Android is becoming a more popular mobile operating system because of a number of factors…
1) It has an AppStore which will make it popular
2) It has a huge amount of devices already preloaded with the OS
3) Devices look nice and desirable
4) It has widget support and a lot of free apps which look nice and make it highly attractable
The first three points are a partial guaranteed success and it has been for Apple with the iPhone iOS operating system and phones. The one thing though that are making people flock to Android are the Widget support whether they know what it is or not. People want individuality, and with this it means they want to customize their devices to make it different than any other devices. They also want to make them look snazzy, hip and have a wow factor when they pull out the phone to use it in front of friends.
Widgets are moving the Android platform forward at a good rate along with a lot of free apps, if you take a look at what HTC have done with the Sense UI on the Desire, it looks attractive and at the same time simple to use. These same widgets and free apps could be the downturn for Android over time. Didn’t I previously mention that this is what is accelerating the popularity of the platform? Well with that, just like with the ability to install any kind of app or widget on Windows, virus writers start to manifest along with script kiddies and malware authors. None of the applications or widgets go through any kind of extensive review process when posted to the Android market unlike with the Apple AppStore, so any unscrupulous developer could be doing unscrupulous things over time like harvesting data from the phone, doing things like sending data back with widgets over the internet or potentially making our phone useless. If they do and Google find out then they’ll ban you and you could possibly face legal action as they know where you are when you sign the contract and have other information including bank details. At this moment its not easy to write malicious software or widgets because Google like Apple do put SDK restrictions in place to minimize this, and stop you getting at parts of the operating system you shouldn’t get at. However, you can get to this by rooting your device but its not advisable.
Without any kind of serious monitoring of application submission and more growth in widget creation and free applications, this could ultimately be what causes the downturn for the Android platform.
Apple likewise have become very popular because of its AppStore but Apple do put a lot more stringent checks in place before they allow a program to either go on sale or to be offered free on the AppStore, this although not perfect does also create a hindrance for developers, but his could be what keeps Apple virus, malware and malicious script free.
RECENT BLOG COMMENTS