ZombieVille and Battleheart Developer Quits Android, Sign of Fragmentation?

[cereal killer]

Where does it say they had bad sales? Both games were quite popular.

"Meanwhile, Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink"

 

[kodiak799]

"Meanwhile, Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink"

That to me seems to be the overriding issue here. Fragmentation was certainly a factor, but the ROI has as much to do with the lack of revenues. And that's a difference with the Android model with so much being free. You have to have a superior product to be able to charge a good price, or have an app that lends itself to generating a lot of ad revenue (or tie-ins).

Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, etc...seem to be doing pretty well. Especially Angry Birds.

 

[trestevenson]

Android's strength, is also its weakness.

Bingo! It's sad, but true.

 

[SwiftLegend]

The only way for Google to get around this, IMHO, is to standardize things and have more control over the OS. If they write the OS and then give it to Manufacturers, the code gets changed, only some devices get the update, and one handset might get it today and another won't get it till 2 weeks before the new version of Android drops... Then the carriers get involved and make it even worse with their changes and bloat, etc...

Google needs to say, "Here is the new version, all the phones on the market that can support this need to have the OTA by this date" or something like that. And the carriers need to be out of the software/OS business. Just provide the network and services and leave the devices alone.

Until they can get a majority of the phones all running the latest code and sort of level the playing field, this stuff will happen.

Agreed. Not only will that get more developers, but it will also bring more consumers. Like I said in my earlier post, when people think Android, they don't see a rooted super phone running the latest build of CM, they think of the all plastic, cheap looking phone stuttering with Froyo and being offered for free with a new contract.

If there was a standard for Android phones, then all phones could be as amazing as the Galaxy Nexus or the SGS II and Android would have no problem competing with an iPhone or WP7 phone.

 

[SquireSCA]

Agreed. Not only will that get more developers, but it will also bring more consumers. Like I said in my earlier post, when people think Android, they don't see a rooted super phone running the latest build of CM, they think of the all plastic, cheap looking phone stuttering with Froyo and being offered for free with a new contract.

If there was a standard for Android phones, then all phones could be as amazing as the Galaxy Nexus or the SGS II and Android would have no problem competing with an iPhone or WP7 phone.

All good points. I wonder if in the end Android will fizzle and burn out. The reason I say that is because it is obvious that having 100+ Android phones out there with all sorts of hardware configs, running all different versions of the OS, with different manufacturer and carrier crap on them, that while that gives us options, it may be too much for devs in the long run.

I mean, we have hardware out now that is all jumbled. We have hardware out that the current OTA software cannot really make use of, and by the time we actually get an OTA that does, our phones will be discontinued and left behind.

I love that we have all this freedom, but with that freedom comes a cost. Its hard to develop for, and it is hard to support. It is hard to update in a consistent and timely manner. Its hard to be 100% compatible.

Yeah, its free, but free will only get you so far. In the end, if there is something that is much better, people will pay for it to get what they want, rather than get something free that is merely "good enough"... The problem is that Android is built on this paradigm, and the only way to standardize and put some controls and things in place, would turn it into something else.

I see Android as an "empire" that builds up and dominates very fast, and then because of the very things that lead it to greatness, it will implode in on itself.



I am interested to see where WM phones go in the future.

 

[cereal killer]

I see Android as an "empire" that builds up and dominates very fast, and then because of the very things that lead it to greatness, it will implode in on itself.

I am interested to see where WM phones go in the future.

Anything is possible and with WM coming onto the scene it just MAY impact Android neagatively. I think a lot of people are ruling out Windows Phone too quickly. These phones will have the hardware and the price to make a impact on the
Smartphone Market. What sort of impact remains to be seen, but they just may come on like a fierce storm. It takes one phone to light a fire. Android saw it with the Motorola Droid and Windows may see it with the Nokia Lumia 900.

This is all speculation of course, but consumers are VERY fickle, and what's hot now can quickly fall out of favor tomorrow. I can't say with certainty that Android will continue to snatch up market share and eventually dominate the mobile space.

 

[SquireSCA]

Anything is possible and with WM coming onto the scene it just MAY impact Android neagatively. I think a lot of people are ruling out Windows Phone too quickly. These phones will have the hardware and the price to make a impact on the
Smartphone Market. What sort of impact remains to be seen, but they just may come on like a fierce storm. It takes one phone to light a fire. Android saw it with the Motorola Droid and Windows may see it with the Nokia Lumia 900.

This is all speculation of course, but consumers are VERY fickle, and what's hot now can quickly fall out of favor tomorrow. I can't say with certainty that Android will continue to snatch up market share and eventually dominate the mobile space.

If Windows Mobile has powerful hardware, an amazing screen and all that, and if it offers decent apps and a nice level of customization, I would consider it. I don't need to root, if I can theme it and change it up a bit to look the way I want. If it is like Windows7 where you can easily download and apply themes and stuff, that would take care of most of the customization needs right there.

 

[cereal killer]

The Windows Phone customizations are pretty endless. There are some phenomenal developers out there working on those handsets.

 

[kodiak799]

WinMo could surprise a lot of people if MS ever gets it right. That's a big if.

Another player/alternative is ultimately best for the consumer. Me, personally, I don't like to spend $ on apps and content unless it's really good/necessary. It's a sunk cost I try to avoid, and also one that will entrench you on that platform. That's a big reason I avoid IOS - I don't like the idea of all the money on content I'd potentially have to flush if I switch platforms, which is also why it's a brilliant strategy for Apple.

 

[SwiftLegend]

All good points. I wonder if in the end Android will fizzle and burn out. The reason I say that is because it is obvious that having 100+ Android phones out there with all sorts of hardware configs, running all different versions of the OS, with different manufacturer and carrier crap on them, that while that gives us options, it may be too much for devs in the long run.

I mean, we have hardware out now that is all jumbled. We have hardware out that the current OTA software cannot really make use of, and by the time we actually get an OTA that does, our phones will be discontinued and left behind.

I love that we have all this freedom, but with that freedom comes a cost. Its hard to develop for, and it is hard to support. It is hard to update in a consistent and timely manner. Its hard to be 100% compatible.

Easy way to solve it all - Tell all manufactures that Android phones must use:
Choice of CPU: 1, 2, or 3
Choice of GPU: 1, 2, or 3
Screen Resolution: qHD or higher
Android build: ICS or higher (realistically latest GB build)

That way, developers know they have to develop for, and know that one build can work for a bunch of different devices. Of course the problem with that would be a lack of diversity to Android handsets, but that could lead manufactures to develop skins/overlays/etc. that are actually WORTH having, but don't interfere with apps.

If I'm not mistaken, this is what Intel is doing with "Ultrabooks." If it doesn't mean a certain criteria, then it isn't labeled a Ultrabook. Google may need to start the same thing...