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Fear has taken over Google and its spreading like cancer. It became publicly evident when the Google (GOOG) missed its Q4 earning. Since then things have been rapidly deteriorating on all fronts. A big blow came when Apple CEO Tim Cook, unveiled the iPad last week. In a span of 3 days things have gotten worse.
- First, Google Android boss, Eric Chu was fired. I guess Google didn’t like the job he was doing.
- Second, Android Market, the equivalent of Apple’s App Store (AAPL), closed.
- Third, Google started forcing App developers to start using its Google Checkout system, which in turn started pushing developers away.
- Fourth, a top Google Android’s app developer, Zombieville, quit developing for Android and many are expected to follow this move. Zombieville, said that it spends 25% of its resources developing for Android, which brings in less than 5% of its revenues.
Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink. Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable.
From a purely economic perspective, I can no longer legitimize spending time on Android apps, and the new features of the market do nothing to change this.
At its peak, the top 80% of paid Android apps saw less than 100 downloads. Yes 100. That’s after Google’s funny math with counts updates as downloads. With the latest move, there is absolutely no reason for any developer to develop for Android. Regardless how you spin it. Android is dead.
I have no position in Google.
Channels: android, google
I'm a little curious, I've not seen a single positive comment on Google from the column. Why?
Comment by Bill — March 14, 2012 @ 9:57 AM
The App Store didn't close, it just morphed into Play. Why the harsh angle on what was just a simplifying consolidation?
Comment by Robert Moritz — March 14, 2012 @ 10:05 AM
Other than you rag Google constantly and have a beef from way back, you are the Apple lover. The "post PC era:…really? Maybe the Apple Air and new ultrabooks are not considered pc's (not sure why) but you can actually do work on them without fumbling on your lap or have to use subpar apps with bluetooth keyboards. Microsoft may have something to say with Windows 8 also. They understand the enterprise which is something Apple and Google still have no clue about. Time will tell….
Comment by Jeff — March 14, 2012 @ 10:16 AM
Interesting post, but there is no way an app like the "Official Twitter app for Android" has less than 100 downloads. If you want me to take you seriously, especially about something as important as the android ecosystem …do some basic research. In 60 seconds I was able to find that Twitter for Android has 51,000 downloads (source: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com...
Comment by Dave Nielsen — March 14, 2012 @ 10:28 AM
Webguild and principally this author have such an ongoing history of dumping on Google left and right that I suspect in a lot of folks eyes they're no longer a credible voice on the topic. I'm very bullish on Apple myself and it's not the links cited here or before—it's the tone and the constant doomsday predictions mixed with goal posts that just keep moving down the field…anyone else noticed this?
Comment by @cognoscenti9 — March 14, 2012 @ 10:30 AM
Still 80% of the TOP apps are downloaded less than 100 times here it is http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/why-er...
Comment by James — March 14, 2012 @ 11:03 AM
What is 51,000 downloads on Android compared to 51,000,000 on iOS. You do the research.
Comment by Bill James — March 14, 2012 @ 11:06 AM
The article that you linked to James doesn't say that 80% of TOP apps are downloaded less than 100 times. The article states that "80% of PAID apps on Android have been downloaded less than 100 times." This is an important difference because developers can typically make more money from ads than from selling their apps.
Comment by subduedjoy — March 14, 2012 @ 3:15 PM