OS fragmentation, and why it means the Nexus Prime maybe isn't that much of a threat

Pronk

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One thing I think MS get absolutely right is setting base specs for WP7. This means, like Apple, devs know what they can work with at a minimum and that that minimum will be good for everyone. And as an added bonus, thus far all OS updates have been available to all handsets. This is bound to change over time, but it will only be older stuff that slowly drops off the supported list.

So anyway, the Nexus Prime (if you've not seen the leaked specs) is a pretty powerful handset. Granted, physically it looks like someone ran over an iPhone 3G with a steamroller (Samsung - pay someone to make your stuff look different!), but you can't really argue with an 8MP camera, HD screen, 2000+ mAh battery etc.

Or can you? Because all that kit means this is going to be one expensive handset. Android may have the biggest market share for phones overall, but I'd really like to see how much of that market is top-end devices. And that means you have a small number of people using the real AAA hardware, a small number of people using the absolute bargain basement hardware that's barely more than a feature phone, and most people using middle of the road stuff like the Wildfire S. And crucially, you have all three levels being sold simultaneously. A lot of the 600MHz craptacular resistive screen Android handsets that exist aren't legacy ones - many of them are brand new. So if you're a dev, who are you going to code for? The biggest market - the middle of the road. Which means you have a powerhouse phone that few apps are really ever going to take full advantage (and may possibly even look bad on) of because you're sharing the market with things like the ZTE Flyer. To some degree that makes the Nexus Prime a lovely-looking, powerful white elephant (and of course it has ICS - an OS that, if the leaks are true, looks like a 12-year-old's tribute to Tron: Legacy).

I've no idea if MS have marketing specific to developers, but once Mango is at upwards of 50% adoption if they do they should make a point of saying one app = the whole market. It's a big selling point (or at least it should be).
 

species5618

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I would be surprised if Galaxy S 2 hasn't out sold all wp7 phones combined. So if I was a developer, fragmented or not, why should I choose wp7? A developer does not have to target the entire Android market. There are plenty of apps that have trouble on lower end devices.

Not everybody can afford a high end smartphone, there are even fewer people who is willing to pay for them. I certainly wouldn't have bought a wp7 phone until I saw LG Quantum for $80 prepaid (actually $90, stupid tax). You can find an Android phone at any price point. That's the beauty of it. And ironically, that's the beauty of desktop Windows too. Diversified hardware makes a popular platform. Starcraft 2 may not run on a crappy netbook, doesn't mean developers won't create high end games for Windows.
 

archer75

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Well Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean are set to change all that. One unified OS for both phones and tablets and it gives google the ability to push updates directly to the user without having to go through the carriers, same as apple. It's going to put more and more phones on the same version of the OS going forward.
 
L

lumic

Well Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean are set to change all that. One unified OS for both phones and tablets and it gives google the ability to push updates directly to the user without having to go through the carriers, same as apple. It's going to put more and more phones on the same version of the OS going forward.
Where did you obtain this information? That is ground-breaking if true. If not, I won't blame you for spreading typical Android FUD.
 

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