The ecosystem is very different and there’s definitely a more open platform on Google’s side still, but the perception that Play is catching up to the iPhone App Store has not been a thing around here for ages. I mean, discovery is borked across the board on both at this point, and breaking out with new content through placement is a nonstarter.
And hell no, nobody uses “third party platforms”. They use the Play Store. Nobody is in Samsung or Amazon’s weirdo alternatives. Those are not a thing, except for the five apps Samsung insists on making you update that way for some reason. It’s Play or nothing. If you’re developing phone apps and you’re not on the Play Store you’re dead. I haven’t spoken to a mobile developer that was targeting anything but the App Story and the Play Store… ever.
I thought I knew how that worked in the US, but maybe you’re talking about something different here.
A natural consequence of more flexibility and openness is the potential for abuse. That’s not a bad thing mind you. Imagine if Android was as locked down as iOS, it’d be horrible for everyone. As for which is better, eh, opinions and preferences. If the world’s largest search provider could fix the searchability (lol) of their app store it would be great. Apple has a similar issue. If you’re in their App Spotlight you’ve going to see huge amounts of traffic to your app, but for everyone else it’s chopped liver. On the topic of third party, I wonder if more repos in the style of F-Droid would help. Apple is getting force fed third-party apps next year in the EU, and I’m looking forward to the benefits.
The ecosystem is very different and there’s definitely a more open platform on Google’s side still, but the perception that Play is catching up to the iPhone App Store has not been a thing around here for ages. I mean, discovery is borked across the board on both at this point, and breaking out with new content through placement is a nonstarter.
And hell no, nobody uses “third party platforms”. They use the Play Store. Nobody is in Samsung or Amazon’s weirdo alternatives. Those are not a thing, except for the five apps Samsung insists on making you update that way for some reason. It’s Play or nothing. If you’re developing phone apps and you’re not on the Play Store you’re dead. I haven’t spoken to a mobile developer that was targeting anything but the App Story and the Play Store… ever.
I thought I knew how that worked in the US, but maybe you’re talking about something different here.
A natural consequence of more flexibility and openness is the potential for abuse. That’s not a bad thing mind you. Imagine if Android was as locked down as iOS, it’d be horrible for everyone. As for which is better, eh, opinions and preferences. If the world’s largest search provider could fix the searchability (lol) of their app store it would be great. Apple has a similar issue. If you’re in their App Spotlight you’ve going to see huge amounts of traffic to your app, but for everyone else it’s chopped liver. On the topic of third party, I wonder if more repos in the style of F-Droid would help. Apple is getting force fed third-party apps next year in the EU, and I’m looking forward to the benefits.