These are not stats being "lied about" by Mac proponents. Are those apps TABLET optimized or are they merely Android phone apps size doubled to improperly fit on your Xoom screen? Surveys done on multiple non-Apple oriented sites that have found fewer than 70 apps for Android tablets. Tell us what kind of Apps you are using?
One Month Later, Android Tablet Platform Has 50 Apps
By Mike Isaac March 30, 2011 | 7:12 pm | Categories: Tablets and E-Readers
Motorola’s Xoom tablet is the first promising alternative to Apple’s iPad, but the sickly condition of Android’s tablet app ecosystem may end up stalling the platform’s progress.
One month after its launch, the Xoom currently has about 50 native apps available for Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Google’s version of Android optimized for tablets.
That’s pitiful compared with the iPad, which was released last year with approximately 1,000 native apps on launch day. The Xoom debuted with a paltry 15 Honeycomb-native apps available for download in its catalog.
50 apps is a pretty small number, and the actual total may be even smaller. The official Android online market, as well as other online message forums for Android enthusiasts, place the number of Xoom apps somewhere close to 50. But this number hardly seems accurate, as it includes existing Android applications which have been re-sized to take advantage of the tablet’s larger screen. The number of apps with interfaces made specifically for the tablet is probably diminutive.
Still, it’s unclear why more developers haven’t taken the short cut and re-sized their apps for Honeycomb. It could be that developers aren’t sold on the idea of re-sizing their apps to fit more screen real estate, as opposed to “building a true tablet experience that takes advantage of the new platform’s possibilities,” iOS developer Justin Williams told Wired.com in an interview.
And even if developers wanted to create such a “true tablet experience,” they’re hard-pressed to do it without the source code for Honeycomb, which Google is currently keeping a tight reign over. The big device manufacturers working on Honeycomb-powered hardware — like HTC, Motorola and Samsung — all have early access to the code, but only after licensing agreements were made with Google. Smaller developers don’t have this luxury.
“Apple was wise to have the tools out there months in advance of launch,” Williams said, “as compared to Google who made them available only a short time before.”
To be fair, the Xoom is currently the only Android tablet on the market running Android 3.0. Once the glut of Honeycomb-running hardware devices arrives — like the June release of LePad from Chinese electronics manufacturer Lenovo, which was delayed specifically to ensure the tablet will run Honeycomb — we could reasonably expect to see more tablet-optimized applications available. Samsung’s redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 will also run Honeycomb, and will also launch this summer.
“Google needs more hardware,” says Williams, “and they need to get developers excited about building tablet experiences, not just larger screened phone apps.”
Hmmmm, 50, to over 70,000 for the iPad. Not much of a comparison, is it?
However, another NON-Apple source, Mobility Feedsa site specializing in analyzing mobile devices and mobile trends, found that Android 3.0 Honeycomb had only 14 native applications in those 50.
Almost no tablet-specific apps developed for Android Honeycomb
Second Gear’s developer Justin Williams, following a new check, has revealed the little progress made by Google's Android 3.0, codenamed Honeycomb, application catalog in the month since its launch.
Only fourteen applications are truly native.
A total of fifty include both native applications and phone applications meaning resizing for a larger screen.
The report includes Google’s applications and might miss certain titles, but there is no simple way to separate tablet optimized applications and tablet-only ones by applying a filter on Android Market.
Among the fully native titles, there are a few ports of their Apple iPad versions, like Pulse, CNN or USA Today.
The situation reflects an ongoing problem with application support on Android 3.0 and confirms a hastened launch schedule.
Google released the beta SDK only a month before the Motorola Xoom was shipped, while the final version was released only two days before the date of the launch.
Excepting certain developers with special access rights, most have only had less than two months to start and make ready their first applications for the Android tablet.
The lack of devices itself has reduced the accessibility to the hardware.
A second wave would not ship until the LG Optimus Pad arrives in Japan these days, while the decision of Samsung to rework its Galaxy Tab 10.1 following the iPad 2’s release would push it to not earlier than June.
Apple was more careful with its tablet plan and allowed developers to have two months lead time.
The App Store started with 1,000 iPad-native applications and has about 65,000 s of the first-year anniversary of the design.
A more flexible development has been the key factor for inroads into enterprise and catering to niches such as music production.
Then there's this. Electronista is reporting that Deutsche Bank, using Google's own Android usage statistics released at the end of March, has concluded that the Xoom Tablet has sold only 100,000 units in the five weeks it has been on the market since being released February 24th.
Analyst rough estimate has just 100,000 Xooms shipped so far
by Electronista staff
Updated 11:35 am EDT, Wed April 6, 2011
Deutsche Bank guesses just 100,000 Xooms shippedAnalysts at Deutsche Bank have put a potential number on talk of possibly slow Xoom sales in a new research note. Extrapolating from data in Google's Platform Versions chart, it estimated that about 100,000 of Motorola's tablet had shipped between the February 24 debut and the end of March. The prediction also likely included a small number of hacked installs on other devices.
Motorola has never publicly discussed its Xoom shipment figures and might not quantify them until its next quarterly results, if at all.
The figure is likely to be off of the actual count without more concrete data at hand. It might still reflect a relatively tepid adoption and is supported in the abstract by Google's Android figures, which put 3.0 at just 0.2 percent and well under the 2.5 percent using a Nexus S or Nexus One with Android 2.3.
Low Xoom adoption has been blamed partly on the limited launch. The February 24 release was limited to just the 3G edition for Verizon, putting the minimum asking price at $800. Wi-Fi versions only began showing in late March, and international releases are only just beginning with launches for Canada this week and other countries soon. Apple shipped the iPad 2 to about 25 countries two weeks after the US and starts at $500 for a Wi-Fi version and $630 for 3G.
