It looks like Google is putting on the full-court press for developers, as an iPhone app creator said he is being wooed by the search giant to work with Android.
According to an e-mail sent to David Pogue, an Android outreach employee offered assistance in porting an iPhone app to Google’s mobile platform. He also reportedly offered to send the creator a free Nexus One to test it on.
It shows that Google is actively recruiting developers to their platform, using the enticements of free hardware and open communication.
Contrast with Apple’s approach: it took us about three months of resubmitting our app to Apple before they stopped rejecting it for inappropriate content. And even now (after we peaked at the No. 7 paid app), we still have no relationship with anyone there. Huge difference in approaches between the two companies.
This isn’t much of a surprise, as Google has not been shy about sending out free handsets – devs at the Game Developers Conference and upcoming I/O conference can get a free Droid or Nexus One. This charm offensive appears to be working, as there are now more than 38,000 apps in the Android Market and that is growing at an accelerated rate. It’s not just the number though, as Google keeps increasing its tools to enable complex apps, including full-fledged 3D gaming.
Of course, Apple is still the dominant player in the app space with its iPhone and iPad lineup. The 4.0 version of its software may galvanize developers even further because it enables things like multitasking and gives content creators more than 1,500 new hooks into the hardware. The more than 85 million iPhone OS users have also shown little reluctance to paying for apps, which is always music to developers’ ears.
Apple’s need for control over the tools may end up hurting it in the long run, as developers generally like to use the tools they want. With Android selling nearly 60,000 units a day, Google’s mobile platform may also soon offer a larger audience than the iPhone, as well.
[Via The New York Times]