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iOS vs Android

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by vegenarie, Mar 5, 2012.

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  1. vegenarie

    vegenarie

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    I have readed some posts in Unity forum about this issue, and i have readed that android users dont use to pay for the apps and its much harder to get money than in iOS it seems. I wondering how is the situation nowadays, can an android app get similar income as it would get in app store. Also what are the main markets for android, i know market store. Also wondering how get benefits from adds the free apps in android, how can you get someone that pays you for ads in a new app.
     
  2. Ayrik

    Ayrik

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    There are plenty of discussions about this already, but my view is, if you have a Mac or can afford a Mac + iPhone, choose iOS first. This is because the market is bigger and Apple will promote your product for you. Then go for Android because just doing one, when the game is so easy to port (Unity does most the work for you), will just limit your revenue. And to go Android, just aim for the Kindle Fire, then Samsung phones (like the Galaxy line). Most everything else should work fine from there. Also, just to add, I recommend adding a paid version of your app to the Amazon store if yours is free-to-play in order for Amazon to promote you in their app of the day.

    I think following either of these models if your game is decent you will do fine. Anyway, good luck!

    Oh, and for ads, just use Admob or Adwhirl and you're good to go.
     
  3. vegenarie

    vegenarie

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    Unfortunately kindle fire is just for the US, so i see the only choice to make enough money seems iOS and android just as an extra.
     
  4. ployer

    ployer

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    Well I saw something interesting today that might make your choice a bit easier, it appears until April 8th you can get iOS basic and Android basic for free. I am not sure if that means you can use it until April 8th or it is yours to keep forever but check it out!
     
  5. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    ?! RLY?

    Edit:
    Darnit it's true! I just upgraded my license to cover Android Basic... now I'm Pro Mac, Pro iOS Android Basic... :p

    BUT CURSES!!! This means I now must get myself an android device.....
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2012
  6. PrimeDerektive

    PrimeDerektive

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    Someone needs to explain ASAP! :)
     
  7. ployer

    ployer

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    I am just happy that for once I had useful info for folks lol
     
  8. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    Yea, thanks for the heads-up on that! Now I'm going through the list of features to see what feature, if any, I use in iOS Pro that I can’t support in Android Basic.

    Don't know if I'll be porting Bomber Cat over, but my next title (that I started work on hardcore this week) may end up going also for Android.

    OKAY, this may be a minor derail on the thread but I must go into this either here or in another thread, may as well do it here (for now.)

    Think I'm going to buy a Samsung Galaxy Player to start testing. My new project is still far away but I'm thinking to just go with a free app, ad supported, with in app purchase to unlock the full game. Maximize exposure and (from what I hear) make it at least a bit harder to pirate (albeit not impossible.)

    On the tablet front I guess I may get a Kindle Fire later, followed by a Nook color (want to target the slowest of the nooks primarily.)

    I guess my question is: does anyone have a better idea as far as phone goes? My goal is to target phones sold around mid-2010. My brother owns an HTC Incredible from around that time and seems to still be holding up; unfortunately that phone is darn expensive on eBay.

    Does anyone know of something about that quality level and age that can compare to the price of the Galaxy Player? I guess it would be good to have a device that actually can work as a phone while at it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2012
  9. drewradley

    drewradley

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    Nice. I just wasted $400 less than 2 weeks ago...
     
  10. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    This is your chance to snatch a second license for a friend if you want to start a collaborative project.

    Don't look at it as a loss but instead as an opportunity!

    Also upgrade the other mobile platform you have not gone for yet.
     
  11. DanielQuick

    DanielQuick

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    I went ahead and created a more direct thread for this miracle. Many thanks ployer (and Unity of course)!
     
  12. drewradley

    drewradley

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    I snatched a couple of licenses but they are non transferable so they are for me. I'll probably never use the iOS license but got a couple of those as well. I also asked for refund. Probably SOL but since it was 13 days ago as of now, maybe. Can't hurt to ask anyway.
     
  13. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    Going back to the OP's topic:

    @vegenarie

    iOS still dominates the lion share of paid app revenue.

    According to that link, Android only accounts for 7% of the mobile app revenue while iOS accounts for somewhere between 85% to 90%.

    Mind you, this is a market wide analysis. Some apps may actually be more appealing to Android users than iOS ones, and hey, if I give you to pick between making $8500 or $9200 just for spending an extra day coding android support... why on earth would you not do it? Only logical reason is if either you use too many iPhone specific dependencies that make it take too long to do the port or because you don't expect to make up the cost of any new hardware you may want to get (very realistic situation if the iOS version only did $200.)

    If you already own an Android device, though, it's worth giving it a shot, especially now with the free Android Basic license.

    From my understanding, if you want to make money on Android you have one true option on phones: The official Android Market, and then you have the tablets:
    Nook market for Nook devices.
    Amazon Android App Store for Kindle Fire.
    Android's own Market for stock Android tablets.

    I think Kindle and Nook are the most profitable tablets out there. Even if you are not in the US you might be able to get into them as a seller but I'm not certain of this.
     
  14. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    They may not be transferable, but you can have your team use them as long as they are working "for you" or "with you". That is not considered a transfer... at least I don't think so.
     
  15. Meltdown

    Meltdown

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    While that may be true remember there are a lot more iOS apps out there and more submitted each day compared to Android.
     
  16. Starsman Games

    Starsman Games

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    Not sure how that fits here within the context.

    There are Wiki (that may be a bit out of date, they note the iOS number is from Oct 2011) there are 725,700 apps in the iOS app store and 450,000 in the Android Market.

    This does not justify the discrepancy in sold apps.

    If you mean that there is less competition in the Android store, sure, potentially true but every dev I have talked to seems to quote ratios of 96%/4% for their iOS/Android apps respectively, despite the lower competition.
     
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