November 17, 2009 8:27 AM
It was pure fun to me, reading this article on WIRED today: Android’s Rapid Growth Has Some Developers Worried.
Key Message: Now that Google Android gets some traction – “available on at least 12 phones, with more devices waiting in the wings” – the same old fragmentation issues come up that we know from other handset/OS providers. The article points out that the tight regime that Apple puts on the iPhone offers a solution to the fragmentation problem, but frustrates many developers.
The analysis is right, but where are the conclusions?
Apple’s way will not be viable for any other handset manufacturer. Other that the Jobs-company they don’t have the aura of creating devices just right and therefore have to throw new devices on the market every six month. Fragmentation also increases because new manufacturers constantly enter the market, take Acer as one of the latest examples.
The article’s conclusion is that also in the future developers will have to limit their apps support to a selected number of devices and operating systems. Really? My conclusion is that apps are a dead end street, because for them the fragmentation issues will never vanish. My advice is obvious: use the browser! For 98% of your demands, it'll deliver anything you / your customers need.
Lars Hartkopf