is approved in iOS and Windows Phones. Also, the quality of the apps that are available in iOS and Windows Phone will be better due to this process.

In Google Play, according to my observation, the application is reviewed whenever the application goes to trending list or whenever someone raises an objection. In case of any violation, the app is suspended from the Google Play and multiple suspension may result in publisher account suspension as well.

Hope the above mentioned factors helps you make a better choice at choosing the right mobile platform to start your app development. Do comment your feedback and if you feel there are other factors which helped you or need more information on, do put it in the comment section.

 

Thank You.