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Luqman Shah
188 PointsWhy does treehouse always make new projects for iOS first instead of Android
Why does treehouse always make new projects for iOS first instead of Android, even the new self destructing app, they had to make it for apple first while android users have to wait until fall. Give android a chance too, Apple's not the best product selling company out there. Give other companies a chance too, they're stepping their game up, they always have been, but people just think Apple's the best. That's why I kept complaining about how treehouse only focuses on Mac users, they notice their mistakes and try to fix it in their notes bellow the videos. That's why everyone kept telling me to use the windows command prompt instead of ruby n rails.
2 Answers
Ben Jakuben
Treehouse TeacherHi Luqman,
We've been releasing both iPhone and Android at the same time since I started last year. The Android Blog Reader course actually finished first! :) When it came time to do this latest project, we had to shuffle our resources around due to constraints on availability and other projects in the works. With one teacher available for it we had to choose one project to do first. Why iOS? Simply because we have more students working on iOS projects. I hope that changes to more Android students in the future, but for now, we simply chose to go by the numbers. Stay tuned for Android, and once the Self Destructing Message app is done, I have a lot more planned for just Android!
Matt McAnelly
6,583 PointsWhile I have no issue with the order in which Treehouse chooses to release content. I've noticed something similar to Luqman as well on a general scale. It does seem there is much much more coverage of IOS out there than android, and whenever talk of making apps come up with peers or on a message board, it's almost always referring to IPhone apps.
It's almost achieved the ubiquitousness of Kleenex or Coke. Though I realize IOS was on the market before android and that counts for a lot, I still find it puzzling given Android's 75-80% (units shipping rather than units already shipped) market share.
Why do you guys think IOS is the favored app developer platform, and gets the coverage it does? At first I figured it was just financial motivation given android users are notorious for not paying for apps flat out. But the freemium and ad supported models are alive and well in the android marketplace, and that seems to be the direction the market is turning in a general sense anyway.
Who knows, maybe I'm just jealous I don't have a Mac and am therefor shut out of the clubhouse.. :P Still though given the market share, the attention IOS gets as a whole seems out of place.
Diego Lucero
10,588 PointsMatt, it's not so much that Apple is the best, the most groundbreaking, or the most loved.
The biggest and most obvious reason there is more support for Apple development is that is easier to cater to a large section of the mobile market in one iteration than it ever could be developing for Android.
Why? Well there are a handful of Apple devices (iPhone, iPhone with retina, iPad, iPad with Retina, iPad mini) with almost exclusively, one operating system version to program for; and similar, well-defined hardware and software specs.
Android on the other hand, has literally thousands of devices (and growing), with hardware specs varying from the cheapest of the cheap to the opposite end of the quality spectrum, all with completely different limitations of hardware and their operating system software.
To code for android is to code for each operating system, and depending upon how complex your application, could mean actually deploying several different versions of your application to cater to the variety of the phones and operating system versions that run them.
Not to knock on Android or open-source -- I love my Galaxy s4. I plan on getting that Ubuntu Edge if they can ever get that off the ground.
Ben Jakuben
Treehouse TeacherMatt, I think there is a problem with how the media covers Apple. Lots of regular (uninformed) consumers probably think that Apple owns the market share. They have the best commercials. Hopefully that will change. Hopefully we can help change it a little bit here at Treehouse. :)
Diego Lucero
10,588 Points^^ I like that explanation much better. :) ^^
Luqman Shah
188 PointsLuqman Shah
188 PointsReally?! A lot more, like what?
Scott Steinhart
388 PointsScott Steinhart
388 PointsBen,
With all due respect (I mean that. I like your teaching method), I'm not altogether fond of that response. Saying you put out content based on the number of students is really bad. Put the content out there and the students will come.
I'm not going to start a whole Android vs iOS issue here. Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit has plenty of that already. All I am saying is if the content is there, you will have students. I came here for HTML5/CSS3, Javascript, Android, and Java. There is plenty of Javascript, but not so much HTML5/CSS3. There is plenty of iOS, but hardly any Android, and surprisingly NO Java.
Please please please... More Android, more HTML/CSS3, and definitely some Java. :)
Ben Jakuben
Treehouse TeacherBen Jakuben
Treehouse TeacherI totally understand how you feel. We value transparency and open communication here, so I wanted you all to know the reasons behind the decision. It's tough making either/or decisions like this, and our driving force is serving our students. I'm excited to get back to Android and will focus on building out our Android library for a while, though I'm always happy to help out with iOS as needed (and vice versa for Amit).
Scott Steinhart
388 PointsScott Steinhart
388 PointsThat's great to hear, Ben. And nothing against those who want to learn iOS. My case is strictly for roundness. Let there be lots of content for everyone.