Android market gets support for multiple APKs [What It Means For Developers]

[Reproduced From Appnomy, the visibility platform for app developers.]

Android developers have found fragmentation to be a problem for various reasons but Google is looking to make life easier for developers with a new announcement and a much awaited feature. Android Market now has support for developers to upload multiple APKs for a single app. Let me explain this better.

Developer advantage:

Currently developers publish multiple versions of an app depending on OS compatibility or device compatibility. The new feature will allow developers to publish multiple APKs under the same app product heading. So these will be completely new APKs with different version codes and slightly different Android Market filters.

The truly beautiful utility of this feature is that users will see the same reviews and app description and see a single file for download. The Android Market will automatically download the right version for the user depending on their device.

There are 3 Android Market filters that will determine which of the multiple APKs are downloaded to the users device. These filters are based on OpenGL texture compression formats, API levels and Screen size. Setting the correct value for these will let developers maintain their app catalogues better.

User advantage:

A lot of the times that Android users download apps, they have a bit to worry about, whether the apps support they Android version and then they have to check if their device is supported. And I’m sure most users are already aware of the tablet apps problem, I mean there are no indicators in the Android Market that suggest that an app is optimized for tablets or not. Users will no longer have to worry about downloading the compatible version of the app.

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The Tablet War: Android Snatching Away Market Share From iPad

Everyone is talking about tablet devices these days, almost every Smartphone and PC manufacturer wants to make a tablet device. Global tablet shipments reached 15.1 million units in Q2 2011, surging 331 percent from 3.5 million in Q2 2010. Many have tried too, and with the exception of the legendary iPad the rest have had a horrible run. Tablet devices are just getting popular now with budget offerings flooding the market, each claiming to be the iPad killer, but none have been able to put up even a decent fight against the iPad. Which is why these stats released by Strategy Analytics are so surprising.

A recent report by Strategy Analytics reveals that the iPad’s dominance over the tablet market continues but has slipped significantly to 61%. Compared to the same period last year, the iPad held almost 94% of the total tablet market.

• Android is the most notable challenger to the iPad and approximately 30% of all tablet devices shipped are Android devices.
• Even though Android has managed to take a significant share of the market from Apple, no vendor has been able to produce a truly successful product.
• Microsoft captured a niche 5 percent global tablet share in Q2 2011, leveraging Windows 7 through partners such as Fujitsu.
• RIM and its QNX platform captured 3 percent global tablet share in Q2 2011. The first-generation PlayBook model experienced a lackluster launch due to product design issues surrounding native email support.

Amazon’s entry into the tablet market may prove to be a game changer. How Amazon prices its tablet may well be the key to finally having a serious iPad competitor in the market.

What’s your opinion?

You can view the report here.

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Shanda Publicly Testing It’s Cloud Offerings

 

Shanda, one of the largest game and entertainment platforms in China, announced that its cloud computing efforts are ready for public test this Thursday, highlighting another giant Chinese internet company ventures into the promising but winding area after Alibaba’s cloud strategy.

 

The cloud services released by the game vendor include “compute cloud, cloud storage, Elastic Block Storage, Digital Delivery System and Cloud Monitoring Service”.

 

According to Shanda Online VP Ji Xinhua, the company sees cloud computing both as a new breed of technology and a new kind of business model. Shanda is aiming to ramp up a public cloud computing platform to serve Chinese companies, similar to what Amazon offers its clients with AWS(Amazon Web Services). Shanda have tested its own cloud dog food first, running these cloud services throughout the organization.

 

With its well-rounded cloud services, Shanda will provide internet companies with one-stop service, ranging from computing, storage, networking, digital distribution to monitoring, and the convenience of managing everything from one place.

 

Shanda isn’t the only Chinese internet company with such offering and ambition, Alibaba has  set up cloud computing subsidiary Alibaba Cloud Computing in 2009. Sina which traditionally more of a media company rather than technology one, has also came up with its own cloud service, SAE, Sina App Engine, similar to Google’s GAE.

 

 

 

 

 

Related posts:

1. Cloud Nine for China’s Cloud Computing?
2. “Why not go to the Cloud?” Says ChinaNetCloud’s COO, James Eron
3. Shanda Note: Free and Permanent Cloud Storage

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