Don 't treat Android users like second rate citizens

[G+_Marlon Thompson]

Don't treat Android users like second rate citizens

 

So vine came out today after launching on iOS 5 months ago. So How is it doing? Right now it has an average rating of 3.3. The question you may ask is why? Well it seems android users hate to be treated like second class citizens. Many of the complaints are because users felt that many of the features that are in the iOS app are not in the android app and that 5 months are enough time to get it right. There are also complaints that audio isn't syncing properly or the app gets stuck when uploading but overwhelmingly you get the feeling that the #androidarmy  just wants to be treated with respect.

 

Now any time a new app launch I always expect the first iteration to have bugs just because of the diverse nature of android, but should we have expected better of the Vine developers and by extension, twitter?

[G+_Ricky Cash]

Well if you can't run with the big dogs stay in the yard. If you are a for profit company invest in what you need to make your product good. Don't just throw slop out there and expect not to get crucified.

[G+_Marlon Thompson]

Yasir Ahmad I don't accept that narrative look at evernote they are a for profit company yet they put out consistent products on all platforms. Vine specifically chose to build the app on 4.0 and above which gives them more control and yet android users are just supposed to accept it as Android being too difficult, nah I don't buy that. Truth be told I think people are judging the app too harshly but we have reached a point where if you serious about your company you have to be serious about the apps you are releasing ?

[G+_James Healy]

We are the 75%! You can't expect much Android love from Twitter though - they've not even tablet-optimised the Twitter app yet.

[G+_Marlon Thompson]

Yasir Ahmad I still disagree, if you ignore the android platform you will be doomed to failure, and companies know this. You will not see another instagram (a major app waiting more than a year before launching on Android). In fact with the new api's that were made available I believe you will see much more Android first focused apps, look at Valet https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.valetapp 

[G+_Ricky Cash]

Of course you can be successful if you are a device specific company. There are plenty of available customers on the two major OS's.

 

I would not defend an Android developer if he released a port to IOS that was less than the original. I would tell them to keep working on it. Communicate to the IOS community that it will be released only when it is as good as the original. This needs to be common behavior among developers.

[G+_Marlon Thompson]

Thanks for that Yasir Ahmad but have a look at the actual study, http://blog.flurry.com/bid/97860/The-iOS-and-Android-Two-Horse-Race-A-Deeper-Look-into-Market-Share, now they are not sure why Android users spend less time in apps I personally think its because in Android to do certain things you can spend less time in apps to the same thing on iOS, I also get a lot of the info I need from my widgets or Google Now so their is no need to spend a lot of time in the apps. This is also true of Windows phone, which I used for a while with their live tiles.  But they put out 3 theories, One is that many persons upgraded from a feature phone and got a low end Android phone and as such basically just use the phone as the phone and apps are a bonus. That is the way my wife uses her phone. Second is they say is fragmentation, it is important to note that any discussion about Android must always contain the F word. And finally they talk about the fact that it is a richer ecosystem to quote iOS device owners use apps so developers create apps for iOS users and that in turn generates positive experiences, word-of-mouth, and further increases in app use

Now the last point is interesting cause as I said Android users are vocal and when a high quality app launches on the platform we talk about it a lot. So the same cycle they mention about iOS would and can also occur on Android.