It isn't like people in Seattle don’t use Apple products, it
is just that programmers in the area don’t use Apple products. I started to notice that I have a deep
cultural bias that makes it hard for me to be an iOS app developer.
Windows
has been fed to me since I was a small child. I received scholarships and
free software from Microsoft as a college student. My boss at my
first job was a Microsoft groomed developer and I received lots of training and
knowledge from him. I don’t think of myself as a Microsoft devotee, but it
is what I am used to.
 |
| Me as a young girl playing Tetris on a PC running M.S. DOS |
I
feel like I am late to the app game.
When Apple first advertising, “There is an app for that,” I didn't really understand why you would want apps on a phone. I didn't have any curiosity about the app
store because I dismissed it as an Apple thing.
When
the iPad was released I decided it was a device I wanted. I wanted to be able to read ebooks and blogs
from the couch. Yet I cringed at the price, and deep down I felt a bit traitorous in
wanting one. I lucked out and Barnes and
Noble came out with the Nook Color. It was cheaper than an iPad and it wasn't Apple.
Once I had a mobile device, apps started making sense, and I wrote my first
Android app. Android is Google and Amazon. I could get on board with that.
The kid's app market is mature
on iOS, but isn't on Android. Most of
the kid's app developers I have met online sell only on iOS, they use a Mac for all
of their development, they have an iPhone and an iPad, and they don’t live in
Seattle. Not one.1 It seemed so odd to
me. Where were all the Seattle developers?2
The
final wake up call, that Seattle isn't the place to be an iOS developer, and
that there is a cultural bias at work, is when my friend was able to hook me up
with a free Windows Phone. Perfect! I have a device to test on so I
can release my apps in the Windows app store-- a market often mocked as desolate and thus pointless to target.
It
is said that identifying the problem is the first step to resolving it.
Maybe now that I recognize my aversion to Apple, I
can get over it and embrace the platform… while I work on Android and
Windows as well.
Further commentary:
After I wrote this, but before I posted I found this article on Geekwire confirming my suspicions that developers from Seattle are different than developers from the Silicon Valley. The infographic is kind of funny.
Alternatively they also report that Seattle is a great place to be an "app developer" in general.
1 comment:
Laura, we have our edu book apps on both iOS and Android and find that about 90% of our sales are on iOS. I've heard other developers say the same. That might explain why there are more educational apps available for iOS... that's where the money is.
So, work on your biases and go for it! Bite the Apple!
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