Android Tries Harder

Remember the old Avis car-rental slogan? �We�re Number 2. We try harder.�

That slogan came to mind when a reader, an iPhone app developer, wrote to let me know how hard Google, maker of Android, the No. 2 app phone software, is trying to woo iPhone programmers to write their apps for Android phones instead.

�I�m the developer of the Texts From Last Night app for the iPhone. Anyway, I received an e-mail yesterday from someone at Google claiming to be in their Android Advocacy Group. He basically said that he wanted to open a line of communication with me in case I chose to port the app to Android, and he offered to ship me a free Nexus One to play around with.

�It shows that Google is actively recruiting developers to their platform, using the enticements of free hardware and open communication.

�Contrast with Apple�s approach: it took us about three months of resubmitting our app to Apple before they stopped rejecting it for inappropriate content. And even now (after we peaked at the No. 7 paid app), we still have no relationship with anyone there. Huge difference in approaches between the two companies.�

Apple�s iPhone app store certainly isn�t understocked; it�s got 185,000 programs to choose from. But without a doubt, Google�s Android software catalog is growing much faster�from 6,000 to 25,000 apps since the beginning of the year. Free phones, and aggressive courting of talented app makers, surely has something to do with it.

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