Mobile phone applications bring plenty of additional functionality and entertainment to our smart phones. In most cases, it is easy to forget the fact that applications for Symbian phones are not directly transferable to the Apple iPhone. While similar applications may be available across different platforms, different mobile phones, they are in fact coded straight from scratch.
It is an interesting fact that people tend to forget. Apps after all are so convenient to browse for and download that one does not realize how much effort and time is put into creating the software. In many cases, developers have to understand more than one programming language in order to create applications for other devices. When this is not possible, apps end up being exclusive to a single device (usually the iPhone) on a technicality.
Why the iPhone? Because the iPhone sells apps well; according to recent surveys, iPhone users are most likely to purchase online content more than any mobile phone user. For developers to make the most profit for their time and effort, they are better off developing for the Apple iPhone.
Anyway, a recent post by Vic Keegan of the Guardian UK gives us a very unique view of the world of developers and why profit is important in terms of being able to fund the development of applications.
Still, not many people are prepared to pay so much for digital content. In the very end, applications at software content, downloadable but not stored in solid installer products; software packaging would indeed add to the cost, but not everyone understands the value of strictly digital content.
Aside from increasing the cost of apps, the only other way to make developer’s lives easier is to have a standard platform across different devices.
Read more about the ideal costing for mobile applications and the challenges developers face when creating applications at Keegan’s original post at the Guardian UK.
