How could you possibly quantify this? Any sources?

Yes, I'd have to find them... but I have read multiple articles that have polled developers and at least one article that showed that there are more Android job listings then iOS listings now. I know where that article is.. it's just one source but it is indicative of where things are http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381453,00.asp

Here is one of the surveys I mentioned... it's a bad example though because it doesn't give a timeframe or any real figures.
http://www.bcs.org/content/conWebDoc/39452

LMAO.... that makes perfect sense....

Thanks for the sources.

I guess it remains to be seen. You could very well be correct. Hasn't happened yet though, and Apple certainly shows no signs of conceding or slowing down as sales continue to soar.

Again though, I still maintain that we've been hearing for a couple of years now that it's just a "matter of month...for realz this time". At some point, after those predictions continue to be wrong time and time again, one has to consider that maybe those predictions are simply based on false logic and there's something else at play.

Oh that's right.. I forgot that apps go from an idea to a production version INSTANTLY.

Don't be a dumbass... current development has passed iOS ... but it takes TIME for the apps to be released.

So, yes, it does make perfect sense to anyone who takes the time to THINK.

I really don't think the number of job listings is a very good indicator of market lead. Especially when Android development is relatively new compared to iOS development. Of course there are more job openings, as iOS developers have already had jobs for some time. You're comparing a saturated iOS developer market to a relatively new Android developer market.

There are more PS2 games out there than PS3 games.

I'm not talking about market lead.. I'm talking about number of developers working on Android projects... which is an indicator that Android has reached parity in regards to app development which means they will reach parity in terms of production apps soon. (for both tablets and phones) Again, we are talking about parity in regards to useful apps not 10,000 versions of iFart.

Let's face facts... the age old argument that iOS is better because of the apps.. is about to be dead. Given that this shift is fairly recent... it will still take one full development cycle to show up in terms of actual apps in the wild. (which is why I keep saying it will be around 3-6 months)

Because android doesn't have its own plethora of beyond-reeruned apps. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

And again, you missed the point... of course both have a ton of useless apps.. which is why saying "my app store has 11 bazillion apps and yours only has 200 million!!!!! I am teh WINZ!" is Corky-esque. What matters is if the amount of USEFUL apps has hit a certain critical mass... with smartphones Android has already passed that critical mass, with tablets they are catching up quickly... but given that they have only had a tablet OS for a month now, I'd say they are still a few months away from catching up.

The point is... the "we haz all the appz!!!" argument is long past moot for phones and soon will be for tablets. So pick something else to crow about.

I've never crowed about the quantity of apps; I will say that a bunch of Apple apps seem quite useful and functional. Any of the programs I use on my Macbook for schoolwork or personal stuff, such as iWork, GarageBand, iMovie, and CeltX, I can run on an iPad 2. Penultimate is an awesome note-taking app; it's 99 cents. Comixology is free, and I can get new comics every week without going across town to the one comic book store in Lethbridge. I can watch as many movies as I want with Netflix.

And I can't stress this enough: the fact that Apple has agreements now with Inkling to make fully interactive textbooks available for download is HUGE. Inkling has access to over 95% of textbook content that universities use, and while I'm sure it's going to be a massive undertaking, the fact that Apple signed this deal first is going to continue to mean the iPad is the tablet of choice for the majority of students.


Now, I will qualify my comments by saying that for any hardcore editing, I use Adobe Premiere. But functional editing software on a tablet is kinda a big deal. And while most of my writing would be done on a normal computer, having all my stuff synced to a tablet that goes everywhere with me is particularly useful when inspiration hits at a moment's notice. I will also say that as of right now, students aren't the biggest consumers of iPads. But the idea of them is catching on; I expected to see a ton of kids with iPads this September, but it wasn't until after Christmas that they really started making appearances.

Now I'm not sure how expensive these textbooks are going to be, but the standard PDF e-textbooks are considerably cheaper (60 bucks cheaper in the case of my animal behavior text) than paper copies, and with that math in mind, an iPad pays for itself after four or five years of university. Less if you're in management, accounting, any sciences. If the cost of one semester's worth of accounting textbooks were cut in half, my roommate would have enough money to buy a 16 GB iPad. When more textbooks become available, more iPads are going to move.

To come back to the original point about apps, they're like fans at a football game. A good number of them will be intelligent, knowledgeable and useful, but they're still going to be vastly outnumbered by doofuses who couldn't tell you if the team was first or thirtieth, and didn't understand why Larry Johnson was released.

You again have missed my point. Your Apple-centric tunnel vision is, frankly, amazing. Yes, their are ipad apps that are very useful... and there are also ANDROID apps that are very useful too! Of course, Android apps on average are cheaper, but let's leave that point for another day.

Let me make this ABSOLUTELY clear... yes the ipad has great apps... Android tablets will have the same apps or apps with the same functionality. You just don't seem to get this point. EVERYTHING you can do on an ipad, you will be able to do on an Android tablet. Let's take a look at this HUGE inkling deal that you are so excited about...

Since they currently only have 14 textbooks... by the time they actually have CONTENT.. they will have the same app available on Android tablets.

So by the time they have enough content to make it worthwhile (Fall of 2012 if they are lucky) let's say a student wants a tablet that uses the app... do you think he will buy the $500 ipad or the $250 Android tablet?

So back to my point... if an Android tablet has better hardware and has the same app functionality and the ability to view the ENTIRE web (Flash) and better prices and a better OS and a built in cloud music service (bye bye having to plug into crappy itunes) and similar battery life(probably slightly worse because the added functionality comes at a price)... why would you buy an iPad? Most of what I described is current reality... some of it is coming in the next 6 months.

Apple's best play is to release an iPad3 in the Fall... there is a lot of speculation and with all this pressure they may do that. If they do, then erase the advantage of a better OS and cloud music (Apple will prolly have their version) and I would imagine they will have hardware on par as well. Flash and price is what will keep Android ahead in my book.

There is another thread about this.. but it helps to prove my point regarding apps... Amazon just launched their cloud music service and it's ONLY available on Android right now. I'm sure they will have an iPhone app shortly... but it just proves that parity has been reached in regards to developer priorities.

Unlike the past, anything cool that comes out now will likely launch both an iPhone and an Android app at the same time.

Exciting times!

Maybe. This is a slightly different animal though then something like a game from an independent developer. Amazon is going all in on Android, which became evident when they released their app store. That's just like pointing to Samsung or HTC releasing an Android app first and saying "See!".

For all we know, Apple could be holding off on approving the app from Amazon.

My guess is that they are... my point is not that Android apps are better or coming out first... my point is just that they have ARRIVED... they have reached parity in terms of new development.