Not too long after Google’s announcement of $10-million worth of prize money to Android application developers, Robert Scoble has weighed in with a few reasons (seven) why he’s not too keen on the whole deal.
He cites the prize money as the very reason that the developer API is "uninspired" comparing the fact that iPhone developers don’t even have an SDK and there’s still a ton of programs for it.
"Compare to the iPhone. Steve Jobs treats developers like crap. Doesn’t give them an SDK. Makes them hack the phones simply to load apps. And they create hundreds of apps anyway."
Good point, actually. But the phones that’ll take advantage of Android aren’t even out yet. There’s less incentive to program for a phantom device. It’s much more rewarding to be able to actually use what you’ve created.
Other reasons why Scoble’s not sold on Android yet include…
1. It was released without a personal approach.
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2. This stuff is still vaporware.
3. The UI looks confused.
4. No real “love” for developers.
5. Google needs to get atomic videos.
6. Google’s PR comes across as “only caring about big bangs.”
7. It looks too much like a poor copy of the iPhone.
Most of the article is written as Android compares to the iPhone and it’s pretty clear that Scoble loves his iPhone. Still some good points, though. I think it’s too early to judge. Once the devices are actually available, there’ll be a lot more to analyze. Releasing the SDK early is a double-edged sword. You give people a chance to play around with it but they still don’t completely know how it’s going to function on the devices that are going to be optimized for it.
Google Android: we want developers but… [Scobleizer]
