Mobile app development and the Android effect

The mobile app development sector is growing dramatically. This is because the sales rate of smartphones is much higher than that of desktop or laptop computers. Studies have revealed that smartphone sales per year are more than triple the number of desktop PC sales per year. Google has become a leading search engine, processing more than a billion search requests per day. Google is already a dominant player when it comes to desktop PCs, but this is not the case with smartphones. The smartphone market is just emerging and, on the other hand, Google would never want its dominance to be threatened. This is why Google has ventured into the upcoming Android smartphone market.

Android’s unique selling proposition is open source. A close look at the scenario will reveal that the mobile app experience is far inferior to that of desktop apps. Google was the first to identify and acknowledge the root cause of this. According to Google, mobile app developers were subject to many restrictions and this limited their creativity. The restriction on app developers is best exemplified by Apple’s strategy of not approving third-party programs. It’s probably because Apple fears these apps could replace the iPhone’s built-in features. On the other hand, Android is an open source platform that makes it easy for app developers to create Android apps without paying any license fees. Android policy is such that it encourages developers to develop new applications by combining information from different sources like other smartphones and the Internet.

Most smartphones work in a closed system. This means that manufacturer-approved apps can only be installed on the smartphone device. To make use of this approval, it is mandatory for the application developer to obtain the code signing certificates. The procedure for obtaining code signing certificates is time-consuming and expensive. This is not the case with Android app development. Once the app developer has developed an Android app, you can instantly install it. Since Android app development saves time, money, and resources, developers find Android app development cheaper than developing apps for other operating systems and platforms.

Android apps pose a threat to mobile network providers and device manufacturers. Text messaging if offered free by Google Voice an Android app. This implies that users of Android-based phones do not need to use the text messaging service offered by the mobile network provider. Android apps are such that they can totally change the features of the phone. Manufacturers want their phones to be unique and not be modified according to the whims and fancies of others.

Motorola and Verizon have launched Android based phones and this has been a huge boost to the popularity of Android which has resulted in more demand for Android app development services.

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