May 31, 2010

iPhone verses HTC Desire. Why we and others wont bend to Apple

We have an application that is a good candidate for hand held devices and would fit just nicely on the iPhone.  We had a prototype running on the iPhone but the code is verbose and we only have 1 Objective C developer and we already have a full code base in written Flex.

We became really excited with CS5 cross compiler.  That was until Apple decided to scrape that idea.

In the past week we have come to the conclusion that we are moving forward with the Flash/Flex code base and will no be pursuing a native iPhone application and we are not the only ones.  It seams that several larger companies are just not going to try reinvent the wheel to please Apple.  Here is a article on Time Warner and NBC.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/slap_for_apple_PZ065AMiQOkAEn3lVNOX9O


Given that the HTC Desire ( Andriod ) is now outselling the iPhone ( http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/android-mobiles-now-outselling-iphones-688486 ) I think we made the right choice.  We have a pool of developers that can and are working with Flash/Flex and the code base stays the same.  At the same time we also get a offline version ( AIR ).

We just got our first HTC desire late last week and its a really nice phone.  Sure there are some aspects that are not ( yet ) as slick as the iPhone but if I had the choice right now I'd go for the HTC especially when I get Flash 10.1

I'd still love a MacBook as my main develpment PC but the cost is still prohibitive and while I love my iPhone the battery life is poor and it fails to sync to my Windows 7 laptop 4 out of 6 times ( probably the main reason I have to reboot my Windows machine ironically ).

Posted by Paul Kukiel at 9:40 PM
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8 comments:

  1. I love my Motorola Droid and I dont see myself giving it up anytime soon
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  2. Let's all make great apps for Android!
    Only when Stevie's share holders realise that the iStuff license was a bad move and that iPhone sales start dropping have we a chance that his decision be overturned.
    Personally I think the iPhone will die of IADS.
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  3. You inspired me to blog!
    http://videometry.blogspot.com/2010/06/iphone-dies-of-iads.html
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  4. Good choice! I get my first Android phone this week (Sprint's EVO 4G) and I positively cannot wait ;)
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  5. Thanks for this! That just made my morning! Droid countdown continues!
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  6. Money. It is simple. If you application is worth, there are millions of iPhone users, which can buy your application. And iPad users too.
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  7. Sounds like a reasonable position you are taking. It will be interesting to see whether your bet on Android makes economic sense in the future. But I am not sure how you will ever be able to quantify that. You'd have to make a native iPXD app to test that rigorously.

    As an aside, your title states that you won't bend to Apple. However, Apple states they will not allow your App to be used on their platform if you don't use Obj.C. You state that you won't use Obj.C and are therefore not developing for the Apple platform. Aren't you are really just following Apple's rules?

    Best of luck and I will be looking for your App to use on my new Droid Incredible!
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  8. @Anonymous
    While I agree we are bending to Apple what I mean is we wont be going forward with an iPhone version as it woudl cost a significant amount of dev time to convert our app to iPhone and with Andriod giving us Flash we basically get this for free on Android. If/When our app becomes hugely successfull on mobile devices then we will re-look at iPhone. In the short term its just not an option.

    I agree money is simple but it's a risk to pump alot of money into an app that isn't proven for a mobile device.
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