Interesting. I know that some games are direct ports of their iPhone versions. It doesn't make sense why they would be worth the money on the iPhone but not on Android.
Apple makes it incredibly easy to buy. Once you have your credit card details on file, you can buy. Or you can get an itunes card from a million different places. Also, people have likely already bought from Apple, a song or tv show.
Google really suck in this department, although I am mainly pissed because they still will not let Aussies SELL apps in the store. Maybe Google do not care about this at all, since this has been an issue regularly bought up here and in other places other the last 3 or 4 months.
It makes a little sense. Demographics is one aspect -- people who buy Android tend to be cheap, and don't like paying for quality. Or else they would own iPhones. :) The required flamebait out of the way, let me get to my real points. (Well, this was a real point too, but said as offensively as possible, which the remaining are not.)
Another issue is market construction. Think about walking by a luxury goods store. Imagine you're on Michigan Avenue with the sky scrapers and the beautiful people, the August sun beating down and a light breeze to keep you cool. All those factors probably put you in a pretty damn good mood, the mood to spend.
Now imagine you're instead in downtown Detroit, browsing the same merchandise through poorly lit, grid-crossed holes in squat, cinderblock buildings. Maybe the goods inside are worth the same amount, but the average person in the same situation is not going to pay as much.
That's what the Android store is like. Two screenshots compressed at just insane levels like Google has run out of hard drives, and four hundred characters for a description. That puts anyone in the mood to spend, right?
A final factor is the miserable battery life of the average Android handset, which makes them less suited to be a gaming device if you want them to work as a phone later.
Also, how many games have really been ported directly to Android from iPhone? I mean good ones, now, ones people have actually bought on the iPhone. There's a halo effect involved too. If you go for years without seeing a decent game for a device, you end up being trained to think of it as a non-gaming device. On the other hand, I only have to browse the internet for a couple of minutes to find a half dozen iPhone games I wouldn't mind paying a buck to try out.
Good points. I'd add that in the AppStore, consumers feel safe. You don't have to worry about viruses, malware or even that apps don't do what they say they do. Apple has removed numerous reasons for hesitation from the buying experience.
"Two screenshots compressed at just insane levels like Google has run out of hard drives, and four hundred characters for a description. That puts anyone in the mood to spend, right?"
I know it doesn't really remedy much of the problem, but if you click on the screenshots, they become fullscreen and don't appear to be of lossy-quality. (I'm using 2.1)
Agreed, for the most part. I've got an N1 and a serious case of iPhone game envy. But Angry Birds is coming to Android, PopCap is committed to Android, and Unity 3.0 will support Android.
>>Also, how many games have really been ported directly to Android from iPhone?
I assumed the standard business model was: See what was popular on iPhone and copy that to other hand held platforms. (Preferably with outsourced cheap programmers.)
Google really suck in this department, although I am mainly pissed because they still will not let Aussies SELL apps in the store. Maybe Google do not care about this at all, since this has been an issue regularly bought up here and in other places other the last 3 or 4 months.