If you’ve happened to watch Wednesday’s keynote on Apple’s website, you may have noticed a curious thing that CEO Tim Cook did early on -- he stopped the show for a moment to get a few swift kicks in the head to Android’s Twitter app, which he dismissed as simply a “blown-up smartphone app.”
Time Techland is reporting that Apple’s Wednesday keynote -- and “the new iPad” that hits stores on March 16 -- should be a wake-up call for the folks in the GooglePlex. That’s because CEO Tim Cook specifically called out the search giant’s failure to cultivate developers into writing good tablet apps for its Android platform.
Cook specifically referring to most apps on Android tablets simply a “blown-up smarphone app,” which certainly rings true to anyone who’s owned one. By comparison, the iPad encourages developers to create iOS apps specifically designed for its 9.7-inch display -- a trend which is likely to continue in force now that the new iPad has such a remarkable Retina Display.
“In fairness, Google can only do so much,” the report says. “Like the iOS App Store, Google’s Android Market -- er, Google Play -- relies on third-party developers to thrive. Those developers decide whether to optimize apps for tablet-size displays. Still, there are signs that Google isn’t doing everything in its power to rally third-party developers.”
While Android boss Andy Rubin recently blamed the problem on having “no organized way for consumers to recognize it as a viable platform,” Techland notes that Google has done little to encourage its developers to help fix the problem.
“One way would be to promote the tablet apps that do exist,” Techland suggests. “One year after the first 10-inch Android tablets hit the market, Google’s app store still doesn’t have a way to find tablet apps. The front page has a Staff Picks for Tablet section, but that’s it. If you’re just browsing the catalog, there’s no way to tell whether an app will look good on a big screen.”
Of course, the best way for Google to encourage Android developers to do amazing things on a tablet is to take a page from Apple’s playbook: Lead by example and write their own amazing apps to get started, something that Cupertino clearly demonstrated as an advantage with the new iPhoto app introduced on Wednesday.
“What Google should not do is go silent and pretend the problem doesn’t exist,” the report concludes. “It can make all the ‘highest quality’ tablets it wants, but people won’t buy them without great software. For Google’s sake, I hope the new iPad announcement drove that point home.”
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(Image courtesy of Time Techland)
