Jasonified.

There’s no doubt that with the number of manufacturers taking on Android and the backing it has from Google, it will become the dominant mobile platform but in what form?

Android developers are already suffering from the big issue related to developing for Android and that is :-

“What device profile/version do you target?”

The developers of Angry Birds have already said they have performance issues with “older” Android devices (the OS is only 3 years old in it’s current form btw) and they are hard at work trying to fix it.

If you look at Amazon for Android devices (as I have for testing) you’ll find different shapes and sizes of device from phones to tablets running version 1.6 or 1.7 or 2.2 etc.

I find myself in the position of not knowing which device to buy. Do I buy a cheap Android phone (< £100) to test with and if so will it be upgradable? Can I upgrade it from 1.6 to 2.2? Is there a consistant way to target the different devices/resolutions/versions out there?

Right now it sounds like developer hell.

Apple has it’s flaws as does iOS but right now there are limited devices to target, and most of the compatibilty is taken care of for you.

For example it’s easy to target retina and non-retina screens - the OS *knows* and takes care of it for you.  As long as you supply the higher resolution graphics as separate formatted files they are used instead. You can refer to 200 “pixels” for positioning on both screens and the OS will adapt accordingly. Simples.

As a mobile developer I can tell you that I’m not looking foward to developing for Android. The SDK and simulator is slow and I have to decide (read:compromise) on what platform version to target. I don’t want to alienate users by picking something that’s too “now” do I? Does that mean I have to choose the lowest common denominator and if so what will that do for features/quality/performance?

Oh and if Developers are facing these issues, what must users be going through?

Like I said, I have no doubt Android will be dominant but which version/flavour will it be?

Just a quick post to help anyone that’s getting this. If you’re running Titanium Developer on OSX for iPhone development and you’re seeing a “Loading…” for the SDK dropdown that appears to hang forever, there’s a simple fix.

Delete the project, NOT the folder just the entry in Titanium then re-add it.

Worked for me

Since the iPhone launched with mobile Safari a lot of people have been asking about Flash support and with each subsequent firmware update it’s discussed, wished for but doesn’t materialise.

Rumors are that Adobe have it written but Apple won’t allow claiming it would be a resource hog. So what’s the big deal with flash and why won’t Apple really allow it?

The answer is that it could cost Apple money.

It’s important to remember that Flash is much more than just wizzy gimmicks on web sites. Flash is a development platform and has been for some time. With the release of Adobe Air we’ve seen it mature into an even stronger contender as a solid, cross platform development framework.

Regardless of Air though the basic Flash engine can be used to develop some sophisticated application solutions that are graphically gorgeous, and easy to install.

If Flash support is added to the iPhone it would have to be limited in some way to prevent Application developers doing the obvious - using basic web pages to act as a holding page to a more sophisticated Flash application. Even worse for Apple, allowing Flash from the Home page *could* allow apps to be bookmarked and run almost naively.

Imagine if Flash as the ability to run basic API calls like Safari web apps are able to, we could see a range of flash applications appearing that could be downloaded directly to the iPhone into a special “Flash player” app where they could be launched from and could be designed to look and feel like a native application.

Take this further and Adobe could have their *own* Appstore which allows them to sell Flash based applications through a native app which could also store and run the applications presenting the user with a Home screen like replacement.

The possibilities are endless.

Nope, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Flash support anytime soon and if we do it’s going to be severely limited to running in a browser and with basic animation support.

I can’t see Apple openly letting Adobe stick a competitive development environment on their little baby.

Comments welcome.