Google wants more software engineers to develop applications for its Android mobile-operating system than Apple does for its iPhone, because the popular system needs to compete with the massive iPhone application database.
There were 987 jobs requesting expertise with Android on Dice — an online database of available technology careers — compared to 970 jobs interested in iPhone expertise as of March 1, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.com.
Android, the world’s best-selling smartphone system last year according to researcher Canalys, offers more than 120,000 applications. This numbers trails far behind the iPhone, which offers 350,000 applications to its users, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.com.
“Demand is swelling for Android programmers as Google woos makers of mobile applications to keep up with the growing popularity of its software,” said Douglas MacMillan in an article for Bloomberg Businessweek.com.
“What I found with the Android apps is that they try to cover a lot. Obviously there are a lot of games, but there is also a lot of apps that are dedicated to functionality,” stated junior biomaterials engineering major Chris Wolfram.
“One of my favorite apps is Aldiko; you can upload e-books onto your phone and read them through Aldiko,” commented Wolfram. “It definitely is one of my favorites, because you can carry a book everywhere when you get bored.”
Developers of applications are frequently catering to the Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone.
“A lot of my friends have (Androids) and I feel like we have the same kind of apps,” explained sophomore theater and English double major Emily Wilson, who uses an iPhone. “There is nothing that I have heard they have and was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so much better than the iPhone app.’ I feel like they’re kind of the same.”
“A lot of times, when you’re looking at apps on the Internet, you’ll see that they say there is an app for iPhone and Android, so I feel like a lot of developers try to straddle both markets,” noted Wolfram.
But, what will Google’s superior search for app developers over Apple do for the company?
“I feel like that is only going to serve them well in the long run, just in terms of having something to recruit more phone users to Android as opposed to iPhone,” mused Wolfram
“I guess that it will cause competition, because there is [sic] going to be more professional apps. I feel like random people who make them on their own time for Apple make the really stupid ones that aren’t used as often,” remarked Wilson. “So, the Droid will start having a lot better apps than Apple does.”