A 2018 Outlook - iOS vs. Android App Development

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Android or iOS App What do You Build?

• Companies no longer ask the question Do we make
  an app?
• The new question is What kind of app do we make?
  
• The major app platforms dominating the market are
  Apples iOS and Googles Android. Most companies
  must choose one or the other to host their app.
• While it is possible to have an app on both, the
  costs involved can be intimidating for small and
  medium sized companies.
• Often, a look at the advantages offered by both
  platforms can help with making a choice.

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Android App Development Pros

• Android has the largest user base in the world.
  Android apps run on more devices globally than
  any other app on any other platform.
• The Android Software Development Kit (SDK) is
  free of charge and can be used by anyone without
  payment. This makes it a more democratic, free
  setup.
• Android apps can run on a number of operating
  systems including Windows, Linux and Mac.
• It is much easier to design an Android app, as it
  uses Java, a programming language that most
  programmers are intimately familiar with.
• To develop on Android, one simply has to pay a
  one-time fee of 25. It is the cheaper option by
  far.

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Android App Development Cons

• Despite the large number of users, people tend to
  spend less on Android apps. They usually download
  free apps, which makes generating revenue
  challenging.
• Androids non-uniform standards for apps may
  cause lack of compatibility between the apps and
  the wide variety of Android devices. (However,
  Google is updating its app submission guidelines
  and making it stricter for quality control)
• Not every Android user upgrades to every new
  version of the operating system (OS). This means
  that an app will not work on every Android device
  unless it has been optimized for all versions of
  the OS.
• Similarly, an Android app has to be optimized for
  thousands of devices, which means thousands of
  screen sizes, button placements, unique features,
  etc. Obviously, this is cost-intensive.

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iOS App Development Pros

• iOS users usually have higher incomes and tend to
  spend more on apps. This facilitates higher
  profits.
• The iOS SDK is considered largely to be more
  mature and sophisticated, and the API is believed
  to be far more stable. This makes more better
  structuring of the software.
• Since iOS apps have to optimized for a finite
  number of devices (only Apple devices), user
  interface (UI) standardization is accomplished
  with far greater ease.
• Apples tough-as-nails quality control mechanism
  ensures that only the most well-developed apps
  are made available on the store.

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iOS App Development Cons

• Apples stringent approval methodology delays the
  release of most apps by week, sometimes months.
• The same standards can restrict innovation. Your
  definition of innovation must match that as
  specified by Apple.
• The App Store is designed to display a small
  number of search results on each screen. This
  means that unless your app has received thousands
  and millions of downloads, it might not show high
  up in the results. This might lead to your app
  not being viewed.
• To develop on iOS, one has to pay 99 per year
  for a subscription. With all the other factors,
  this can eat significantly into possible profits.
  
• iOS apps only run on Apple devices. Naturally,
  the customer pool is much smaller, as is the
  earning potential.

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Which is Better? iOS or Android?

• The question to decide upon is not whether one
  platform is better than the other, but which
  platform suits your needs better.
• This will depend on your resources, your target
  customers, what devices they use, their income
  levels and what kind of user experience they are
  looking for.
• Investment in research to gain this information
  is crucial to settling the question of iOS vs
  Android App development.

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