This whitepaper delves into the common problem of shifting from one mobile platform to another, in particular, Apple’s iOS to Google’s Android or vice versa. Each platform’s background and features are discussed, along with development considerations. Other aspects included are the differences in hardware and programming languages, multi-platform options, and testing applications.

1. iPhone to Android
Considerations for Developing Mobile Apps
Google’s Android OS support, and more.
Google’s Android OS is
one of mobile’s rising Apple’s iOS
stars. While few foresaw Apple originally developed its
Android’s meteoric take- mobile operating system, iOS, for
off, International Data the iPhone and released it in June
Corporation predicts that 2007. Since then both the iPod
Android will hold almost Touch and the iPad have included
a quarter of worldwide iOS. Apple does not permit
Get In the Know
market share by 2014. third-party hardware to run on its
As mobile applications continue operating system, which means it
to solidify their importance in The Android OS is the first free, is proprietary software (except for
the digital world, companies open source and fully customiz- open-source components).
interested in going mobile have able mobile platform, based on
to consider many factors before the modified version of the free iOS derives from MacOSX and
taking the plunge. One of the and open source Linux kernel. shares the Darwin foundation,
most important considerations is Android offers a full software which Apple released in 2000.
choosing the device(s) for which stack, which includes an operat- Darwin is an open-source com-
to develop. ing system, middleware, and key puter operating system com-
mobile applications. The Android posed of various code, forming
Google’s Android and Apple’s software development kit also the core set of iOS components.
iPhone are the most popular plat- provides application program- Native applications on Apple
forms for apps to date. Because ming interfaces and other tools mobile devices are written in
of their popularity, increasingly necessary to develop applica- the Objective-C programming
more companies want to develop tions. language.
cross-platform apps or translate
one platform’s version to the Android Features iOS Features
other. This whitepaper will explain Devices running Android OS offer The Home screen contains
the offerings of each platform and support for an array of features, preloaded default apps such as
what the considerations may be in including push messaging, various the iPod (splits into two apps, Mu-
supporting additional platforms. media formats, Bluetooth, vide- sic and Video on the iPod Touch),
ocalling, multitouch, tethering, Safari web browser, iTunes, Voice
various connectivity technologies, Memos, Contacts, and Google
The Operating Systems’ Back-
multitasking, streaming media Maps. Multi-tasking is another
grounds and Features
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2. huge perk that iOS offers on the same applications in other mar-
Considerations for
iPhone 4. kets without restrictions.
Development Costs
The App Store The App Store
vs the Over 300,000 applications are iPhone applications can take any-
Marketplace available in the App Store, which where from one to six months of
includes thousands of games and full-time development, with costs
Android Marketplace entertainment titles. Collectively, typically landing between $20,000
Android’s community of develop- the App Store boasts over 10 bil- and $150,000. Time and cost are
ers is expanding at a rapid pace. lion downloads. important considerations, but
The number of applications avail- there are many other factors to
able for download in the Android Apple’s iTunes App Store is the consider when going from one
Market reached 100,000 in Octo- only source for publicly released platform to the next. These fac-
ber 2010, roughly two years after applications. It is not only the one tors include language differences,
the first phones running Android source for applications (whether user interface and functionality
OS hit stores. free or paid), but it also comes on requirements, the app submission
every single iOS device by default process, developer talent, differ-
Presently, Android has a variety and is incapable of being deleted ences in devices and hardware,
of sources for users to download or removed. and the architecture of the first
publicly released applications. application.
The largest store is Google’s Those interested in iPhone de-
official Android Market, but al- velopment must sign up for the Productivity
ternative stores such as SlideME, iPhone Developer Program One of the most difficult things
AndroLib, and AppBrain are also Standard track, which enables to do is measure the productivity
popular. Additional app stores them to receive 70% of sales differences between platforms.
created by Verizon, Amazon, and revenue without paying any dis- Variations in developer abil-
other larger vendors may pop tribution costs. Apple charges a ity levels, preferences, and back-
up. A variety of marketplaces is $99 annual fee for the use of the grounds can—and often—lead
beneficial for users and shows iPhone SDK; in turn, developers to different developers favoring
evidence of strong growth in the will receive the required digital and being more proficient in one
platform. Without a single catch- certificate signature needed to platform compared to another.
all repository, though, users have sell applications in the App Store. Even within a platform, individual
a harder time searching for every developers will display strengths
published application. and weaknesses that can cause
Google’s Android productivity differences. As a
Most importantly, the Android and Apple’s iPhone simple example, let’s say you
Marketplace places no restric- want to add location features to
tions on the language that ap- are the most popu- your existing app. Regardless of
platform (Android or iPhone), the
plications use, the functions they lar platforms for developer experienced in imple-
perform, or any other property
of the application. Registering apps to date. menting such features will fair the
developers pay a one-time $25 best in completing the task.
fee and earn 70% of the revenues.
Developers may also publish the Furthermore, if a customer is go-
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3. ing from an iOS app to an Android development costs. Develop- to Objective-C, Java has more ro-
app, the developers involved with ers must consider the particular bust and mature libraries, allowing
the creation of the iOS app should platform version and how that for more “plug-and-play” and less
remain a part of the conversion, version interacts with the device custom development. According
if only to serve as a resource on hardware. to a 2009 survey conducted by
the new project. Familiarization Evans Data Corporation, there
is essential because it can help iOS Hardware Standards are over 9 million Java developers
determine the costs of time and Apple is far stricter in device worldwide, making Java skills the
money. This is a “been around and iOS platform variation. The most common among program-
the block before” type of project. first iPhone release established mers thus far. At the same time,
Since data services are stable and hardware precedents—screen an overabundance of developers
already in place, the customers size and button placement per- are gravitating toward Android,
protect their savings and increase sisted through all the following which consequently drives devel-
their productivity. models. Besides the trend-setting opment costs down.
touchscreen (iPhone 4’s screen
size is slightly different than the Objective-C and iOS
Hardware Differences
three previous generations), each First released in June 2007,
iPhone features four hardware Objective-C is the primary
buttons: Home (situated directly programming language used to
Android’s Hardware Standards under the display), Sleep/Wake, develop native applications for
Android-powered smartphone Volume, and Silence. All four Apple’s mobile platform, iOS.
devices, unlike iOS devices, do iPhones also include (with slight Due to the popularity of Apple
not have a plethora of standard variations) speakers, micro- devices, Objective-C developers
hardware specifications. Due to phones, dock connectors, and are in high demand but in short
device variations, platform ver- cameras. supply. iPhone developers tend
sions, and the openness of the to charge anywhere from $100 to
platform, there is only one stand- Apple demonstrated consistency $250 per hour.
ard hardware specification: four across its devices, adding a set
dedicated navigation buttons of focused standards for ap- Differences in User Interface
(Home, Search, Back, and Menu). plication development. This will Design
Other variable device features not dramatically decrease the Each platform offers features that
include high-megapixel cameras, cost of development, but it does interact with device hardware,
keyboards, touchscreens, acceler- decrease time spent on decid- allowing for unique user experi-
ometers, GPS, and HDMI ports. ing which device to develop for, ences. When developers and
programming, and device testing. designers work with different
Remember: Android OS is not platforms, they must understand
specific to one mobile device. Difference in Programming the specific UI requirements.
When an application performs Language
well across multiple devices, it While the iOS and Android
results in more downloads and a Java and Android platforms overlap in some UI
larger sales revenue. On the other Java, one of the most popular web requirements, there are quite
hand, the need to test across dif- programming languages, is the a few exceptions. One of the
ferent devices and optimize for programming language for the major differences is navigation,
each platform also increases app Android platform. In comparison as shown in the image below.
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4. To move within an application functionalities supporting the iP-
and complete various tasks, us- Multi-platform Options hone/iPod Touch, iPad, Blackberry
ers will interact with iPhone and SDKs, Google Android, Symbian,
Android devices differently. For and Palm.
example, iPhone users do not More times than not, a budget is
have a hardware Back button the determining factor in decid- PhoneGap generates native
like Android-powered devices, ing to create a custom applica- wrappers for various platforms
so designers must create certain tion. Those on a lean budget can for hybrid web applications.
visual cues, letting the user know capitalize on multi-platform op- Developers using PhoneGap can
a button means “to go back.” The tions that allow the development tap into their existing skills, create
Facebook app images below il- of certain types or styles of ap- code, and insert functionality us-
lustrate the Back button/function plications using one tool and that ing native features on the device
on each device. then generate the application for (GPS, accelerometer, camera,
the deployment to more than one maps, and multimedia). When
Android’s UI platform. Some of the leading op- launched, apps run inside of a
Designing for Android is totally tions are PhoneGap, Appcelerator, hosted browser control. Moreo-
different than designing for iP- and AppMakr. The cons to using ver, PhoneGap provides a bridge
hone. Unlike iOS, which has multi-platform options are con- between JavaScript and native
well-established, documented cerns about design efforts. These device APIs.
guidelines, the Android UI team options can develop pre-existing
is just beginning to document apps using HTML and other web Appcelerator Titanium
standards for visual and interac- technologies, specifically wrap Appcelerator Titanium is an-
tion design across the many them for individual platforms, andother open source framework
devices on the market today. disburse them into various app similar to PhoneGap. It enables
stores. Design factors, however, developers to use web technolo-
To date, the Android developer can preclude this approach. For gies (JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and
guide offers much information instance, Apple iPhone devices PHP) to create native mobile
about the design of icons, widg- have standard screen sizes and apps across multiple devices and
ets, menus, styles and themes, one home button, located at the operating systems with a single
activities and tasks, graphics, bottom of the device. Android codebase, a collection of source
audio and video, data storage, devices, on the other hand, have code used to build an application.
and more. countless variations of screen Currently, AT supports the iPhone,
sizes and buttons (in other words,iPod Touch, iPad, and Android
iOS UI no device standards). devices, with Blackberry coming
With fewer targeted devices, iOS soon. Unlike PhoneGap, AT does
designers have more room to PhoneGap not allow outside code. Devel-
focus on design and interaction PhoneGap is free, open source opers will use the Appcelerator
principles. The iOS Reference development framework, which framework to build applications
Library contains information allows for the creation of plat- from scratch for multiple plat-
geared to guide developers form-neutral mobile applications. forms. In addition to the Titanium
through the whole application Using common web technologies SDK, developers must download
creation process. such as HTML, JavaScript, and the SDK of the platform(s) in
CSS, PhoneGap permits users to question.
take advantage of native device
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5. Mostly importantly, AT offers the site owners, business owners, physical keyboards, others have
composition of a native app as bloggers, and writers can all tap virtual keyboards only, and others
the end result. To achieve this, AT into its features and capabilities. support both. Again, testing will
uses a 3-step building block Along with constantly upgraded require devices of each type to
process: features, available functionalities ensure a functional app, and that
• Block #1: Pre-Compiler- opti- include: push-notifications for di- makes for a longer testing cycle.
mizes the application’s Javas- rect alert messaging to app users,
cript. native photo galleries, location- Because of the limited variations
aware Geo-RSS, app quality index in Apple’s core hardware designs,
• Block #2: Front-End Compiler- for iTunes App Store approval the testing lifecycle is a bit easier.
generates platform-specific recommendations, custom JavaS- Screen resolutions are currently
native code as well as any code cript and CSS capabilities, social limited to three different sizes
that will assist in compiling AT networks sharing, and mobile ad (iPhone, iPad, iPhone 4/Retina
for a particular platform. network integration for monetiz- display), and they are all touch-
ing the app’s content. screen only. iOS 4.2 is the latest
• Block #3: Platform Compiler OS released by Apple. This re-
and Packager- compiles the lease combines features of iOS 4
Testing Applications
final native application for the —multi-tasking, unified mailbox,
specific platform and pack- and fast app-switching—with
ages it for distribution, testing, Regardless of platform, app Airplay, Airprint, and other
or to run on a simulator. creators must always test on ac- updates geared toward the iPad.
tual devices. Simulators help im-
Appcelerator offers numerous mensely during development, but
free and paid support options application behaviors can differ in Bringing It All Together
to guide developers through the a simulator versus on a physical
app creation process. There are device.
a range of on-demand videos, There are no concrete answers
custom development training, Testing on the Android platform when it comes to the route any
premium forum access, and sup- has a mixed feel. The lack of re- one company or business should
port webcasts. strictions on applications makes take when creating a mobile
Android testing easier than iOS application. The main factors
AppMakr testing. For example, testers to consider are: the devices and
AppMakr is a DIY app develop- can utilize open-source testing platforms for the app, whether to
ment workbench for non-pro- frameworks like Robotium to create a custom or native app, its
grammers and HTML developers. automate some testing tasks. primary uses, budget, target au-
AppMakr.com allows the public However, the plethora of Android dience, and most importantly, the
to use a drag-and-drop style devices, which currently come in reputation and previous work of
wizard to build apps quickly and at least six different screen reso- the developing firm/team. Each
submit the binary to various app lutions, complicates testing. The platform lends itself differently to
marketplaces. Today AppMakr variation in screen resolutions will the projects at hand, so it’s impor-
supports the iPhone and in early grow quickly, as a large number tant to research the advantages
2011 it will support iPad, Android, of Android tablets are expected to and limitations of each operating
and Microsoft Phone 7. AppMakr arrive on the market this fall. As it system.
is easy to use: people like web- stands now, some devices contain
Contact PointAbout at 202.391.0347, info@pointabout.com
or visit www.pointabout.com for more information.