Phone apps - why iPhone only?

[Warks]

I've noticed a lot of major companies including airlines and hotel chains are always going on about their new 'apps' to use to check in or check out but I find the majority only offer apps on the iphone platform. Qantas is one of course. Rydges spent a great deal of energy telling me breathlessly about their "new iphone app" to which I replied, "what about Android?" No answer except for more breathless emails.

Not starting one of those pointless iphone vs Android wars here but my thinking is that the development of apps was led by the Apple platform and some companies thought it was the be-all and end-all and put their efforts into that. Consequently Android has come along and is reportedly more commonly used in this country (don't quote me) than iphone now. I would have thought with this in mind companies might put some effort into both platforms rather than an 'elitist' (tongue in cheek here please note) approach with Apple only.

Seeing as QF management have just belatedly jumped on the iphone bandwagon leaving their Blackberrys in their overhead lockers I am assuming nothing is going to change soon.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I've noticed a lot of major companies including airlines and hotel chains are always going on about their new 'apps' to use to check in or check out but I find the majority only offer apps on the iphone platform. Qantas is one of course. Rydges spent a great deal of energy telling me breathlessly about their "new iphone app" to which I replied, "what about Android?" No answer except for more breathless emails.

Not starting one of those pointless iphone vs Android wars here but my thinking is that the development of apps was led by the Apple platform and some companies thought it was the be-all and end-all and put their efforts into that. Consequently Android has come along and is reportedly more commonly used in this country (don't quote me) than iphone now. I would have thought with this in mind companies might put some effort into both platforms rather than an 'elitist' (tongue in cheek here please note) approach with Apple only.

Seeing as QF management have just belatedly jumped on the iphone bandwagon leaving their Blackberrys in their overhead lockers I am assuming nothing is going to change soon.

Im always surprised at the amount of times i hear "iPad" when the word that should be used is "Tablet"..I think people are just slow on the uptake, and big corporations can be extrememly efficient at that. Probably took them this long just to understand what an "app" is and how they could benefit from it, let alone consider there are products other than Apple out there.

 

[simongr]

Isn't the new qantas app windows 8 mobile?

To the second point people call photocopiers xerox machines, vacuum cleaners hoovers...

 

[tuppaware]

Qantas has released a Win 7 one, it was good (I say was cause the win 7 is no longer being updated beyond 7.8)

One word stoping companies releasing Android apps.... Fragmentation !
Devs don't want to have to support a hundred different models with different specs.

Iphone is just easier to develop for. Superior product.


:trollface

 

[CargoClass]

One word stoping companies releasing Android apps.... Fragmentation !
Devs don't want to have to support a hundred different models with different specs.

All you see on app reviews is complaints about niggles with specific devices - must be a pain having to work through that.

 

[ozscot]

Im always surprised at the amount of times i hear "iPad" when the word that should be used is "Tablet"

I actually think the opposite. Many commentators seem to go out of their way to talk about the tablet market. There is no tablet market really, only an iPad market with a small percentage of everybody else. Android is doing well in phones, but poorly in non-subsidised devices.

Platform market share is one factor in attracting developers. Perhaps more importantly though is revenue from that platform. iOS demonstrably pays for good apps - Apple have paid some $4Billion to developers. Android does not appear to pay at anything like the same rate at the moment and indeed in many countries Google Play is not even setup to allow a developer to charge in that market / currency.

 

[pauly7]

Meh the future is mobile websites and not apps for either platform and pleasingly QF is continuously improving their mobile site.

From a marketing POV demographic data tells us the more important early
Adopters and influencers use idevices so more effort still goes to them. If that changes then you will see more effort going to other platforms.

 

[DeKa]

Agree with pauly7.
The Qantas iOS app is actually just a front for their mobile site, so it doesn't really add that much.

 

[samh004]

Agree with pauly7.
The Qantas iOS app is actually just a front for their mobile site, so it doesn't really add that much.

Well I hope QF brings out a similar iOS app to the Windows Phone version they brought out, but also integrate it with Apple's PassBook (or whatever their new ticket app is). Would probably use that.




 

[moa999]

So many flavours of Android devices (and different stores) eg. Google Play - devices with different hardware standards and already many software versions.

Also forgetting Blackberry, which is at least easier to develop for/port to bad it has OS5/6/7/Playbook/10 - albeit 7/10 are the go forward standards.

I actually think a lot of these "apps" are superfluous - information can easily be delivered cross-platform using a well designed HTML5 site.

 

[richie9x]

Qantas has released a Win 7 one, it was good (I say was cause the win 7 is no longer being updated beyond 7.8)

From what I understand the development of it was funded by Microsoft.

 

[here2go]

iOS users tend to spend more if given the opportunity in app, which is why iOS tend to get written first before other platforms. Also, once a CEO goes smug with their iPhone, they tend to just demand it, without taking IT advice that perhaps iPhone apps aren't even needed. For most "apps" a good HTML5 is all that is necessary unless it is drawing on parts of the phone that a browser can't (eg. GPS, Camera or in the case of Windows Phone, Tiles).

 

[tuppaware]

From what I understand the development of it was funded by Microsoft.

I thought so too, but apparently they outsourced and it was their intent to develop one.

 

[Pleb Status]

"Apps" for internet sites like QF, banks etc are a temporary solution to the inadequacies of some mobile operating systems. With increased screen size, faster mobile networks (LTE for example) and HTML5 implementation, Internet site "Apps" of the future will just be shortcuts like we have now on desktops.

A shortcut style "App" based on a mobile style website would not be platform dependant meaning companies will only have to develop one system which will provide the same experience for all users. Less development costs, continual updates without having the user to update the "App" and a more seamless experience will result.

If you have a large screen Android phone which supports Flash, there is no need for Internet site "Apps" now? I use QF's desktop site over their mobile site/app. Do they even have an Android App? Have not needed to look.

 

[ozscot]

If you have a large screen Android phone which supports Flash.

Adobe have cancelled Flash for mobile devices. They just couldn't make it work well.

Apps such as the QF one which simply package a UIWebView control don't demonstrate that web sites are better; more that one of the specifiers, funders, designers or developers did a poor job.

Native apps on any platform, when well implemented, can provide a much tighter design, feature set and user experience than web sites. A very simple example with the QF app done well would be smart caching of the data for offline viewing and better performance. They cost more to develop and may require multiple apps for multiple platforms. The business needs to decide on the cost v benefit.

DISCLAIMER: I've made my living writing mobile apps for the past 15 years so am biased.

 

[richie9x]

Adobe have cancelled Flash for mobile devices. They just couldn't make it work well.

There is a bit more to it than that. They have stopped development of the flash player on mobile devices. So future phones won't be able to run flash under a web browser.

Adobe are very much continuing with flash on mobile devices with Adobe AIR, which is a browser less runtime that allows you to run flash applications on mobile devices including Android and iOS.

 

[ozscot]

Adobe are very much continuing with flash on mobile devices with Adobe AIR, which is a browser less runtime that allows you to run flash applications on mobile devices including Android and iOS.

Agreed, but that's more an alternate development environment for creating cross platform apps rather the considering general web sites v apps on mobile devices.