Some numbers we published yesterday showed that while iPhone owners (not surprisingly) love to download apps, owners of other smartphones do not. As we noted, the numbers seemed a bit incomplete since the Android platform wasn’t represented. We asked Compete, which took the survey, to send those our way.
To be clear, the sample size is “very small,” but it’s somewhat interesting none the less. Sure enough, Android users do seem to enjoy downloading apps more than all other smartphones aside from the iPhone. But interestingly, there were some G1 owners who had downloaded zero apps. Even though a lot more iPhone owners showed up in the survey, there were none that said they had downloaded zero apps — whereas that was a popular number with the other smartphones.
Also worth noting is that 43% of G1 owners surveyed said that all of their apps were free. That’s perhaps not so surprising since the Android Market only launched paid apps two months ago. Still, it would seem that paying for apps isn’t as popular in the Android market as it is in the App Store. That is something that a few developers have complained about to me as well.
@MG,
These results are likely an awareness problem amongst G1 owners. Apple has done a great job creating awareness of all iPhone capabilities, whereas Google hasn’t done anything close, leaving all marketing to T-Mobile. It is clear that T-Mobile’s marketing pales compared to Apple’s, in fact, T-Mobile has already changed the campaign behind the G1, whereas Apple is still executing its’ original campaign launched with the 1st generation iPhone.
My $.02.
Best,
Curtis
I’m working on a location based gps dating app. Sort by location, time, duration of stay, av bill $, music genre, age, favorite drink, etc. My alpha for iphone and g1 should be fun!
I fall in the 31+ category of apps downloaded and only paid for 2, Open Home and Better Cut.
There needs to be a way to save to the SD card since it has such limited space on the phone. I’m now facing the dilemma of which apps to get rid of if another app I want comes along. Also, the market needs improvement, it is tough to discover a new app if you haven’t checked the market in a while.
Any suggestions for a good Android App review site?
Apple is acting anal by imposing soooo many restrictions on 3rd developers, especially regarding logos. They need to be more receptive to the community of users that make up the Apple eco system instead of over regulating.
I’m a G1 owner and have downloaded/installed dozens of apps but have only paid for a couple. There’s so much good free stuff that paying for something means I really must need/want it.
i don’t see why android is not going to be hugely successful. it’s history repeating itself again here: apple perfects something (then: MacOS, now: iphone) but its someone else that makes it hugely popular (back then: Windows, now: android phones).
Android [the poor man's iphone] is going to be massive, and apps are also going to be huge on it. in 2 years apple will be releasing the first ‘iPhone vs Android’ TV ads
Android will never compete with Blackberry and Iphone but it will find a niche following. Stock market surging http://iamned.com/blog/ recession may be over.
what makes you say that?
Because RIMM and Apple already took the market share from the pool of potential customers
you really think the global mobile users pool is that small?
Hi,
I am trying to decide which way to go….G1 or I phone. I am currently a Tmobile user but my contract is about up. My understanding is that you can not insure an Iphone or buy a new battery w/o sending in your phone. I looked at the G1 several months ago. Do you think it will less bulkly in the future? The Iphone is fairly thin…. and there are covers to help protect the phone. Do you know if the G1 can be covered for protection?
I am confused about which way to go. I do think there will be plenty of free apps out there for the G1. Can you put the Iphone apps on the G1?
Thanks for the info.
J
You can get the same type of protective covering for the G1 as you can for the Iphone – it’s made by the same company out of the same military grade material
To the guy wondering about g1 vs iphone. I recently bought a G1 for $98. It sucks, cannot be used as a business phone and now I am using old nokia 6800 which works waaaaayyy better for business and its 2001 tech. But the G1 has potential. It should be the best and with time it may be. I don’t own apple iphone but when I checkit out apps expensive, no keyboard, phone must be sent back to apple to replace battery. What bullsh*t! The truth is best phones are still Nokia symbian but they cost $600. Both apple and G1 have problems, niether has flash like Noakia, apple better apps, G1 should have better apps over time. But know this whichever one you buy it will suck for now. If you want the phone that do it all you hqave to go nokia and its at least $400. G1 is $98 at Walmart. I just typed all this on G1, imagine how long it would have taken on iphone. We should be millitant about G1 develping better apps. If they don,t we’ll all be stuck with stupid I phone or expensive nokia.
Learn how to spell or at least proof read. If you were my employee doing business on a phone and had this many errors you would be let go. It is obvious that you are too incompetent to figure out how to use a g1.
Too early to comment on android!
i have the G1 and im going Iphone not because its kool and whats “in” but the hardware is way better…the G1s hardware looks old and bulky
the android software i still have hope for they just need to prefect it..i love the G1 but its to soon to be perfected..and with a market filled with soundboards and fart effects u kinda just want something a little more grown up
Not surprising that iphone users would shell out more money on their phones. So many of them paid extra to switch carriers in the first place, they’re clearly willing to spend on their phone experience. G1 users are largely (I’d think) those willing to pay for a data plan, but not willing to switch carriers mid-plan for it. It’s possibly more about the user base than platform quality.
I’m a G1 owner and I haved downloaded all of my apps free as well. I never saw any that I felt like I should waste the money paying for. However, lately I have been thinkin about switching to Iphone. It looks like it might be a better.
I Agree that Apple owners download more apps and so much more fun to use the motion sensitive games in apple. I Luv to play flute, it works based on the amout of air we send into the microphone.. These innovations are just ir resistable…
The whole marketing focus was on the apps instead of the platform. It similar to the way game systems are hyped up not by the console but by the individual games promoted.
The more you pump up the experience the more the user base focus on certain aspects.
don’t need dat yet
Not wanting to pay for apps on the G1 really isn’t that suprising given the fact that many people myself included opted for Android over Iphone because it was open source.
That said I also think that people that flock towards the iphone are much more likely to fall prey to slick marketing, afterall that essentially is what apple above all is a marketing firm.
Yes I think the “sample size” is really SMALL!
Here is a post from gigaom: http://gigaom.c...e-google-phone/
Talking about Robert Dotson keynote speech at CTIA this year. The #’s are starkly different.
The G1 is more open, and this survey is meaningless. More android users are app savvy than apple. Apple has more games, so more common people will download an “app” but it’s not really an app it’s entertainment.
G1 users don’t need to hack or jailbreak their phone to get it the way they want it. Android doesn’t restrict 3rd party devs, and like you said the store opened 2 months ago. Comparing the android app store to apple’s is just plain dumb.
I don’t exactly know what you’re talking about. The G1 is somehow dramatically less restrictive? Go read what happened to all the tethering apps on the app store.
What proof you have that G1 users are more saavy than iPhone users. It was just stated in this column that G1 users don’t buy apps and many have no apps. Apple was selling tons of apps two months into the App Store’s launch.
Apple has answered virtually every need for jailbreakers in 3.0. G1 users need to have many customizations because it well known that the UI is ugly.
You’re a funny guy. You say that their statistics are meaningless but you say that G1 users are more saavy without providing any statistics to back it up! Please go back to Digg and hang out with the other teens that just quite haven’t hit puberty just yet.
Wow, iphone was released way way before the g1 did, so comparing the is stupid..
@ str1f3
Your the teen who needs to go back to digg and get a life, even ur nickname points you out as a teen, pathetic.
Also apple has a good marketing strategy plus there stupid multi touch patent is why they will always be ahead, argueing about this is plain stupid and makes you look dumb, you guys care to much. Google is all about open source so if you don’t like many restrictions go google, but apple has a bit more restriction then tmobile..
Also Tmobile forced google to remove all tether apps, but I still have it cuz I have root, which unlike apple they don’t want you to have root access on an iphone, tmobile you can call them up and get the key after 3months lol, apple sucks.
Apple is all about money and all they ever will be, why windows exceded them.
Freedom rules, apple sucks
You’re hilarious. You’re calling me a teen when you can’t even make a coherent sentence. It’s like a 13 year old wrote it through SMS.
Read before you speak. I said two months after the app store opened (the same day it launched) it was already selling a ton of apps.
The G1 paid app marketplace has been up and for two months it has been making no money for developers.
BTW, it doesn’t matter if T-Mobile told Google to remove them or Google did on their own. The effect is the same. The platform is not as open as you pretend it to be. Meanwhile, they are very few big name developers who are developing for the G1. It may even get smaller once the Pre is released.
The only way for Android to win is to flood the smartphone marketplace is to flood it with garbage smartphones. This is the same plan that Microsoft and Nokia have always had except this time Microsoft is rumored to be paying handset makers to not make Android phones.
For the forseeable future the marketplace of high quality smartphones belongs to Apple, Palm, and RIM.
I agree with your point about the apple market share and marketing in general, however if you look at what an Iphone costs per month with att&t it is far less attractive than a lowly G1 especially when you hear about the lack of signals or 3g coverage due to the amount of users on the network. Until that mess gets cleaned up I’ll stick with the G1
Ummm in truth I would by a G1 App if I felt like I needed too…Everything on the G-1 has been free except for a handful of applications, so why would I by something when I may find something that does the same thing for free? People are trying to talk restrictions for the G-1 cause they want to defend their very popular and spoiled brat owned I-phone. Most people that own the I-phone are apple users anyway, they probably use I-tunes regularly and they feel no need to jail break the phone. G1 one gives you a little something called options, if you wanna pay for apps pay….If you don’t then don’t…you can find that free app that suits you. Iphone is typical of Apple, make something cool but cut it off from people that aren’t rich and won’t to spend money all the time. I’ve had both phones, people say the stores are different and maybe in look and advertisement. Truth is I saw that Iphone commercial, you know the one that says what you may need to do and I-phone has an app for that? They try to make it seem like the G1 has none of this stuff and I-phone fans do the same, in actuality the G1 has every app called out in that commercial. I feel like there are apple users and there are open OS users, just like there have always been. If you download movies and music from P2P files then you can just plug your G1 in open it’s file from your computer, copy and paste then your done…You don’t have to use Itunes or a converter to transfer sh*t onto it like most -=I=- anything (I-pod, I-phone etc.) Besides what if I don’t wanna sync everything I have in I-tunes immediately? Now as far as statistics go you gotta respect it, but the I-phone has been out way longer so why compare the new thing with the Vet thing? And sorry owning both phones this year The I-phone isn’t that much better to me….Now people wanna complain about the look, OK it doesn’t look that great but then again it doesn’t look that bad either, the qwerty keypad gives you more options in case your touchscreen does not work (Never happens) and I just feel more comfortable using it…I can copy and paste documents and powerpoint and windows presentations so the shot about it being for kids is laughable, I am a college student who is 27 and do work on my G1 I never hear anybody say that about the I-phone…All they talk about is all the fun stuff(sounds pretty kiddie to me)in closing I’ve owned both phones and in truth they aren’t all that different, and the stores both have the same kinds of apps a plus for G1 is t=most of them are *FREE* that’s just my thoughts—Holla
I like my twidroid app but im going back to my blackberry curve on tmobile.
Too many small UI pain the ass things.
Im going to wait for new update to come out, otherwise back to blackberry service.
looks like even android developers is far less than iphone developers from the commentors.
I’m a developer since 3 months ago. Put on paid apps 2 months ago. I own both iphones and gphones but use iphone as my phone and gphone just for development because iphone’s better usability and the g1 battery is horrible, only half day. Iphone can last 2 days for me.
A few observations on iphone vs. gphone app market.
1) I chose gphone because the technical design itself is more developer friendly; And I don’t like to be rejected by Apple after a few months’ hard work.
2) I thought iphone developments has steep learning curve but I’m wrong. I found Android development learning curve is much steeper for many people. But actually both of them are much easier than traditional mobile programming.
3) a big mistake from Google to launch free app first and paid came several months after. They thought they would generate some buzz. But now, not much buzz. Free apps got all the top popularity spots because of longer duration on the market and free. It’s hard to sell free apps.
4) my brief lookaround on the market find the most popular paid app only got a few thousands of downloads. They are on the half way down the list sort by popularity in that category
5) The cancellation on Android is that easy. The cancellation rate is between 20% to 50%. People buy games and play a few hours and return it.
From the Iphone data, we all know the usage of apps after the first day drops a lot.
6) There is no reason why Google charges 30% without doing anything like Apple approval process. People complains about iphone refund policy. But Google chargeback policy is the same as iphone plus Google’s penalty $3. The chargeback is unlikely to happen because users have to complain to their credit card company.
But why Google takes 30% without giving back?
7) Android has a limit memory and doesn’t allow to install apps on sdcard. The people that installed over 30 apps on the chart must have counted the apps they uninstalled.
9) There is no good game engines on Android.
10) if the app size is bigger than 10M, users have limited memory to install back to last problem. If image size is bigger than 1M, there is memory crash. It’s hard to make good game app.
11) iphone interface builder is way way much better than android.
I rather go though the torture process of iphone approval.
I had to comment on this…have you ever even used a G1 before? Multimdeia doesn’t work HAHAHAHA…..sorry bud but that’s not true…..I don’t have to use I-tunes or converters to put my songs on my G1 I use P2P file sharing and just plug my G1 in copy paste and bam I got movies cartoons music videos and any song I want…do your research cause I don’t believe you have…In regards to the memory again I ask have you ever used or even seen a G1? It comes with 1gb of memory on it’s SD card and takes up to 16 GB and actually my 1gb only on my SD card was pretty sufficient and my phones has tons of app with room to spare on it’s enternal 1gb hardrive I mean how much do you really need to put on a phone? Know your fax though cause alot of the things your saying are innacurate…..seems like your just slinging mudd like a lout of Apple fans….Maybe not..no disrespect
Oh and I have an app that allows me to use my SD card to save things on…am I the only one?
man i have been looking for an app like that which i can use to install my app in the sdcard if u have 1 like u say, can u tell me where or how to get it?
Hi. Im a new G1 user and I have a question for you. You had said that you downloaded an app that allowed you to put movies, MP3’s etc on your G1 from your PC. If you dont mind can you tell me what app you used for this…and can you give me a quick run down and steps on how to do this. Im super stupid when it comes to doing this…and I need a little help. I know that you have to compress the DVD movie and stuff like that but I have no clue how and I have no clue how to get it on the G1. Thank you soooo much in advance for your help!!!
Windows media player works great
It is easy to work out the sample size from the graph – 10 (2,1,3,1,0,1,2). You surveyed TEN people and made an article out of it. (It can also be a factor of 10, but it is very unlikely given the distribution).
Mentioning the actual number instead of “Very Small” would have killed the article I guess.
I have a G1 I love it my brother has a iphone we compare apps all the iphon about what 3/4 yrs out g1 9 m. Out so how is it that you can compare yes there room for improvement but look at iphone there where lawsuits,app problem,web preblems and yes some uhappy custermors .when it comes to apps. 1 have both paid and free and the one problem I have is to many of the same kind of apps , when I contact the dev of the apps the reply fast on the g 1 I love this appel I can’t say but what I herd is not good . Then the cost 1$ ~ 15 not bad if it good but 8 ~12 for another fart.file stoage .gps locter come on now don’t be greedy I like the app I pay . I tell friends with iphone and g1 check this app blog or site I don’t like I say nothing
Sorry bad spelling and gramer on my g1 .
Have fun .enjoylife.workhard . no regrets
Tg472
I am still amazed at the fact that Windows Mobile is not being used for comparison.
Some numbers:
1. 18,000 apps.
2. Easiest development platform – use whatever language you want and the dev tools automatically tell you what you can do and what you can’t do.
3. Distribution requires nothing. Just like the AppStore, there are sites that specialize selling Windows Mobile software. Handango is just one example. With today’s mobile browsers, you can do the entire transaction from the phone including downloading the app (most of them) and install them on the phone directly.
4. More than 800,000 Windows Mobile phones were sold last quarter.
5. Windows Mobile accounts for about 12% of the market share.
With numbers like there, how can this platform be excluded? Just because it does not have an AppStore yet?
@MG, why don’t you ask Compete about Windows Mobile and prove to us that there is no bias against Microsoft at TC?
Windows mobile is junk… No offense.
Who wants to hear about those? When Microsoft releases it’s new UI, then I’ll consider giving a hoot.
Maxwell, I am sure that the 800,000 mobile phone owners who bought these last quarter will disagree with you. Like Microsoft or not, Windows Mobile works well for most people. It is not as flashy as the iPhone, but it works.
Call it junk, but much of it, again, is due to the hardware and not the OS. Apple runs on one hardware whereas Windows Mobile runs on hundreds of hardware platforms. You might have had bad experience with it simply because the phone that you were using was not up to par with the OS. This is the same for most mobile OSs by the way. Palm was never 100%, neither is Symbian or Nokia’s. Everyone has problems when the hardware and the OS are not married to each other throughout the design, development, and release process.
“owners of other smartphones do not” yet the comparison failed to include Symbian or Windows Mobile.
That is like doing a comparison of mid-market family sedans but not including the Camry or Passat.
somebody was asking about android app review sites. I found a couple:
http://www.androidtapp.com/
http://androidguys.com/
http://www.googleandblog.com/
AndroidTap, Android Guys, and Google and Blog (aka GAB).
Cheers.
The only way I could find out about the newest G1 apps was to create a custom search through Google news that emails me a listing once a day of G1-specific news stories.
Otherwise, it’s impossible to find the newest relevant G1 apps. If you scroll through the G1 Marketplace looking for the newest apps, it’s difficult to figure out the purpose and relevance of each program. The developers often don’t do a very good job of summarizing what their program does and why I should bother downloading it.
I love the G1 Marketplace. If it didn’t exist, I would have thrown my G1 into the trash compactor by now. Individual users and small tech companies have stepped in and succeeded in making this worthless POS useful and almost worth buying – because of the build-a-better-mousetrap ingenuity that I’ve found in most of the apps that I’ve downloaded from the marketplace.
Im onna get a G1 so i really am gettin’ it because mostly cause its fun and has lots of music,internet,apps and lots more FUN stuff
Ok I have a g1 and icame over from a windows mobile phone. I never used a iphone I have never liked them. All 3 os have there up’s and downs. Iphone makes this big to do over its app store. Not so big in my eyes. windos mobile has way more out there then iphone or g1 granted the g1 is new. Windows mobile has also had things like flash, copy past, is open to all any one that wants to make an progra m for it. Now there big down fall is that stuped styles. I hate that little stick but every thing was so small you had to have it. I love my g1 its well on its way to becoming the best. Its not there yet. I think iphone and g1 need to look more at what windows moble has. I would sit at work and watch fancast on my old mda. That had 5.0 not even the new software. And it still could do more than iphone can now. I had google maps. free games $5 full internet. No fancy data plan needed. the iphone is all about money. And windows mobile is not user friendly. In time when g1 meets the par not of iphone but windows mobile then it will be the beter of the 3. The g1 just needs time to really get moveing. Ps can’t wate for cupcake