I’ve spent the last week throughly enjoying my new Droid, and while I’ve come across some problems, most of my issues have simply been with the fact that Android does things differently than the iPhone — the transition just takes some getting used to. But there’s one big issue that needs far more than a UI tweak: Android Market. If there was a theme common to nearly every Droid review, it was that Android’s app selection just doesn’t cut it compared to the iPhone. I think that consensus is only half the story. These reviewers are finding that Android has a weaker selection of applications than the iPhone not just because some of their favorite apps aren’t there, but because actually browsing the Market just isn’t as enjoyable as what Apple’s iTunes offers. If Android’s Market’s perception as a poor man’s App Store is going to change, this experience needs to improve.
Currently, all Android Market browsing and transactions are done through an application that comes with the phone. This mobile application used to be pretty bad (it didn’t even offer screenshots of the apps), but was finally overhauled in September to be more competitive with the iPhone’s mobile version of the App Store. The new version is a big improvement, but browsing the store from the phone isn’t exactly a good time — you can only see a few apps at once, so scrolling through various lists gets tedious.
Contrast that with the App Store that’s integrated into Apple’s iTunes. Using iTunes to download new applications isn’t just something people do when they need an app to accomplish a certain task. It’s something they do for fun. Clicking through various top apps exposes plenty of high quality games, apps from popular sites like Yelp, and even the occasional productivity tool. It’s all very fast too — you can easily download fifteen new apps in a single browsing session without breaking a sweat.
Android doesn’t have anything close to that. The official Android Market website (pictured below) is a total joke. It shows a list of some of the top apps from its Paid and Free sections, along with a handful of screenshots. It doesn’t even have a full listing of the apps available, or any kind of search feature (as an aside, the entire Android site looks terrible — type in “Android” into Google, and this homepage is the first result). Yes, there are more comprehensive third-party listings, but there’s no way to download apps to your device without looking them up from your phone.
There’s an answer to this, and it’s one that’s right up Google’s alley: Google should rework the Android Market site into a full-fledged AJAXy web app, hopefully with the input of some talented designers. From a functionality standpoint the new Market should be a fairly blatant ripoff of Apple’s App Store on iTunes, with Top App lists, search, ratings, and so on (though there’s plenty of room for Google to improve on application discovery). Users would log in using their Google accounts, and use Google Checkout for payments. Next to every app listing would be a ‘Download’ or ‘Buy’ button. Clicking that would then send a notification to your phone, alerting you that you had outstanding downloads that could be sent straight to your device at your leisure. Large applications would require a Wi-Fi connection to download. Your Android phone is already tied to your Google account anyway, so the entire experience would be seamless.
Of course, there’s the argument that most people don’t buy mobile apps from their desktop anyway — AdMob recently conducted a survey(PDF) that found that over 90% of users download their iPhone apps Over-The-Air (i.e. they’re downloaded directly to the phone) rather than through an iTunes sync. That number sounds high to me, but it’s one that Google shouldn’t pay much attention to for a few reasons. For one, syncing with iTunes is a pain. Yes, Apple has made the process about as easy as it could given the bevy of options it has to include, but between the backing up, nebulous ‘Syncing’ messages, lengthy transfers from PC to iPhone and vice versa, it’s just a lot easier to download straight to your phone.
A cloud based push solution wouldn’t have those syncing issues — you’d be able to purchase apps from just about any computer connected to the Internet, and the only downtime required would be the time needed to actually download the app from Google’s servers. And even if the bulk of purchases would still be done directly from handsets, that doesn’t make a full fledged Android Market experience on the desktop any less important. Android Market is still very much the underdog to Apple’s App Store, and consumers considering an Android handset are likely turning to the web to scope out the applications available on Android to see how they compare to the App Store. Right now, Android fails that test.
Done properly, this setup would likely see the number of apps downloaded increase, as would the number of paid purchases (entering a credit card number on a computer is far easier than on a phone). And that would bring more developers to the platform, boosting the number of quality apps available. Of course, Android has a few other problems to worry about — some developers complain about the inability to install applications on a phone’s SD card, and there’s always the problems involved with developing for multiple devices running different versions of the OS. But turning the Market into something users can actually browse from their PCs is a good start.
Oh, and don’t be surprised if Apple adopts their own web based store some time in the future — they’re already experimenting with ‘iTunes Preview’ for music and video content.
Image via GearDiary.
I agree, this is something Android needs badly, they should either buy doubletwist or build their own “itunes” and get a deal with amazon for mp3, movies, episodes etc.
If they get whole syncing and managing media issues right, it’d be a huge win for android.
forgot songbird, songbird would be a good choice too
Personally I haven’t had any issues only being able to browse/install apps via the phone. That’s what I did with my iPhone. But I definitely agree, the average consumer would probably appreciate something like this.
Totally agreed. My first full week with the Droid has left me appreciating a lot of the little details that are present in the iPhone. I continue to think that the Google Maps Navigation app (http://bit.ly/3ddOg5) and the incredible screen are my favorite parts, but there are many, many details including the app purchase experience that still leave a lot to be desired.
>90% of the issues are software related, so I expect that the remaining gap will begin to close before long.
Totally agree as well, although making it easy to develop for Android is another challenge. Open source means there will be many different flavors of the OS, and QA on all the different phones will be a nightmare. Apple’s one phone, one OS, one marketplace strategy removes all friction for developers. Other than the Apple’s arbitrary approval process, the iPhone ecosystem will be hard to beat. That’s Android’s primary challenge.
I definitely see where you’re coming from and I agree that the Android Market has a Long way to go, but I disagree that it needs a desktop presence.
I’ve used Android since it was first released and one of my favorite things about it is that I Never have to plug it into my computer if I don’t want to.
In saying that, I don’t think a desktop market would hurt Android in any way, I just don’t agree that it’s absolutely necessary.
Also if they released a desktop market, it would only make sense that they build something similar to iTunes that would then manage the phones audio/video as well. I think Google wants to kill the desktop as we know it today, where Apple wants to tie everything to the desktop more and more.
I don’t think you read the whole post. The solution I propose doesn’t involve plugging anything into your computer.
Hey Jason,
You’re right, I glazed over a part of your post in my haste to avoid the downpour outside and get to the gym. Apologies!
I would like a desktop option as well – primarily to discover apps and browse through the collection (I used to use Cyrket until a few weeks ago).
But I think the desktop software does need to have the ability to download the software on the PC and synch with the phone. I can already download 15 apps at a time – and I do that right now. While “Push” will certainly reduce the tediousness of QR code lookup and download, it will not solve the real problem. The bottleneck is the time taken for the actual concurrent downloads on the phone.
Of course everything is in addition to the OTA downloads.
Agree as well. I don’t know if buying from the web is as important for me, but certainly searching from the web and being able to see more of the apps without scrolling on the Droid forever would be nice.
It’d also be nice to see user recommended applications, to help guide to better applications and steer away from garbage ones…
It would be great if you could tag or bookmark an app so you can come back to it after you look over the whole list.
amen to that! Until the hardware has more storage space (I have a g1) I keep having to remove apps to load new ones and bookmarking possible apps is critical to making it all work. Found an app that does it, but don’t know why the app store can’t!
Was sad to see the itunes store doesnt have good tools for anything either though. both are puny attempts.
I disagree entirely with the idea that the Android Market should be shackled to a desktop or a website at all. The AdMob survey is right, and certainly more valid than your personal iPhone centric opinion. I have been using Android for a year now and the new Donut version that updated the Market has improved the experience a great deal. All it needs is to include the ability to sort through lists by REVIEW as well, and the cream of the crop will float to the top. The ability to download multiple apps in a “Checkout bin” and save choices for later review would be nice, but actually unnecessary. Android Market should merge with Amazon and then we’d have a winner. iTunes is a step backwards. Websites are a step backwards. Over-the-air downloads through dedicated apps are the way to go. Android Market is 5 times the size of Blackberry’s store, 10 times the size of WinMo’s Marketplace, and let’s not even bother talking about Palm Pre/Pixi. The iPhone is not the only game in town nor is it even in the majority of cell phone owner’s hands. Also, no one is complaining about the Android Market’s apps that are not available on the iPhone- several awesome apps and widgets exist because the open nature of Android allows developers to do things the iPhone simply can’t. Clearly, your point of view is through iPhone colored glasses. Take them off and you’ll see another world.
let me quote the article “he transition just takes some getting used to.” it seems that this has already happened to you ( as you use android for a year now) so there is no need to start screaming from your side of the the fence
Ah, Android fanbois are a new and growing breed. There really aren’t a lot of Android apps that aren’t available on the iPhone. What I have seen (and I own an Android phone) is that the Android versions of popular iPhone apps usually lack quite a few of the features.
The Android Market is like a low budget flea market, selling half assed broken widgets. Sorry to burst your Google fanboi bubble, but Android has a LONG way to go, and the low barrier to entry into the Market might actually hold it back. Look at some of the reviews for apps – lousy apps are souring the user experience.
It’s so sad that Apple followers can’t stand the fact that the Android platform is so strong. Even CNET wrote a full article about the haters from the iPhone camp. You can see it in the personal attacks that Janey puts forth. If I was a “fanboi” I wouldn’t acknowledge the Android Market’s weaknesses- which I did. The true chinks in the Android platform is the fragmentation that inevitably results from being too open. Open source is a strength and a weakness. It does far more than the iPhone, Pre, or Blackberry, but that causes problems between developers and versions. The fact that Janey ignores the power of widgets (without example) shows that either she does not own an Android phone as she claims or doesn’t know how to use it. Blackberry might be a better choice for her. I hear they are pretty good phones as well. I do agree that a few of the apps by major developers (like Facebook) are inferior on Android. But if you know anything about Android 2.0, you realize that Facebook and the functionality of many of those apps are built into the OS and don’t need an app. The problem is that carriers have not released 2.0 across the board. Only Droid has it. The iPhone is a great phone with a great OS. Android has a few great phones with a great OS. In the end of the day, it’s going to be Android, Blackberry, and the iPhone. Competition make us all winners.
Yesterday I gave them such a suggestion (from the standpoint of numbers). Hopefully they’ll agree with me, that in order to compete against the Apple PR machine, Android Marketplace needs to make visible all their apps and not an outdated subset. More important is to make them visible to those who do not yet have access to a mobile device because those are the potential users they can win over.
Using iTunes to browse for apps is “enjoyable”?
News to me.
I second that. Got an ipod touch about 7 months after my Android phone and was really surprised at how bad the Itunes app experience was! It really sucks considering how nice Itunes can be for browsing my music.
Eventhough the new version of itunes allows you to move apps around from different screens, it is still clumsy when you have more than 6 screens of apps to work with.
Really, all of these stores need to pick it up a bit. It seems a joke, but the old application shops that are web-based (or call it large-screen maybe) like handango and pocketgear had basic UI features like filters that made the shopping experience much more pleasant.
Why does OTA delivery of the apps require crap for a front-end? it doesn’t! that is a cop out.
That stuck out to me as well. The idea that anyone uses iTunes “for fun” is insane. iTunes is horribly slow, and the interface is not pleasant or useful. However, the central point of the article is a good one: there should be a GOOD way to browse for applications from the comfort of your desktop. Once you find an app you want, you should be able to send it to your right to your phone.
Yep, as much as I love my Droid, my first week has often left me muttering words similar to “WHAT THE F**$ GOOGLE?” simply because there just needs to be a ton of polish applied to Android. I know that it’s open source and Google doesn’t directly benefit from sinking resources into this ship, but I don’t think that your average “Joe” will be able to use Android until these issues are fixed. And for some of the most basic things, I don’t think re-inventing the wheel by every hardware OEM is the best way to do it (which is why I think Linux has a hard time catching on, there are too many choices).
But, back to the point at hand, the Android Market website is a sham that needs to be upgraded. And even the Android app itself needs a ton of work. 2 screenshots is far too few. And changelogs are never in visible sight in the app itself. Plus, for some reason, the games section seems to have categories that only go up to C.
Simply put, I bought a Droid for the potential of Google and I am really hoping they keep moving forward to become the great mobile OS we all know it can be.
The most radical thing about this article is where you suggest that Google might get “the input of some talented designers”. That would truly be a first for Google.
Not true. Doug Bowman from Stop Design is one of the top web designers and only recently left Google to work at Twitter. Google has talented designers, but they are hampered by the companies minimalist style and Marissa Mayer’s leadership.
Doesn’t matter what individuals Google may have hired or lost. The fact is, they are not setting any examples for design or incredible UIs. Granted the typical sparse, minimalist Google approach is certainly “usable,” but there is no polish, nothing compelling. Just a typical Google web application is plain ugly (gmail anyone?). Not that I need a polished, sexy UI–but if they’re going mainstream, and they’re going to really compete with Apple in the consumer space (and to a lesser degree, the business space), they have got to take this serious. For all of the fanfare media attention to Mayer’s expensive tastes, you would think she might appreciate at least trendy design, in not classic design. Even if it’s marketing BS, it still sells. But Mayer hasn’t even got that right. Whatever, she’s just a pretty face (not that pretty faces can’t do amazing things). The guys who really brought Google this far were a few really good engineers who caught on to the business potential of their technology and exploited it quickly. Time for a retrofit (though I admit, I would freakout if anyone changed Google’s excellent, totally minimalist main search page).
Jeff Veen is a talented designer who led the redesign of Google Analytics to great success. It’s a beautiful online app to use, and makes good use of Tufte-inspired data visualization techniques like “lumpy graph” vertical scaling and sparklines.
I agree with the proposed solution but many developers sites now include a 2D barcode that u can scan with the ‘barcode scanner’ app…it will take u straight to that app in the market an u just dl it!
There is certainly room for improvement in the UI for the OTA stores. However, there is no fundamental reason why a mobile OTA app distribution interface can’t be as enjoyable to use as a Desktop based one. Palm and Google have chosen to go the OTA route and I think the benefits of not being shackled to a desktop for apps and OS upgrades far outweighs any nuisance of browsing via a mobile interface. OTA gives you access to apps on demand. I don’t like to have a huge number of apps on my phone due to the clutter, but I want access to all the apps at any given moment. This way I don’t have to anticipate each and every situation and whether I might need X app for that situation. OTA access gives me delivery of the App at the exact moment I need it wherever (within the limits of WIFi and 3G connectivity of course) I happen to be.
I do agree with Jonathan that there is definitely an issue of UI and discoverability. Apps aren’t the only thing I think about, and I like to use the ones I have not just constantly and mindlessly download worthless content. There has to be a lot of promotion off the device itself to drive awareness for any particular app. As a consumer I have to invest to learn its capabilities. Inertia and effort are powerful de-motivators. I have to know the value I want either by picking the best term to ’search by keyword’ or through a hierarchical nav menu. Precisely the same issue has troubled large e-commerce merchants for years in fussing with their information design. Random discoverability is helpful for impusle purchasing, but in a tight economy I like the surgical strike. How does someone discover a particular product on page 15 of a multi-brand web store if the categorization is bad or the don’t know what they are looking for specifically by name?
The answer has always been search, and Google has presumptively designed the Android market to leverage that core competence. If consumers need a discovery engine off the handset, maybe it’s because they need a bigger screen or more comfortable keyboard to languish comfortably while they explore. Otherwise other vendors – including those OEMs we fear are fragmenting Android – should design something more efficient than search or hierarchical navigation.
Desktop will improve form factor, a but not necessarily discoverability. There is a lot of that long tail of the web for me still to discover on my desktop.
I’m more interested in a simple filter feature. When I browse through the market on my Droid, 80% of what I see are themes and Better Keyboard skins. It is nice to have those options, but they shouldn’t be clouding the regular app listings.
Agree on this…I would also like a “filter out” option so I can permanently stop seeing some of the garbage. I really don’t think the guy who keeps releasing the “see pictures of #### after you finish your phone call! lol!” apps will ever create anything of any value…so I’d like to just remove his stuff permanently.
That is exactly what I noticed as well. It LOOKS like there are lots of apps, but complete TRASH applications like the “sexy girl screensavers,” “$DUMB_CARTOON soundboards” and “See pics of ### when you finish your call” apps are nothing but clutter.
As Android gets more popular, expect this to get worse as the trash developers that are just in it to make a quick buck start flooding the Android Market even worse than they already are.
I don’t have problems with the apps. You can find almost anything if you dig deep enough. A desktop or good browser-based app to search easier would definitely help. As far as a Google android manager or sync tool, they could easily extend Picasa to search apps and manage android media. -something they could probably do in a long weekend.
Oh really? Let me know when you find an email client besides k9mail. Or one that lets you move IMAP messages between folders and can use self-signed or CAcert certificates – because the built in joke of an email client sure can’t.
Unneeded article, obviously android will not have the mass amounts of iphone apps, its a newer project, and the apps part just hasnt yet been the main focus on android which is still being worked on, yawn.
This is a big issue for a Android, and something that it always comes up when people compare the iPhone and Android. The iPhone+iTunes ecosystem it’s a huge plus for the iPhone.
The faster Google addresses this problem the better, hopefully somebody at Google reads TechCrunch.
there’s always the problems involved with developing for multiple devices running different versions of the OS.
I’ve been a G1 owner since day one. Yeah, the market isn’t the brightest and most beautiful. But the main thing that attracted me to Android from the get go was the fact that it had absolutely NO desktop presence whatsoever. All i ever wanted in a smartphone was drag and drop, sync with no wires, and fun stuff to do. I got all that and desktop integration would only slow down my productivity to a tenth of the speed that it is now. I can’t even imagine having to sync up my phone with my computer for music and apps. i’d never, ever want to do that again.
Besides having a desktop presence with iTunes, there is a growing ecosystem of iPhone app finding websites that iTunes has spawned.
Even a Google-like search site, appexplorer.com.
Maybe Google / Android can learn something from that.
YES! Please please please fix the android market! I think people switching from iphone just expect this to already be there and are unpleasantly surprised to find its not!
+1
Fully agree that Android Market needs rework to improve discovery experience. It is no fun yet to browse around, I usually end up with key word search and keep scrolling in hope or despair. There are so many ways to improve the search through filters like categories, free, or through cross references “more like this one”, etc.
Personally I do not need the desktop application to search apps. It would be great if Google create a better and more extensive apps listing on their currently poor web page, but I rather select and download directly to the handset.
Timing is everything. Too soon and more important things don’t get done. Too soon and Google upsets important partners. Do it too quickly and quality suffers which results in damage to Google’s reputation. Lack of planning results in unforeseen holes which will be extremely hard to fix later. We can’t yet image what’s on it’s way!
Some sort of geo targeting besides carrier targeting would be nice too…
How about doing a search on Google, or some other search engine, on an Android handset’s web browser- say “augmented reality Android app”, which comes back with top results, whether it be a developer’s website, or forum posting, or a Market. User then may read through reviews of different augmented reality apps, chooses and downloads directly to the handset, the app executable file to run. Freedom to chose where to get the app, no marketplace gatekeeper.
Forget the niceties. The Android Market is a piece of garbage, one of the worst products ever to come from Google.
Google is what it is because they have a great search engine that makes it incredible easy to find what you’re looking for on the internet.
Even worse, as time goes on, the amount of garbage und useless updates keeps growing, making it that much harder to find the gems.
Stop being Yahoo and get rid of the categories that date themselves the day after they’re set up.
Google should quickly set up a desktop browser presence with Yelp-like search and filter capabilities.
The current market has been completely inadequate from Day 1.
I agree that the Market App needs to be updated AND include a desktop store. There are many times I would like to view more apps or larger pictures than what my phone’s screen size limits me to.
In addition, Android needs to have the ability to have an account within the Market store so that when I set up my Android phone and log into my Google account, it will sync any apps that I have previously purchased or downloaded. That way there is no need to search for which apps I had previously installed. It wouldn’t be a bad idea if it just wanted to give me a check list on which previous apps I wanted to have installed.
Why would this be important? Well, if you lose your phone and have to buy a new one, if your phone breaks and it has to be replaced, or if you do a hard re-set and send your phone back to original settings, it would be nice to go sign in one place and have all my apps back right away.
I like the idea of using Google check out on the desktop, but there shouldn’t be any reason we couldn’t just bill to our cell phone carrier as well.
Great commend and make Google to rerthink about user-oriented strategy.
I am surprised at how many comments seemed to miss the point. There was no suggestion to require a cable link between the handset and desktop. The suggestion was to allow us to search for and purchase apps on the desktop and then they would be delivered OTA. What a great idea. I hope Google does it soon.
Thanks Ray. I get the feeling most people didn’t get that far. Perhaps my fault for not putting that earlier in the post, though I felt I had to give some background on the current state of Android Market because most people on the iPhone aren’t familiar with it.
We at MobisleApps have been advocating this for quite a while now but your ideas for how Google should tackle the problem are great!
Google, get on this right now or your platform is doomed to always bask in the shade of the iPhone. Seriously, stop reading this and start working on it!
@ J. Kincaid:
“It doesn’t even have a full listing of the apps available, or any kind of search feature”
Are you on Glue? I use Marketplace Search daily.
That was an irresponsible & untrue assertion. Putz!
Yes, Elmer’s.
test drive google android on your pc. http://had1.blo...windows_15.html
It’s a third party site, and full of ads, but androlib.com does a pretty darn good job of cataloging all the apps in the Android market, and even include comments, star ratings, etc. Each app even has a QR code for easy downloading.
A first-party solution from Google would be best, of course, but this gets the job done.
androlib is a complete garbage. full of ads and unfinished design pieces.
I don’t want to come off sounding like an iPhone elitist or something but there are a few things that don’t make sense in your article to me:
1. Arguing that the big screen Android shopping experience is more lacking than the iPhone.
2. The on device app store experience is lacking on Android.
I am in no way representative of the whole iPhone user base, but I can honestly say that I have looked up and purchased one (1) app from itunes over the last 2 years. Someone else posted the gospel on itunes…. It sucks.
Third party web sites work much more efficiency and have some cool features like tracking your apps. Although they take some user interaction to set up, its a neat little tool.
I can’t comment on Android as I don’t have one but what’s so special about the app store on the iPhone? It has product descriptions, screen shots and reviews. That should be the absolute minimum for any online store and if you look at all of them (Amazon and Ebay for example) they include roughly the same information.
If you want to see an evolutionary app store, check out Rock App for a jailbroken iPhone. I did a complete restore yesterday and had all of my jailbroken apps and themes installed in minutes of jailbreaking.
Throwing a feature on Android like an app-backup would be a very interesting feature.
Until the Android has Exchange support it’s just a toy.
Until it has an easy method of installing not only apps, but videos, movies, TV shows, it’s little more than a Razr.
drag and drop audio and video too much for you?
Scanning in a barcode that takes you directly to the app in the Market too complicated? Every Android app review site, and there are many, contains the barcode, just point your phone at the screen and install it.
Android has Exchange support, but some things don’t work well, but should be fixed in the next update.
Wow man, you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about. I suggest you release the Android prejudice, go to a store and get a demonstration. I don’t even think you know the difference between a feature phone and a smartphone, let alone what Android can do. Your comment isn’t worth discussing, but I’m bored at work right now.
I agree that the android market can use some work, and you were right on target on so many points. But honestly I Feel the market is a very minimal part of the full Android experience.
I got my G1 October 20th 08(few days before launch) Till today HTC Dream rooted with Latest Cyanogen Rom. Android is superior to the Iphone in so many areas, and I can tell you why with two words.
Multi-Tasking. Ever browsed 4 different websites on different tabs, while talking to a buddy on AIm, Gtalk, and Yahoo chat and listening to your favorite music streaming from Pandora? on a phone?
Not on a Iphone.. Boing!
Droid does?
Hello! Thank you for writing about the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. The success of Apple’s app store is as much about iTunes as it is about anything else.
From the first time encountered Android, I was simultaneously impressed by the potential of the platform, and appalled by the absence of complementary desktop client.
Google needs this badly.
http://www.tech...-apps-androlib/
Anyone here have an Xbox? I’m new to them myself, but one of the most clever and convenient things to do is to log into their website in a browser via my computer, peruse the games available, buy some games or add their demos to a queue if they interest me, and know that when I actually bother to turn on my Xbox and connect it to their Live site, it’ll automatically download my selections to the Xbox drive. It’s very “loosely coupled”.
It’s not blasphemy nor am I saddled to my computer to get content. It’s just a convenient way to conduct commerce. And as a app developer, commerce is what I’m all about in any way, shape, or form. So come on Google…how about it?
As others have mentioned I also got an Android phone as I didn’t want to install any bloatware on my PC simply to manage the apps on it. If I can’t find what I need via the phone itself a quick visit to androlib.com does the trick – sure there are a lot of test apps and pointless apps but I’m sure that goes for any platform. I’m actually quite impressed by the options within the Store app itself – filtering, better genres etc would be nice over time.
i can’t look at the graphic of the actual andorid market design because it hurts my heart. granted it’s google but i expect a lot from companies i like and aspire to work for one day. it just makes me realize that they don’t have all their little details, even the ones seen as most trivial checked off. they might have the tech side of it down pat, but the design and user interface can definately be improved. it’s just sad comparing the two markets side by side. everyone thinks design isn’t a big deal, but it is because design is all about how things work, are accessed and integrated. if you fix the user interface i’m sure all the effort spent on that will pay off when users find your product more appealing than a competitors.