However, the differences remain, and understanding this is as simple as looking at how equivalent features are implemented. For example, location services in iOS are binary in nature, and can only be turned on and off globally or for each application. In Android there’s noticeably more nuance. Location can be done only by on-device GPS, or by using WiFi/cell tower location, or by using both. In addition, it’s possible to view GPS data such as per-satellite SNR [signal to noise ratio] and number of satellites used and in view.This seems to overlook that location services are completely binary in Android: either on or off, with no way to revoke it if an app demands it. And it's hard to think the number of people who need per-satellite SNR would fill a bus. Meanwhile, many of the iOS omissions Ho raises - lack of intents-style app interaction, no detail on background app usage, lack of detailed camera controls - are introduced in iOS 8. Perhaps if he had waited for a month... (Thanks @GambaKufu for the link.)]]>
That's why I've decided to release DeepBeliefSDK, an iOS version of the deep learning approach that has taken the computer vision world by storm. In technical terms it's a framework that implements the full Krizhevsky stack of 60 million neural network connections, with a customisable top layer inspired by the Decaf approach. It does all this in under 300ms on an iPhone 5S, and in less than 20MB of memory. This is impressive. Watch the video - includes a cat and lots of non-cats. There's also an iPhone app.]]>
We launched Emu for iPhone on 2 April, and we’ve pulled Emu for Android out of the Play Store. We hope we’ll return to Android someday, but our team is too small to innovate and iterate on multiple platforms simultaneously. We’ve concluded iPhone is a better place to be:
• Our decision to build on top of SMS/MMS involved huge, unanticipated technical hurdles.
• Even when you don’t support older Android versions, fragmentation is a huge drain on resources.
• Google’s tools and documentation are less advanced, and less stable, than Apple’s.
• Android’s larger install base doesn’t translate into a larger addressable market.
The examples of bugs encountered even between Samsung Galaxy S4 devices is quite surprising. They supported Android 4.0 and later - and then cut even 4.0 to try to minimise the problem, but were still having to support 300 different devices.]]>
…and received a ton of responses. I’m not going to embed them or name names – I respect a lot of the people who chipped in, and I’m going to be pretty ruthless in my dismissal of their arguments.
The replies fell into two broad categories, of which I’ll give both charitable and uncharitable interpretations.]]>
"It's pretty clear that the age of Android global dominance is here," [Torrey] Lincoln [senior director of Flurry games business development] said. "Worldwide, the future for Android looks bright."
More volume doesn't always mean more profits, and that extends to game developers. The average price of an Android app is 6 cents, Flurry said. For Apple products, it's 19 cents on the iPhone and 50 cents on the iPad.]]>
Chitika has sent in an update to their study, showing 24 more hours after the first, showing how in 48 hours, adoption rate has reached 12% in the USA. This is a doubling, if you will.]]>
In addition to the mapping data changes, Apple will add one of the most important mobile features to Maps this year: public transit directions. Overdue.
Apple is also working on unique ways for integrating indoor mapping views and enhanced car integration for future versions of iOS. Sources say that Apple has also begun work on augmented reality functionality that leverages the iPhone’s compass hardware to visually see nearby points of interest.Apps such as Localscope already do this - but its usefulness is limited.]]>
Note that the demo exploits the latest 7.0.4 version of iOS system on a non-jailbroken iPhone 5s device successfully. We have verified that the same vulnerability also exists in iOS versions 7.0.5, 7.0.6 and 6.1.x. Based on the findings, potential attackers can either use phishing to mislead the victim to install a malicious/vulnerable app or exploit another remote vulnerability of some app, and then conduct background monitoring. Mitigation: kill any apps running in the background.]]>
According to the data collected by Statistic Brain, 62% of Android users never paid a dollar for an app, while the number is a little lower for Windows Phone - currently at 58%. Even when you compare the number of downloads on each platform, Android has a whopping 29bn downloads compared to 4.1 billion on Windows Phone, the difference is massive. In terms of total app store revenue, Android generated $1.2bn, while the Windows Phone Store racked up $950m. In other words, a mean of 4.1c per app on Android v 23.1c per app on Windows Phone. For iOS? 23.7c. BlackBerry? 22.9c. Here are the numbers.]]>
So it isn’t rash to declare that we’ve reached the point where the reasonable conclusion is that market share alone is not the overriding factor.]]>
The study is by Nanigans, one of the biggest buyers of Facebook ads, and it focuses on retailers, saying that in the past year on Facebook’s desktop ads, clickthroughs are up 375% and overall return on investment is 152%.
But it’s when the report focuses on mobile advertising that the really surprising numbers pop up. Advertising on Android returns only 90% of what it costs. However, it might take some time for the first-order effects of this - whatever they actually are - to come through.]]>
So that led me to the workaround solution that will be shipping in version 1.1.1. Whenever the step count gets over 10k I will change the step count to force it to include two 1s. Go for the full post, stay for its postscript. (Via @alexhern.)]]>
That means about 270m users. It also means that about 125m more than are using smartphones today. Note also that a significant number of those under 13 will also use smartphones and that the metric is “primary phone” and insofar as there are more than one phone for some users they are a multiplicative factor. Finally this measure does not account for company assigned devices.]]>
For several years, I've been hearing the notion that IT will ensure Microsoft Windows [and Windows Phone] becomes the primary mobile platform in business because they know and depend on Windows PCs. The opposite has happened.]]>
Although administrators select and purchase apps through the VPP version of the App Store, apps are no longer distributed using redemption codes. Instead, the VPP store records the apps (and quantities) purchased by an organization. MDM APIs allow mobile management solutions to invite users to enroll their devices into the licensing program. As they do, administrators gain the ability to assign apps to enrolled user devices or to allow users to select apps through an enterprise app store. An administrator can then purchase additional licenses if needed.
When the apps are loaded on employee devices they also become part of the user's personal App Store purchase history, allowing users to install them on other devices that are tied to their Apple ID. Essentially they behave the way App Store purchases have always behaved. When a user leaves the company, the mobile management solution can use those same APIs to revoke the license from that user. ]]>
Steve Troughton-Smith also points out that the app has the ability to download and install additional software in the background. Add the fact that the developer hasn't created any other apps, and you have every reason to be suspicious of this Android version of iMessage. Is it time for Google to start policing trademark violation on Google Play? It seems like it would be a good way to protect its users. Considering that more than a million have downloaded fake BlackBerry Messenger apps, it could make a difference.]]>
There are several possible reasons for this. Since touchscreen hardware has significant latency itself (check out this video from Microsoft Research for a visual demonstration), our best guess at Agawi is that Apple’s touchscreen hardware is better optimised or more sensitively calibrated for capturing and processing touch. Another possibility is that while the Android and WP8 code are running on runtimes (Dalvik and CLR respectively), the iPhone code is written in closer-to-the-metal Objective-C, which may reduce some latency. In the comments, an Android developer says "Yes, that matches what we see." Android and WPhone owners, meanwhile, respond by saying "U R BIAS". ]]>
If we define the Race To a Billion to be bounded by a time limit of 10 years, then Windows does not qualify and Android is actually second. The race is shown in the following graphs (the one on the left is logarithmic scaled, the one to the right includes only a few contenders for illustrative reasons).]]>
Clash of Clans changed that, however. I'm back to carrying either both phones or the iPhone, if I want to keep an eye on my gaming activity.
There are things exclusive to other platforms, of course. I love making and sharing Photo Spheres with my Nexus 4, something I can't do with the iPhone. (Yes, there's Photosynth, but it doesn't work as well.) I can't do it with the Samsung Galaxy S4, either, as Samsung dropped this native feature of Android.
If I'm headed somewhere scenic, I make a point to take the Nexus 4 -- so Photo Sphere is a kind of killer app, in that regard. Clash Of Clans is made by Supercell. Now see the next link for why Apple should be worried - unless it can crack the Asian market in a big way.]]>
The move would represent a big shift for one of the world’s fastest-growing companies as it has hitherto focused solely on Apple, where its Clash of Clans and Hay Day games head the list for top-grossing apps from China and Japan to the US and UK.
But Ilkka Paananen, Supercell’s chief executive and co-founder, said he wanted the first mobile games company to be big in Asia as well as the west.
“You can’t be global without being in Asia, and you can’t be big in Asia without being on Android. I guess that’s a long way of saying that we are very actively thinking about it,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.]]>
The most serious of the attacks worked on both iOS and Android devices and required only that an end-user click on a booby-trapped link in the official Google Plus app. Behind the scenes, a script sent instructions that caused a text-editing app known as PlainText to send documents and text input to a Dropbox account controlled by the researchers. The attack worked against other apps, including TopNotes and Nocs.]]>
One thing that helped me reach that conclusion was the location statistics for the pirated copies. About 95% of the pirated copies are being installed in Russia and China (and of those, mostly China). We didn’t even translate our Google Play store into Russian or Chinese, so it’s almost certain that the pirates just found our app on localized pirate sites. On the other hand, I’m glad our menu design is intuitive enough that you can play the game without speaking English! Yes, piracy of the Android version of the app (yada yada) but Seznec pulls out far more interesting lessons from the experience. (Thanks #ClarkeViper for the link.)]]>
Lacking a new product launch in March to help spur shipments, Apple's iPad saw a lower-than-predicted shipment total of 14.6m units for the quarter, down from 19.5m in 1Q13. In years past, Apple has launched a new tablet heading into the second quarter, which resulted in strong quarter-over-quarter growth. Now, Apple is expected to launch new tablet products in the second half of the year, a move that better positions it to compete during the holiday season. Meanwhile, the other two vendors in the top three also saw a decline in their unit shipments during the quarter. Second-place Samsung shipped 8.1m units, down from 8.6m in the first quarter of 2013, although up significantly from the 2.1m units shipped in 2Q12. And third-place ASUS shipped a total of 2.0m units in 2Q13, down from 2.6m in 1Q13. That manufacturer called "Others" did great, though - up from 7.4m a year before to 17.5m]]>
Apple's devices are vulnerable to attacks until the company releases its iOS 7 software update, which is slated for this fall.
Three computer scientists, who alerted Apple to the problem earlier this year, demonstrated the security vulnerability at the Black Hat hacking convention in Las Vegas on Wednesday where some 7,000 security professionals are learning about the latest threats posed by computer hacking. (Thanks @rquick for the link.)]]>
Why? Because even though Google Play is obviously an inferior market for mobile apps in many ways, it is swamping the iOS market in sheer volume.
In the second quarter this year, Google Play passed the iOS market in app download volume by 10%. This surge is powered by emerging markets from Brazil to China. Those cheap $100 Android phones that may not yield any hardware margin are acting as conduits to Android apps for hundreds of millions of consumers who cannot afford an iPhone. Yup.]]>
But the desktop isn’t my gripe.
It is the mobile implementation on iOS that is making Gmail less efficient to use for me.
Updates to the tabs that aren’t your primary inbox are signalled by something that looks like an email, but actually isn’t. Which is a bit confusing as a metaphor.]]>
Now, VLC is back on iOS [App Store Link] with a complete rewrite including AirPlay support, multiple ways to load files into the video app, realtime video filters, playback speed manipulation, subtitles and more. With those attributes, a must-have on iOS.]]>
Besides Windows 8, that is.
That’s aided, of course, by the fact that 71% of mobile developers are already developing for Android, and 56% are already developing for iOS.
Even so, the fact that 35% are planning to develop for Windows Phone in the third quarter of 2013 — more than the 26% thinking of iOS — is likely to have a significant impact on the number of Windows Phone apps. Lots of detail in the report. ]]>
Little movement is seen within the carriers, with Verizon leading smartphone sales at 34.6%, AT&T in second (29%), and Sprint in third (12.7%). Most notably, T-Mobile remains in fourth place with 10.1% of smartphone sales, down 3.4% versus the three months ending May 2012.
The data is derived from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech USA’s consumer panel, which is the largest continuous consumer research mobile phone panel of its kind in the world. Kantar emphasises that it records sales rather than "market share" - though doesn't make clear what it thinks the difference is. But: Android + iOS = 93.9%. Add in Windows Phone, and you've got just 1.5% left for BlackBerry.]]>
The point isn’t that the built-in keyboard is or isn’t better. The point is that any given Android keyboard is better than the default iOS keyboard, because of this competition. I’ve used both, and there is just no comparison. An interesting take on the Android versus iOS battle. CEO Tim Cook hinted in a recent interview that Apple may consider loosening its restrictions on developers replacing core parts of iOS. Behrens provides food for thought on why that may be a good thing. ]]>
The thing is, we’ve grown up. We don’t require hand-holding to tell us what to click or tap. Interactivity is a matter of invitation, and physical cues are only one specific type. Thoughtful post.]]>
The new feature is called Activation Lock, and what this does is prevent a thief from bypassing the iPhone's Find My iPhone and lockscreen passcode by wiping the handset. Even after being wiped, the handset needs the owner's Apple ID in order to be used again
…While I've been a fan of users having the ability to jailbreak their devices – devices that they after all have paid for and own – Apple's announcement of Activation Lock has caused me to change my stance. Apple's dislike of jailbreaking also stems from the fact that doing so means exploiting security holes. Activation Lock might encrypt the device (it's not clear yet) so jailbreaking might not solve it anyway.]]>
iOS 7 is not perfect; this new design framework will evolve and improve over time, just like iOS’s original aesthetic did.]]>
Right now, just before WWDC 2013, I think it's important to take time to appreciate exactly what iOS has achieved.
iOS broke the tyranny of the hierarchical filesystem as a user interface. A concept so complex that possibly the majority of computer users never achieved any level of real competence in its use. A far larger proportion certainly never achieved any kind of mastery.
iOS turned the purchase and installation of third-party software from a great opportunity to destroy your computer into something that people do for fun. That is a key point. iOS doesn't require power users; and so power user complaints don't necessarily carry any traction. Except Speirs can think of a lot of power user things he'd like to do - few of which are answered by iOS 7. (Thanks @Avro for the link.)]]>
The report is based on a tweet from T-Mobile's UK account [tweet since deleted]
According to a source with knowledge of BlackBerry's plans, that date is not correct. In fact, our source called all those stories you may have read "bogus." Except that 27 June is the day before BlackBerry's first-quarter results are announced. It would be a smart day to do it. The deletion of the tweets might mean they're correct.]]>
- Mobile has had a big effect on b2b software. People want to use their personal iOS/Android devices at work, and many people now have computers with them all the time who didn’t before. This has created opportunities for 1) traditional b2b software that is mobile friendly, 2) companies that support mobile devices for businesses (e.g. mobile security, compliance etc), 3) brand new categories of software for users who previously used pencil and paper for various business tasks. As is pointed out in the comments, if you're an app developer in India, you're already going to be Android-only. Part of the problem about (the extremely tedious) "winning" arguments is that they don't take account of regional variation.]]>
“The sheer weight of Android units will generate more downloads, but on a per device basis the iOS devices do seem to consume more apps,” said Horace Dediu, mobile industry analyst at Asymco, in a recent note, “and the gap is not narrowing”.
Mr Dediu estimates that more than 80 apps are downloaded per Apple device sold, compared with fewer than 55 for Android. A minor quibble is that nobody in the story says that the approaching parity is eating into developer loyalty to iOS; the example given of Minecraft (24% of iOS players buy the premium version v 7% of Android) suggests the opposite.]]>
Both Apple and Google tabulate unique downloads of apps per user account. This means that they count only one download of an app no matter how many devices that you install that app on after you purchase it. Neither company counts updates in its app download numbers. These are purely single downloads from their stores. So their app download figures are directly comparable.]]>
Now, BlackBerry makes BBM.
Apple, by contrast, makes precisely nothing for Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry. Not even iTunes. It would be fascinating to see this as a grid. (Also perhaps "platform competitors" would be better.)]]>
But PC-class pricing would fundamentally change iOS buying habits, and we may not like the results.
Browsing the App Store and getting new apps, often spending a few bucks along the way, is a form of casual entertainment for a lot of people. This role used to be filled by movies and music. Today, it’s filled by browsing the internet and playing with mobile apps. Usually, they’re games, but not always — modern mainstream culture, especially among younger people, seems to be more interested in media and social apps than games.
This apps-as-entertainment market falls apart if app pricing rises above casual-disposable levels for most people.]]>
One of our developers, Amy Worrall, suggested a very neat way to implement this kind of time-limited trial for apps. This is a really important post; Addey is pointing to a really big flaw in the iOS (and, arguably, Android) app store. Windows Phone allows time trials of apps - a huge, unsung advantage. If - big if - iOS 7 introduces time trials for apps, that will be a huge step forward.]]>
Other Windows Phone defenders, however, told me that I shouldn’t mind the platform’s weaknesses so much, because Microsoft has promised improvements are coming, like an enhanced TellMe (its version of Siri), a Notification Center counterpart, and so on.
That’s weird. I mean, it’s not weird that Microsoft’s working on those things—it’s very, very smart—but it’s weird to say that one shouldn’t complain about weaknesses because the company says it’s going to address them. I can’t test vaporware, and I can’t stick with Windows Phone just because there’s a chance—no matter how good it is—that it will get better. As it's the season for such things, it also has lots of "what iOS should do is..."]]>
Users on the MacRumors forums are also reporting excessive drain. ”Just installed it and my iPhone 4 got nice and warm. The location services were on full time, even when I stopped the app! I had to delete it to get the GPS to stop.”]]>
In order to run my class with computing resources on-site, I would have to manage a suite of laptops or desktop computers, with some kind of file server and directory infrastructure. Alternatively, I can pay Amazon a penny an hour and I don't have to care about hardware at all. Try guessing the cost of his Amazon EC2 instance over a school year.]]>
In the UK, BlackBerry slid from 16.8% of all smartphone sales in the three-month period ending in February last year, to just 5.1% of sales for the same span in 2013. That’s a drop of 11.7 percentage points, during a period that included a full month of BB10 device sales. BlackBerry itself claimed 1 million devices shipped for its most recent fiscal quarter, which included BB10 launches in Canada and the UK, but when pressed about how much of that represented actual sales, execs hedged and noted that it was “sort of” closer to between two-thirds and three-quarters of that 1 million figure on its investor conference call. Note that this is share - of phones shipped - and not installed base. Windows Phone has now overtaken BlackBerry in both the UK and US for shipments. (Thanks @modelportfolio2003 for the link.)]]>