The release of the new Android SDK (Version 1.6) has triggered the boom in Android application development after being overshadowed by the growth in iPhone development in the early stages of the platform launch. The primary reason of this new trend in the growth of Android development is attributed to three factors:
1.Improved functionality and features in new SDKs,
2.Maturity cycle in iPhone development and hardware,
3.Organization of Android Marketplace similar to iPhone.
The contribution of these three factors have allowed the development of Android to gain a significant impetus and structured growth in comparison to the wild unbridled growth of iPhone applications. (continue reading…)
Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual’s mobile phone — such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location — to provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer can build an application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.
Android’s applications can all be built to have equal access to a phone’s capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built on the Android Platform, users are able to fully tailor the phone to their interests. They can swap out the phone’s home screen, the style of the dialer, or any of the applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing application to handle the viewing of all photos.
Android provides access to a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used to build rich applications. For example, Android enables developers to obtain the location of the device, and allows devices to communicate with one another enabling rich peer-to-peer social applications. In addition, Android includes a full set of tools that have been built from the ground up alongside the platform providing developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.
