Half of top iPad apps not usable on Android

30 per cent unavailable on Google Play and 18 per cent not optimised.
Android has previously appeared seamless and unbeatable, kind of like a termite which can live through anything - even a nuclear blast, and can survive a week after having its head cut off! Well it appears that this termite has met its match.
In the form of an Apple.
Well, half of the top 50 free and paid apps for the Apple iPad to be precise.
A mere 52 per cent of apps from the App Store had an equivalent on Google Play, or were optimised - if even a bit - for an Android device.
Tim Shepherd, senior analyst at Canalys, said: "Quite simply, building high-quality app experiences for Android tablets has not been among many developers' top priorities to date. That there are over 735,000 apps in the Apple App Store that are designed with iPad users in mind, versus just a fraction of this - in low tens of thousand - available through Google Play, underscores this point."
The optimised apps that work cross platform, are only available as free, ad-supported versions, delivering poorer and occasionally more limited experiences.
Consumer trust needs to be earned by Google regarding its app store, which can only come with time - however with these bad in-app experiences plaguing Google Play, it makes it that much more difficult to get people spending.
Daniel Matte, analyst at Canalys, said: "Improved consumer willingness to spend will increase developers' monetisation potential and options, and help to reduce their reliance on in-app ads, leading over time to an increase in app quality."
Developers need to be more enticed by the Android tablet platform, which even if it seems pretty ugly right now, is a strong base to build apps on. As its ever increasing popularity - what with it accounting for 67 per cent of tablet sales last month - will prove to be exactly what they are looking for to better the performance and profitability of their apps.
Google needs to make more prominent moves to ensure more rigorous management of high-quality, optimised experiences within its Google Play store and within the apps that are available on it.
Even though it all currently looks a bit grim, when the nuclear blast - or the influx of better apps in Google Play as is the case - happens, who will be laughing then? The termite or the Apple?

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...android/022148