Any explanation?

[Uuglypher]

Why so many photog apps are available for Apple iPhones but so few for android phones? My understanding is that android smartphones far outnumber IOS phones, so it seems to make no sense.
I’m likely missing some very obvious factor at play ( a not-uncommon phenomenon) so please fill me in !!??
Dave

 

[MsDee]

I haven’t updated this workbook in quite some time... but I go back and forth from Android and iOS, until I got an Apple Watch...
here is my list...

Cross-Platform Mobile Apps

Camera and Photo Editing Apps Photography Apps,Added to This List,Developer,Notes/Issues Adobe Capture,Adobe Adobe Photoshop,Adobe Adobe Photoshop Fix,Adobe Adobe Photoshop Lightroom,6/3/2017,Adobe Adobe Photoshop Mix,Adobe Adobe Photoshop Touch,Adobe AfterFocus,MotionOne / MotionOne.co.Ltd Afte...

docs.google.com

 

[sinnerjohn]

Why so many photog apps are available for Apple iPhones but so few for android phones? My understanding is that android smartphones far outnumber IOS phones, so it seems to make no sense.
I’m likely missing some very obvious factor at play ( a not-uncommon phenomenon) so please fill me in !!??
Dave

Because life is not fair?

With IOS a developer only needs to make one app for one operating system, job done.
Whereas with Android a developer may only have one platform but that platform may be ever so slightly different for each handset manufacturer. I guess for most app developers all they want to do is make money in the fastest and easiest possible way.

The big guns can do that, Adobe, VSCO, Snapseed etc but no smaller niche apps, although Hipstamatic is hardly niche, maybe the devs were just lazy

 

[terse]

Why so many photog apps are available for Apple iPhones but so few for android phones? My understanding is that android smartphones far outnumber IOS phones, so it seems to make no sense.
I’m likely missing some very obvious factor at play ( a not-uncommon phenomenon) so please fill me in !!??
Dave

What sinnerjohn said. It's an unlooked for effect of the variations/choices in the Android world for the hardware and software platforms both. In addition, I think many app developers are solos or small teams (Halide has three people for its two apps). So for a small iOS developer to add more people to develop for Android is a big step. And I expect lots of devs started out with iOS because it was the first to make a splash.

I'm a bit curious myself why Android vs. iOS hasn't played out the way that Windows vs. Mac has. Microsoft managed to make Windows a software platform that, more or less, smoothed the differences among various PCs for developers, but it sounds like Android hasn't done that, or at least hasn't done it so well.

 

[sinnerjohn]

What sinnerjohn said. It's an unlooked for effect of the variations/choices in the Android world for the hardware and software platforms both. In addition, I think many app developers are solos or small teams (Halide has three people for its two apps). So for a small iOS developer to add more people to develop for Android is a big step. And I expect lots of devs started out with iOS because it was the first to make a splash.

I'm a bit curious myself why Android vs. iOS hasn't played out the way that Windows vs. Mac has. Microsoft managed to make Windows a software platform that, more or less, smoothed the differences among various PCs for developers, but it sounds like Android hasn't done that, or at least hasn't done it so well.

Maybe global politics has a hand in it too. Apple being an American tech giant (regardless of where it's devices are manufactured) and the bigger Android players are Chinese Korean etc.

 

[rizole]

What sinnerjohn said but also the business models of Apple Vs Google are quite different.

Apple make quality hardware and software that you pay for. Most/many developers produce quality software because they can earn a living doing so. iPhones and iOS are apple products. Apple monetizes the app store by taking a cut of each developers/app's income.

The Android OS is not Google's product. Android phones are not Google's product. Google's product is advertising, it monetizes the play store by inserting it's advertising infrastructure into the ecosystem. Google incentivises developers to make free software by providing a way for them to make a living using advertisng within thier apps. Because there is such a large 'skewed poor' userbase compared with iPhone users that use low end hardware, developers are less likely to make a living from selling software (and remember the variety of hardware making development harder as sinnerjohn pointed out) and more likely to buy into Googles advertising scheme.

 

[Uuglypher]

MsDee. sinnerjohn, terse, and rizole,
Thank you all for your obviously knowledgeable impressions, opinions, and responses.
I know well that the question I asked is one entertained by many other smartphone users. Your insights help considerably to put a broader perspective on what I had. “at first blush” thought to be a far simpler question.
Many thanks to you all,
Dave