Harsh Words for Android Online Store
April 6, 2010
I don’t cover eCommerce unless I have a news item about one of the vendors providing structured search systems to online retailers. I want to make an exception for Barry O’Neill’s Recombu article. In “App Friday: Android’s ‘Flea Market’ Needs Urgent Attention,” I learned that
Apple‘s iPhone and iTunes combination represents a near-perfect convergence of concept, design, usability, technology and commerce in a highly polished, well executed package.
I found out:
Android has the potential to dominate if executed properly. Google’s launch has been heavily flawed and in my view Android is still in “public beta.” Android has had explosive growth, but alarm bells ring when you look at the inclination of users to purchase apps. Just 21% of Android users purchase one or more paid apps per month, compared with 50% of iPhone users. Where this gets unusual is that of the 21% of Android users purchasing one or more apps, the average number of apps purchased is 5[1]. That is 1.4 more apps per month than the equivalent iPhone user!
The catch is:
I conclude therefore that a large proportion of Android users simply cannot purchase and download paid for apps to their phone. I blame Google and its appallingly poor management of the Android market. Despite having a Google Checkout account I still cannot see, never mind purchase paid apps. Of the free apps I see, many infringe the IP of others and many more simply fail to download or don’t work on my specific device. Internet forums are flooded with similar stories. Fragmentation and technical issues abound, content discovery is difficult, and billing doesn’t work properly. It’s 2006 all over again. I’m all for an “open” market, but Google’s “completely open” policy has resulted in the Android market being a flea market, when compared to Apple’s upmarket mall.
My take away from this write up is that Google’s push into the consumer sector has invited some interesting adjectives. I had never thought of Google as a company running a “flea market”. If the iPhone continues to hold its own in the mobile phone market and the iPad contributes some new consumers, the label “flea market” may have a significant impact on Google’s image if the label sticks and goes viral.
Stephen E Arnold, April 6, 2010
No one sponsored this article.
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