Android Tries Harder - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com

> Remember the old Avis car-rental slogan? “We’re Number 2. We try harder.” > > That slogan came to mind when a reader, an iPhone app developer, wrote to let me know how hard Google, maker of Android, the No. 2 app phone software, is trying to woo iPhone programmers to write their apps for Android phones instead. > > > “I’m the developer of the Texts From Last Night app for the iPhone. Anyway, I received an e-mail yesterday from someone at Google claiming to be in their Android Advocacy Group. He basically said that he wanted to open a line of communication with me in case I chose to port the app to Android, and he offered to ship me a free Nexus One to play around with. > > > > “It shows that Google is actively recruiting developers to their platform, using the enticements of free hardware and open communication. > > > > “Contrast with Apple’s approach: it took us about three months of resubmitting our app to Apple before they stopped rejecting it for inappropriate content. And even now (after we peaked at the No. 7 paid app), we still have no relationship with anyone there. Huge difference in approaches between the two companies.” > > Apple’s iPhone app store certainly isn’t understocked; it’s got 185,000 programs to choose from. But without a doubt, Google’s Android software catalog is growing much faster—from 6,000 to 25,000 apps since the beginning of the year. Free phones, and aggressive courting of talented app makers, surely has something to do with it. I think this developer and Pogue both reached the same wrong conclusion. The way I look at it, Google has to beg people to develop for Android by bribing them with free phones and emails, while Apple can’t handle the shear volume of apps pouring in on a daily basis. They try harder because they are losing.

It’s easy to offer free phones to developers when there aren’t that many developers out there on your platform. It’s easy to court people with emails and promises of great support when you have such a small fan base. It’s like indie band members signing autographs after the show. Smart business move. But Madonna could never do that. She’d be signing for a week.

Android is growing, to be sure, but as many people try to point out as a talking point against Apple, it’s not about the number of apps; it’s about the quality of those apps. And it’s about who is making those apps. Android apps in general are still hobbyist apps. The equivalent of shareware on a Mac. There are some gems out there, but they are few and far between. And there is little pop-culture Android love in the air.

When Nike and Geico and Samuel L. Jackson make Android apps, that’s when you’ll know Google has had success with the platform. Not that those apps are top-quality apps, mind you. But they are a sign that the average joe-shmoe marketer has recognized the iPhone platform as the 2010 equivalent of having a web site in 2001.

That may happen eventually for Android, but so far Google hasn’t given enough concrete financial motivation to its developers. The potential for profit would speak much louder than a free phone and a personal email.