Google patches out the recently discovered vulnerabilities

However, the patch only works if you have Android 2.2 or better. Google's own stats say up to 40% of the Android phones in use are still running 2.1 or earlier and in lots of cases it's up to the phone manufacturers or telcos to configure and distribute the update. Several manufacturers (SE for one, IIRC) have previously said they won't be issuing OS updates for phones which are no longer on sale.

Jon

^ That sort of thing is 'Droid's one big downfall if I were considering it.

My biggest complaint is just that a lot of things seem rather flaky and unrefined. I guess if I wanted "refined" I should have chosen an iPhone, but I don't want to have to buy a Mac and pay however much it is for a developers licence just to put my own code on it - let alone the horrors of iTunes and lack of SD card

That 99 quid is just an insurmountable barrier, isn't it

99 quid plus having to buy a mac can be a rather large barrier to some

Google's view on this:
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... urity.html

As far as I can see, Google has acted reasonably in this regard, The problem is with the phone manufacturers who, by not issuing updates for all their android phones even in circumstances such as this, are putting their own commercial interest ahead of the security of their user's data. I find that pretty reprehensible.

Ok, this is very interesting: Amazon has it's own Android app store and it says:

http://www.androidcentral.com/amazon-la ... per-portal

I have to say it: ANDROID IS AWESOME!! And it IS open!
This is the way people!

Android is average...and just what does "open" mean? The link you provide is to a monitored app store which will block apps considered to be malware or "harmful", does that make it open or closed, or slightly ajar.
Open is an illusion of freedom and, far to often, an excuse for lack of quality.

I am wondering why open is good. Sounds like open is a bad thing if it means that my bank details can be sent to Nigeria. Why is the Amazon store not open?

Is Android good for developers? The average payout for an app. on the ITunes App store is about $7,700 per app. $2,000,000,000 paid out on 260,000 paid apps

The last I heard (and it was a while ago) Android developers were getting about 2% of the iOS developers Clicky. IF that is true then a typical paid Android app will pay out $154 per app.

It may be an awesome platform to develop for but even so…

BTW Figures are vague because I could find no Wiki on Android payouts.

Android is average? Are you serious?

It's easily better than every other smartphone platform bar iOS, and even then it's not far behind iOS.

As for the "openness" - the point is other companies are free to run and develop their own "app stores" - developers are not forced to use Google's marketplace, unlike iOS where all app. developers must use the App. store.

Well, I can see some sense in that.

As long as there are safe places to download from. The idea of "open" does not give me confidence so a third party (like Amazon) checking stuff on my behalf pleases me.

CC

In this case average can be misleading. What is the spread? An expensive app (such as Tom Tom @ £49.99 & £54.99 can skew the average (mean) quite dramatically.
How much revenue is generated from within the app and how much goes through Apple etc. Theres a lot of data missing to say which is better for developers.

If you look in iTunes at the 'top grossing' apps they do tend to be the high cost 'full fat' apps like TomTom's stuff but there a a couple of cheap apps there. If you look at the top sellers (i.e. simple sales volume) that chart tends to be dominated by the 59p crowd. I'd say the mean is somewhat skewed by the spread of prices but I don't think it's too bad. I think it's very possible to make $7K from a 59p app, although I suspect there are few who do - you're much more likely to make more than that or pretty much nothing.


In app purchases on iOS also use the AppleStore payment mechanism - until they changed the subscription rules, that was the only way you could do it - so total revenue for an app includes in-app purchases. In fact there are a couple of apps in the 'top grossing' charts that must be there purely on in-app purchases as the 'base app' itself is free.

Jon

You are looking at it wrong way. With android you get options. You have open app store from google where anything goes, but it comes with risks of malware as google doesn't check every single app. When you want something that is safe Amazon will provide it for you in their appstore. So you get to choose. And app store are not the only way to get apps, you can download them directly from developers and Google won't care. If you want to do the same with Iphone you have to jailbreak it.

If you absolutely must have "Screaming japanese girls" or "iboobs" apps you can have it, nobody will stop. But you don't have to have it if you don't want to.
With iphone Apple will say that you can have only what they allow you to have. And I am not talking only about porn, it goes for everything (Firefox anyone?)

With apple you get: secure appstore
With android you get: secure appstore (amazon) AND open appstore (google) AND you can download anything you want from anywhere you want

You don't need me to draw you a diagram, do you?

And I can't believe you people are complaing that androids apps are too cheap!
If you want to pay more then donate to developer...