It Really is Mostly About the Software

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.9to5mac.com/58456/its-the-software-stupid-would-be-ipad-killers-marred-with-just-17-tablet-apps/' target='_blank'>http://www.9to5mac.com/58456/its-th...17-tablet-apps/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Dying to compete with iPad, rivals are drumming up speeds and feeds in the absence of quality software. Unfortunately for them, the game is software, not hardware. Blogger Justin Williams took time to sort through Android Market and count apps that are featured for Android slates."</em></p><p><img height="330" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1301495859.usr105634.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" width="600" /></p><p>Compare the 20 or so apps the author found that met his criteria (specifically written in Android 3.0 or written specifically for the tablet platform) to the over 65,000 that Apple has in their App Store and you can see the advantage does go to Apple. I've seen the Xoom and I do like it's form factor, but when it gets right down to it I have to agree: the apps are where it's at, especially when you consider games <a href="http://www.applethoughts.com/news/show/106618/real-racing-2-hd-now-here-s-some-innovation.html" target="_blank">such as this one</a>. So even though <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/dell-says-apples-ipad-is-bad-for-enterprise-customers/" target="_blank">Dell</a> and <a href="http://www.9to5mac.com/58436/feeling-the-heat-hp-and-dell-execs-lash-out-at-apple-pray-ipad-will-fail/" target="_blank">HP</a> are throwing down the "Apple's not all that" comments, and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/tablets/tablets-might-be-a-flash-in-the-pan-microsoft-global-chief-strategy-officer-20110330-1cfv2.html" target="_blank">Microsoft sounds</a> like they are throwing in the towel when it comes to the tablet market, I still think Apple is in the driver's seat when it comes to the tablet market. What are your thoughts?</p>

[WyattEarp]

I so agree with this article. When Android was first introduced it was severely hampered by the hardware it was put on. Then, when it finally got put on 1Ghz CPU devices everyone jumped on the bandwagon about how smooth and fast it was. Meanwhile iOS was just as fast on a slower clocked CPU. Everyone forgets that it wasn't originally designed for or as a smartphone OS the was iOS or WebOS is. It needed much beefier hardware because Android itself is a "heavy" OS. That is where hardware manufacturers got caught up in the "hardware spec war" with competing OSes which means absolutely nothing at the end of the day when the software you need is not available for the OS you're using. It really is sad that even some supposedly professional "tech writers" can't even see this.

[alese]

So what.
Last year when iPad went on sale there were also just a few appliactions available specifically for it, all the rest were iPhone specific applications that ran in that horrible pixelated view. Even now some applications (LinkedIn for instance) don't run in "HD" mode.
On Android side there is only one real Honeycomb Tablet on the market at the moment, and not a particularry good one at that, so it is logical that there is few specific applications. Not to mention that SDK is not available for that long and that it takes some time to develop an aplication for a new OS or better, new UI.
I'm pretty sure that by the fall when you'll have something like 10 or more Honeycomb tablets on the market there will be much more applications too.
Oh and one more thing, many current Android applications run just fine on high resolution screen even if they were build for smaller phone screens, unlike iPhone apps on iPad.

Just for info, I'm an iPad user and love the device, specifically because of the great software that it's available for it.
And one more thing. I just don't understand why people say that iOS is a great phone OS, to me it has very good UI for iPAD, simple and intuitive, but I just couldn't use that on my phone.

[WyattEarp]

So what.
Last year when iPad went on sale there were also just a few appliactions available specifically for it, all the rest were iPhone specific applications that ran in that horrible pixelated view. Even now some applications (LinkedIn for instance) don't run in "HD" mode..

Software is the point. Look at the Android comercials and in the majority of them nothing about software is even mentioned. You can't even tell what it's suppose to do except that it may have some killer hardware and turn you into a machine. The latest Xoom commercial is a prime example. Using the device and the user ends up in a spacecraft out of some Sic-Fi book? Come on now... really? Unfortunately there's no real push for software developers in the Android market due to the freemium model most Android users want yet don't want popup advertisements either. iOS is not exempt from this either as many of their users there also want everything for really low prices or free. Devs need to make money to develop and there is more of it in iOS right now. Aplle commercials push that point. They show people using the hardware and software in real life scenarios.

On Android side there is only one real Honeycomb Tablet on the market at the moment, and not a particularry good one at that, so it is logical that there is few specific applications. Not to mention that SDK is not available for that long and that it takes some time to develop an aplication for a new OS or better, new UI.
I'm pretty sure that by the fall when you'll have something like 10 or more Honeycomb tablets on the market there will be much more applications too.
Oh and one more thing, many current Android applications run just fine on high resolution screen even if they were build for smaller phone screens, unlike iPhone apps on iPad.

iPhone apps work on iPad they just don't scale to the larger screen well. With that said most people regardless of the OS want tablet specific software so they don't feel like its just a big useless phone without the phone. People know software doesn't happen oevernight like I stated before. The point of the article is that software is what will propel the phone and tablet markets forward as time goes on and matures. Just look at all the phones and tablets on the market. Most of them look the same, designed the same, same or similar hardware. The only really differentiator is the OS, builtin software and available third-party software. Of course Android will get more software titles but until the honeycomb SDK is publicly released Xoom is by itself.

Just for info, I'm an iPad user and love the device, specifically because of the great software that it's available for it.
And one more thing. I just don't understand why people say that iOS is a great phone OS, to me it has very good UI for iPAD, simple and intuitive, but I just couldn't use that on my phone.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion which is great and I'm not knocking you for yours at all. I for one think the iOS is an excellent phone UI because of the way it works and makes and even better tablet UI. It's a clean, uncluttered and well layed out UI. Easy to navigate and learn to use without a ton of useless features I will use once or never at all. I don't sit around and "play" with my phone as many Android phone people do (not being malicous, it's just what I consistently read and hear about everywhere). I use my phone daily for everything from work to home. Although there are some (just go to Android Thoughts for example) who can't stand iOS on any device period. They will point out how you can load different ROMs to make the phone your own. I personally think that's a whole load of crap. If I have to go through all that then the OS probably wasn't designed right from jump start. I've done enough "playing" with mobile devices from WM to the RAZR. While it's cute and fun it doesn't make me anymore productive or have any more fun with my device. Customization for me is in the software I load on my device. Making it look different from eveyone else's is not important, it's just fun.

I think all the mobile OSes are good except maybe Symbian and BB because I find their UI a little convoluted but I do understand why people like them and if it works for them so be it. Ultimately none of them are perfect and it all boils down to what one personally likes since most are unwilling to go for what they really need.

[alese]

I don't dispute the "software is the point" notion. That's pretty much a fact, but I have a problem with pointing out how Honeycomb is a "non starter" because it only has something like 100 apps.
Like I said, I don't think iPad had much more than that a year ago and it was still a huge sucess and for what is worth when Apple introduced AppStore it was a pretty sad number of applications compared to the number of Windows Mobile applications available at the time.
Anyone has to start sometime and you can't start with fully developed market or applicatin portfolio, but like I said Honeycomb will (probably) catch up both in number and quality of applications, just like "phone" version of Android did.
It's also about how and what you do with your platform in terms of developers, support, UI, innovation... (something Microsoft didn't do with their platform).
If your platform is compeling applications will come, and I think Honeycomb as a platform has potential to become the best, Google will make every effort and the more open "nature" of the OS/platform compared to iOS (which is the only real competitor) will probably result in similar situation as it it on phones - Android will overtake iOS in market share - which will make it all the more interesting for developers.

As for Motorola ads, well they are HW company and they sell HW, one would expect they would make ads braging about HW not what you can do with apps - I would say that would be more Google's job.
And after all Apple is also "braging" mostly about Pad2 HW now.

At the end it will come down to personal preference, based on one's feelings about the OS, the brand behind the apps available and also quality of HW, how advanced it is and especally price :)

[WyattEarp]

I see your point. I expect Android to sell more devices because it's OS is put on hardware created by multiple OEMs. At the same time Googles eco-system isn't really helping developers at all which is unfortunate, and this new Amazon App Store is further fragmenting the Android market in a bad way. I expect to see more out of Android and anyone who thinks it's a non-starter needs to check again unless they have inside info. But who knows we will have to wait and see. I don't expect much from of the Honeycomb OS until next year because of how Google is 1) keeping such a tight leash on it and 2) it will take a while for hardware OEMs to create hardware and customize Honeycomb (skin it) to their own liking.

[Brad Adrian]

...I think Honeycomb as a platform has potential to become the best...
I don't see that happening as long as Apple's still in the marketplace. Yes, it IS all about the software, but ultimately Apple still takes the prize for consistently being able to offer great software AND hardware together.

I don't know what the future holds, but based on Apple's track record I expect them to continue producing very compelling hardware/software marriages.