This is a question that hasn’t got many answers since there seems to be a huge monopoly brought about by two platforms iOS and Android. Yes we have to accept some facts here. iOS and Apple have been on the leader board since they got launched. They have changed the way Nokia wanted to behave in the market. When was the last time any friend of yours made a high end Nokia smartphone purchase? – Maybe during the days when people complained about Apple’s camera and battery. So what is our learning here? It might take more than just a good business strategy and an awesome platform to get a grab of the platform market and do well.
So until that’s happening, you should rather stick on to iOS and Apple.
Take an example. Suppose you are investing on an app that is going to run in the Symbian platform. Why are you going to lose all your money? It’s simple. Symbian has an outdated interface and it doesn’t compare with that of Android or iOS. Switch on to an app – it’s so not app friendly that there will be a huge pause before anybody starts using your app.
Touch is another reason why anybody would want to use your app on Symbian platforms.
More, a user might want to go for an in app purchase.
He has a browser on his phone that lets him access the internet really slowly and unless he has a third party browser he is never going to like going for those in app purchases. The only respite for your app would be that it would not find much competitors since most of the apps are either outdated or slow. If you think your market is amongst those people who still would go for a long battery life and an affordable price, then this investment might pay off only to a certain extent.
Here we are not talking about old OS platforms which have been outmoded by the likes of iOS and Android. But this example would throw light on the type of newer platform you shouldn’t invest on. The most important things to look for before you think of an app in a different platform would always be the user interface, the feel good factor about the touch phone, speed and the user friendliness of the same.
A New OS Platform in Town:
Firefox OS might be a very good option to invest upon looking at the promise it currently holds. The best feature that I would preach in terms of Firefox OS would be the affordability. They are helping translate those fast paced applications that consume a lot of space on your phone on devices which are really cheap. That would make applications easily accessible to everyone. The market you could target would now expand. Another great feature of the Firefox OS will be the possibility of application portability. You will be able to run the same app on the mobile phone, on the PC, on your tablet. There’s more to be happy about when it comes to developers because Firefox claims that it is making the app development process very developer friendly. Anyone who has good skills in Web Development can chip in if he has a good idea with little investment.
This platform might be the place to put your money on but having said that it is always an uphill task to challenge iOS and Android at this stage.