We’ve heard statements from various developers in the past about how much more difficult it is to develop on Android than iOS, but the latest testimony to come forward is the perhaps the most significant yet. The head of the BBC iPlayer app Daniel Danker has given some interesting explanations as to why Android is just so damn hard for devs to master in an interview with the BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones.
Danker:
If you look at the amount of energy we spend on Apple, it pales in comparison to what we spend on Android.
It’s not just fragmentation of the operating system – it is the sheer variety of devices. If you used the same technology as we’ve always used for iPhone, you’d get stuttering or poor image quality. So we’re having to develop a variety of approaches for Android.
The number one device contacting us is still the Samsung Galaxy S2, which can’t handle advanced video.
Nevertheless, Danker did say that Android was improving, and that there were already several advantages with Android. The app approval process and mutli tasking were the two things he highlighted.
However that hasn’t got anything to do with the actual nitty gritty coding and optimization that has to take place beforehand, and in that area, it definitely seems that iOS is still comfortably ahead.
You can read the full interview on the BBC’s website, it’s worth it.
