[olalonde]

I never owned an iDevice so I'm not sure the analogy stands but I believe the Ubuntu Software Center does something similar to what you're describing. You get the same 'app store' whatever version of Ubuntu you are running but when you install an 'app' it silently downloads the package targeted at your Ubuntu version.

[keeperofdakeys]

Google Play supports this, which is mainly used for tablet vs phone, but could be used for different ARM architectures.. http://developer.android.com/guide/market/publishing/multipl...

[olalonde]

I thought all Android apps ran in a Dalvik VM. What do you mean by "could be used for different ARM architectures"? Isn't Java bytecode independent of the underlying architecture?

[tryke]

The Android Native Development Kit allows you to write normal C code and compile it for ARM devices.

[vidarh]

There's an increasing number of MIPS based Android devices out these days, so hopefully they can handle that too...

[fpgeek]

Good point, though I'd say different architectures rather than different ARM architectures, now that we have Android/x86 in the wild, too.

[illumen]

Yeah, but Ubuntu is professional, well designed, and well made - by people who truly care about their users. You can't hold Apple up to the same high standards... they're just not in the same league.