App Employment – Jobs in Apps

We are starting to see some spectacular numbers from our American friends as to how many jobs in apps have been created in such a short time. As Australia frets about the slowdown in hard commodities and the debate will rage for years about how we handled the wealth of our resource boom as another boom is shaping.

Firstly to mention one VC’s comments recently he joked that we’d made such a mess of the mining boom they were now looking at soft commodities such as grains, farming and more importantly technology companies for investing opportunities.

So here are some facts from America from a board member of the Application Developers Alliance. Nationwide in the States the app economy has produced 519,000 plus jobs. The study showed app developers and consultants were being recruited by large corporations, government departments, start ups and tech companies across the country.

In America the app industry has created more than a half million jobs in the 5 years since Apple’s iPhone launched. This in itself shows how much of an exciting time it is to be building, launching, consulting or developing apps for mobile devices.

The data for Australia we imagine has the ability to be just as impressive, as a nation we embrace mobile technology more every day. So for all the doomsayers asking where all the mining jobs will go. Who knows but the app economy has capacity.

The Stunning Growth of Android Mobile Devices

So Apple’s early leader advantage in the smart mobile phone and tablet markets with the iPhone and iPad products are lagging behind the growth of Android.

Thanks to the development of Google they have caught up and to a certain extent overrun the competition on the market. Google have taken the operating system from a basic concept to a streamlined, powerhouse in just a few short years of mobile development.

Let’s look at the numbers of Android devices sold each and now every day to look at how mobile technology is changing how the world communicates. More than 1.3 million Android devices are being activated each day and this amazing growth shows no sign of slowing down.

Product Management Director for Android announced yesterday 500 million devices are now active since the beginning of the operating system in September 2008.

So why should you take notice of this platform? It’s because of its open nature that companies across the globe have been able to harness the technology of internet capable devices that almost anyone can afford to buy in the Western World. Google’s open approach to its software development has allowed it to overtake iOS due to the difference in how Apple and Google are doing business against each other.

With the release of the new Smartphone from Apple today (the new iPhone5) we see once again it’s for Apple products only. They develop each Apple product alongside the operating system with some developers believing native development is the only option. However Android is made to work as best as possible with any many numbers of hardware variations that is now on the market.

Do not be fooled by sharp talking developers that iOS native is the only way to develop an app for example. Android which seen by some developers as frustrating to themselves and consumers are misguided statements. Having seen Google innovate at a rapid pace and improve its market dominance daily, one can hardly argue.

So the biggest losers in this exploding market are Microsoft and RIM who can hardly compete and are hoping their latest generation of operating systems will try to recover some of their former market share.

Microsoft with the Windows Phone 8 has many critics praising the new OS platform. Let’s see what they do in the coming months.

Google sets its standards high and its market growth targets even higher. So what are we seeing today on the back of Apple’s iPhone 5 release? The fact is Android is growing at a faster rate than they anticipated and now the platform is making its way into Cars, TV’s and Laptops. How many Android devices will have been activated this time next year? Maybe 1 billion but what we do know is that if you want an experience that the masses are enjoying every day you don’t just need to reach for an Apple a day to get into the app market or turn on a smartphone or tablet.

Mobile Tech News September 11th 2012

Mobile technology news for 11th September:

Apple Reduces Chip Order From Samsung
While the Apple and Samsung relationship has always been complicated, it appears that Apple Inc is starting to take action by reducing orders for memory chips for its new iPhone from main supplier and competitor Samsung Electronics Co according to Reuters.

Samsung is a core Apple supplier that produces micro-processors, display screens and memory chips (DRAM and NAND) for the iPhone, iPad and iPod.  Reuters report that Apple has been cutting back its orders from Samsung as it seeks to diversify its supply lines.

Amazon Appstore Reaches 50,000 App Milestone
On top of the latest Kindle release Amazon has announced that they passed 50,000 apps on its Android-based Appstore after just 18 months in business.  While this doesn't compare to the 6000,000 apps on Google Play, this benchmark will prove beneficial as Amazon continues to grow in the app space.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos recently stated: “Kindle Fire is a service. What does it mean for a hardware device to be a service? It greets you by name. It has the lowest prices on content, it keeps your place for you, it keeps all of your content in the Amazon cloud, backed up, worry-free,” which demonstrates the huge emphasis they are placing on the services above the hardware.

Amazon Expanding In-App Purchases To Include Physical Goods
In a clear shot at Apple Inc, Amazon have announced that they will start allowing Amazon 1-Click Purchasing to be used for in-app purchases on the Kindle.  Starting with Activisions Skylanders Cloud Patrol users will be able to purchase a physical toy and a digital version of the character to be used within the 99 cent game.  This is sure to expand to other products such as Angry Birds who already have an extensive merchandising line through retail outlets and Zynga which is close to completing a licensing deal with Hasbro to develop a wide range of toy and game experiences based on FarmVille and their other successful games.

Real Money iPhone Gambling Starts In The UK
The Big Fish Casino app, available on iOS and Android has been enabled by Betable, a UK based gaming service that has developed an API to enable developers to quickly provide a payment engine for users to play with real money in apps.  Most likely, all payments are being processed through Apple iTunes which would ensure Apple gets their standard 30% cut and surely makes this proposition more palatable for the once gambling-phobic Apple.

Is Bada Samsung's Backup OS Plan?
Given the legal trouble currently surrounding Samsung, it is easy to overlook the fact that Samsung already have their own Bada operating system which pre-dated their current Android engagement and could provide a Plan B in case things with Android don't work out as planned.  While it would certainly take a solid commitment to re-invigorate Bada, a lot of the related infrastructure (i.e. an app store ecosystem) is already in place and the OS originally shipped on seven Samsung devices and could easily be brought back to life.

Enterprise Application Development A Top Priority For CIO's
With Gartner predicting that mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber native PC projects by a ratio of 4:1 by 2015 provides an indicator that mobility is clearly on the minds of enterprise CIO's.  With cloud computing changing the way applications are designed, tested and deployed teams are more able to quickly and easily develop new apps in a rapidly changing environment and while cost is still a major driver, agility, flexibility and speed to deploy new applications will drive the majority of development through mainstream enterprises and government agencies.