7 reasons why Windows Phone 7 could potentially beat Android in the mobile OS wars.

As the mobile wars heat up, the one OS that normally takes a backseat is Microsoft’s often ignored Windows Phone 7.  Google’s Android has slowly become a leader in this space and as of this time, more than 500,000 Android devices are being activated every day! At this rate, there will be more Androids than people in the next few years.

According to Gartner, 1.7 million smartphones using a Microsoft mobile OS were sold worldwide in the second quarter of 2011, for a 1.6% market share. In the third quarter of 2011, WP7's worldwide market share dropped slightly to 1.5%. Compare that to Android’s current market share of 25% of all smartphone shipments.

Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do, but recent developments in the company as well as in the mobile industry seem to point to the fact that the company might still be able to get a leg up in the competition. I will talk about 7 reasons that in my opinion can give Microsoft the much desired boost it’s desperate for.

1) Exclusive partnership with Nokia – No one builds as many phones as Nokia on the planet. With all its PR mishaps and declining sales, it still is one of the most prolific phone manufacturers in the world. The company has over 132,000 employees in 120 countries, sales in more than 150 countries and global annual revenue of over $54 billion. Its global device market share was 23% in the second quarter of 2011.

In a stunning move, Microsoft managed to secure an exclusive OS partnership with Nokia. Under the terms of the deal, all future Nokia smartphones will be powered by Microsoft’s new OS and Nokia will eventually abandon its own Symbian OS. Microsoft had almost put its new OS on the sidelines when this deal happened. It’s now investing billions of dollars in R&D and strengthening its OS from end to end. This deal has become such a PR miracle for the company that a lot of other cellphone manufacturers are planning to build more Windows devices too. This may be the single biggest driver of Microsoft’s success and also help the company in entering developing countries (India, China, Africa) because of Nokia’s dominance there.

2) Consistent interface across all platforms – One of the biggest complaints about Android is the unbelievably inconsistent User Experience across a range of devices and manufacturers. Google made the business decision to let cellphone manufacturers build their own customizable UI on top of Google’s base system. This strategy is slowly turning out to be a huge mess because most cellphone manufacturers are unable to keep up with Google’s latest base OS updates. They take months, or sometimes years to optimize their UI to work well with Google’s newest iterations. Customers often complain about this but then Google is helpless. Because of this, user interest in Android has been waning and a lot of users are even switching to (or switching back in my case) to the iPhone because of its clean and consistent experience. This is one of the primary reasons why Google decided to incorporate a single UI across all devices for its upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

Microsoft on the other hand, has decided to stick to a non-customizable UI. This is actually a great business model because it helps the company in releasing updates at a much faster pace and every device (irrespective of manufacturer) can be automatically updated at the same time to the latest and greatest. The company has also made sure that the UI is consistent across its other tablet and PC platforms too. So the upcoming Windows 8 OS for PC’s has a similar look and feel as that of the Smartphone OS. And the new Xbox UI looks the same too. This strategy is drastically different from Google’s and is more similar to Apple’s strategy. And we all know how that has worked out for Apple!

3) Xbox community and integration – Google has been struggling with its social network Google Plus. It has bet the whole company on this initiative and if recent statistics are to be believed, it doesn’t look likely it will ever be able to challenge Facebook’s dominance. Let alone come a distant second place. Traffic slumped by more than 60% after the initial boom period. For that matter, even after being in the market for so many years, Facebook is growing much faster than Google+. Even Google Plus's mobile version has not gained much traction at all.

Some approximate figures as of December, 2011 are:
Facebook: 800+ million users
Twitter: 300+ million users
LinkedIn: 131+ million users
MySpace: 50+ million users
Google Plus: 40+ million users

Anyways, Microsoft already has some advantages here. It has a pretty sizeable Xbox gamer community who can be easily integrated with the company’s mobile offerings because of XBOX live. Xbox live is already built into the mobile OS. A presence of a good default games selection would definitely help (Who wouldn't want to try out HALO on a smartphone!). And on top of all that, Microsoft’s Hotmail service is still the world’s largest email provider with a user base of more than 360 million accounts. Gmail comes third after Yahoo.

Because of these reasons, Microsoft stands a good chance to build out a strong and dedicated mobile fan following if it tightly integrates all these services.

4) No Carrier IQ software fiasco (yet) – As of now, Microsoft has not been hit by any major legal nightmares with its mobile OS. Android is currently being hammered by legal groups because of the whole Carrier IQ software deal. For the uninformed, a hacker recently showed a video which provided proof that a software named Carrier IQ currently resides on every device running the Android OS and logs user actions and keystrokes. It’s so intrusive that it even logs your passwords as well as any secure website that you are visiting. Thousands of customers are upset about this and new lawsuits are springing up every single day against Google as well as cell-phone carriers who supported this software.

This seems the right time for another mobile OS to spring into action and showcase its ‘secure’ abilities. And Microsoft is already doing that by announcing the launch of its first Nokia handset with the updated Windows Mango version in January. And it’s obviously touting how much more secure its OS is (sure).

To add fuel to fire, Microsoft recently announced that it will give out 5 Nokia smartphones to anyone who can give them a great story on how they were affected by this Carrier IQ mess! Call it a PR stunt, but it still works.

5) Stronger partnership with Facebook – Microsoft enjoys a great relationship with Facebook. Facebook has even incorporated Bing search into its core search functionality. This partnership is crucial for Microsoft because it helps the company in gaining access to over 800 million Facebook users and understanding their habits and interests. This in turn helps the company in customizing its offerings to suit the customer better. And of course, in case you didn’t know, Facebook despises Google. Put them both in a room and only one will come out alive.

6) Gesture based integration – One of the greatest technologies that Microsoft has been working on is gesture-based systems like the Xbox Kinect. This technology has unparalleled scope if it’s incorporated properly into Windows Phone 7. Just imagine being able to move from screen to screen on your Smartphone by simply waving your finger, or being able to open an app by simply pointing at it. Both Android and iOS are touch-based systems so Microsoft has the potential to literally disrupt this industry if it builds out a mobile equivalent of Kinect. And it’s a no-brainer that Microsoft will eventually build out such a system.

7) Better enterprise software integration – Think about it, which is the word processor you use the most? MS Word? Yup! How about presentations? MS PowerPoint? Yup! Microsoft has the world’s most popular office suite and can easily appeal to enterprise users by tightly integrating MS Office onto its mobile OS. It has already done this but because of low consumer acceptance of its devices, has not succeeded. All this can change once the Nokia initiative takes off. As its OS becomes more widespread, both enterprise users as well as gamers will relate better to this OS and help drive its success. Android on the other hand, has not found wide acceptance with its enterprise software (Google Docs, Google Chrome OS) even on the PC platform and the mobile version of Google Docs is a joke. And lastly, it does not have a gaming equivalent to Xbox.

These are some really interesting times in the industry. For a few more years, it’s unlikely (read impossible) to beat Apple’s dominance but whoever comes second place will be the fight to witness. I would love to hear your thoughts on other reasons why Microsoft may or may not have a chance for a good fight.

You can follow Aabid on Twitter @aabidsiddique to stay updated about his latest articles. You can also check out his latest articles on the Pocket Full of Apps website (www.PocketFullOfApps.com).

8 reasons why Apple's iOS will continue to reign over Android as the best platform for making games.

Google recently claimed that 500,000 Android devices are getting activated every single day! At this rate, there will be more phones than people in the next few years. 

But does that mean it's time game developers started focusing their energies on building games for Android, and focused less on Apple? I am not sure if that's a good idea. Atleast as of now. Here are 8 reasons why:

1) Screen Sizes: One big advantage of Apple devices is that there are only 2 screen sizes that game developers have to deal with; the 3.5 inch screen size for the iPod/iPhones and the 9.7 inch for the iPad. This makes it easier and cheaper for developers to focus on building out UI and graphic assets that cater to only these sizes.

Android devices on the other hand, have an average of 20 different screen sizes! There are about 14 different screen sizes for the phones and another 5-6 screen sizes for the tablet versions. Building out art assets that don’t get distorted on such a large variety of screens can be a hard if not futile task. A lot of developers talk about using vector images so that the image can automatically adjust to the screen size without losing much resolution. However, based on my personal experience, this does not always give you the best results. The biggest problem I have faced is that the images on the screen tend to get displaced or lose their proportionality. This can look odd making the game lose credibility.

2) Playable on tablets: Almost every iPhone/iPod app can be played directly on the iPad. This feature is almost native to Apple and will most probably be hard to implement on Android. People who have used the iPad must have noticed the 2x button which enlarges the app window to somewhat fill the iPad screen. Even though the resolution goes down, in many games, it’s not a big deal.  This is one of the crucial reasons for iPad’s success: A user can port all his apps from his iPhone/iPod to the iPad and continue using them. So, a game developer who builds games for the iPhone/iPod automatically makes it available for the iPad too.

Doing this on an Android will be very hard because of the variety of sizes it offers.

3) Varying hardware specs: This is another issue that Android developers often face. Android phones are offered in many different hardware configurations. Simple flash games can pretty much run the same way on any phone. But, as the games get more sophisticated like the ones Gameloft makes, it gets harder to build a game that can give you the same gameplay experience on so many different Android phones with varying hardware specs.  Try playing a high-end Gameloft game on the dual-core HTC EVO 3D and then play the same game on a Motorola Droid X and you will know what I am talking about.

Apple, for that matter only upgrades its hardware once a year. This makes it easy for developers to build a game that’s optimized for that hardware configuration. It also helps maintain a more consistent gameplay experience across its phones.

4) Pricing confusion: This one may surprise you, but figuring out how much to charge for a game/in-app purchasing is a headache for most mobile game developers. The reason is that a lot of mobile games are being developed by independent/garage developers who are more technically sound but have limited understanding of how marketing/distribution/monetization works. They live under that notion that all they have to do is build the game and put it up on the app store and Apple will make them a millionaire the next day.

These developers often struggle to figure out what’s the best price to charge for their games and what’s the best way to market them. There are so many developers who end up putting their games up for free and rely solely on ad revenue only because they are not sure how to price their apps. This ‘strategy’ can sell their games well but it does not help them financially. They end up losing big time in the long run, especially if the game is good and becomes successful.

There are a ton of companies that have mastered the marketing/distribution model of the Apple App Store. Companies like W3i technologies (www.w3i.com) have done exceedingly well in this space. Such companies can be a big help for all types of developers, new and seasoned. But, there are only a handful of companies that even understand how monetization on Android works best. It will take a while before companies build their expertise for this platform. 

Apple makes it easy for young and upcoming developers by offering them a standard pricing model. It’s known that the magic number on the app store is 99 cents with dollar increments. This makes it easy for developers to stick to a standardized price tag which is proven to be a successful revenue generator if the app does well.  On top of that, Apple’s in-app purchasing model is a boon for free games.

On the other hand, Android has no structured pricing model attached to it. An app can be priced anyway the developer wants. (There are apps for $1.26 (Who charges like that?!). As simple as this may sound, it can be hard for a garage developer to figure out what’s the best price they can charge in order to stay competitive. Especially when a game is charged at $1.49 and another developer charges a similar type of game for $1.26 or $1.33. It leads to a lot of unhealthy competition.

Due to the highly fragmented pricing model of the Android, it makes sense for young studios to stick to iOS initially and then branch out to Android once the game takes off.

5) Resolution: This can be a real pain in the neck to deal with. I am currently building out a game for iOS and I only had to contract a graphic designer to build two different resolutions of each art asset. One was for the earlier screen res of 320*480 and the other was for the Retina Display. The designer only charged about 10% more for building two different resolutions.

Let's talk Android now! This beast has so many screen resolutions to deal with that it is going to cost a whole lot more if I had to build graphic assets for an Android game. Again, the standard of vector images does not always work too well because these are games with constantly refreshing pixels/screens and not a static app.

The way my earlier company ended up handling this is that we stuck to the top selling Android phones and only built art assets that catered to those devices (HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Epic, Droid etc). One problem with this approach is that most manufacturers don’t give out exact data on how many smart phones they sell. So, game developers are really just shooting in the dark here.

6) Demographics: Guess which is the best customer base for monetizing social/casual games? Its middle-aged/older women between the ages of 35 to 55! This is the demographic that has the time to play such games especially freemium/paid games. This is the demographic that has disposable income, uses credit cards and is fairly open to online transactions. The other positive aspect of this segment is that they are willing to consume lots of content in their favorite genres. If they bought one game and liked it, they are likely to buy more of the same.

Because of this same reason, this demographic is targeted by every gaming portal too. Companies like Hi5 and IWON have thrived in this space. Other than that boys and girls between the ages of 6 to 15 are considered an excellent demographic for free games.

Here is a question (Quick hint: Don’t think too hard). What phone or mobile gaming device do you think the majority of these 2 demographics will want? iPhones and iPods! Apple literally rules this demographic and Android does not even come a distant second. Most people in these two demographics who even have Android phones only have it because their carrier does not support iPhones yet. A recent survey claimed that even the ones who currently use Android phones are more than likely to switch to an iPhone once their carrier supports it.

This is the biggest reasons why games on Apple devices do far better than Android devices even though there are more Android devices in the planet as of now.

And Android phones actually have a learning curve and tend to be more geeky in nature. My mom still hasn’t figured out her phone even after months of using it. But it took her literally minutes to start using the iPhone. That's the beauty of the Apple OS. It's made for everyone.

7) Low quality apps: The Android app store has made it so easy for developers to build and distribute games/apps for this platform that a lot of low quality (shitty) apps have creeped into the store. I saw an app a while ago that was retailing for $10,000! And the description of the app was something like "I just wanna see who is dumb enough to buy this app".  It had 5 installs.

Google has been very supportive of the games industry by offering an open system but it has to tighten the screws here if it wants its apps to reach a certain threshold of quality. This is the reason why it is struggling with its mobile operating system too. There is so much segregation going on because each phone maker like HTC, Samsung, Motorola etc has built its own UI, that Google had to put the brakes on this and focus on building a unified Android experience with its upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

In contrast, Apple’s strict approval policies are actually good for the industry. Apple tries hard to maintain a certain level of quality in its apps and this benefits developers.

8) Resource Intensive: Ever noticed how almost every Google smartphone/superphone has battery problems? There is a good reason for this. Google products tend to be very resource intensive in nature. For example, the Google Maps navigation tool is one of the best navigation software I have come across. It’s an excellent substitute for GPS devices. But, this app absolutely kills battery life. Even other frequently used features like corporate email, gmail and the notifications bar can drain the battery out a lot faster than similar apps that Apple has built.

Google’s support for Flash games has not helped its case either. There is a solid reason why Apple hates Flash. Flash based games/apps can be a drain on battery life and graphics. They are rarely very robust or fast to load and almost all of them tend to crash often. Due to this, most of these Flash games on the Android cannot be played for too long before a user has to start snooping around for a charger. The whole notion of ‘truly mobile’ gaming is lost here. Whenever I am traveling and feel like playing a game on my Android, I normally have to shut off the game after about 30 minutes of playing because the battery literally goes down from 80% to 30%. My point here is that most avid gamers would not find the gaming environment too satisfactory in an Android device.

I had the iPhone for a long time and though the battery power wasn’t stellar, I didn’t have trouble playing a game for a satisfactory period of time. This is because of HTML5. It’s a simpler, less resource intensive, yet a very robust platform for developing games.

HTML5 is seeing widespread adoption because of this very reason. Even its arch-nemesis Adobe (creators of Flash) has finally given up and is now supporting HTML5 with its own set of HTML5 builder toolsets.

In summary, I don’t see how Apple will be beaten by Google anytime soon. There is just too much clutter surrounding Google’s Android offering in order for it to become a financially viable platform for game developers. Once Google tweaks its offerings to have a more unified UI experience, fewer screen sizes and resolutions, better pricing models and tighter control over its app store, only then will it become a lucrative platform for game developers.