Android’s Growing Dominance: Is Apple’s App Isolation Ending?

It used to be said that Apple had the best apps in the market. Even as recently two months ago the Wall Street Journal crowed in their title that “Apple gets all the good apps.” Apple was king of the apps, it had nothing to be envious with Android about. Now we can safely say that’s no longer true because some are increasingly arguing that Apple’s app isolation is hurting Apple and the company should look to offering apps across platforms.

Apple is concerned about Android’s growing power in all sectors, Android devices have always dominated the handset market but Apple could always rest assured that when it came to apps and providing a standardized quality product it had no equal to the iPhone. Now that’s not quite the case, “it is clear that Android is crushing Apple and Microsoft in the mobile device market, putting the squeeze on not only Microsoft, but Apple too, the company that sparked the smartphone and tablet revolutions in the first place.”

The release of powerful Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, clearly scared Apple because they started trash-talking the device almost as soon as it was announced. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing felt the need to proclaim, "At Apple we know that it's not just enough to have products pumped out in large numbers. You have to love and use them. There is a lot of data showing a big disparity there." A curious statement from a company that’s generally shied away from badmouthing the competition.

It’s understandable though, Android apps are a force to be reckoned with and now new means of monetization are being offered for app developers. Android is an open-source, powerful and flexible platform. All the new Android game consoles and the prospect of an Android powered PC are a testament to its strength.

Finally the idea of Apple-only apps is made less appealing by mixed-device households, workplaces and social circles where the proliferation of smartphones and tablets has made it so that people have a fragmented range of systems. Apple users are growing to resent the tight limitations that Apple places on its products, “I'm being drawn away from Apple apps because I don't want to feel cornered by them,” says Executive Editor David Carnoy at CNET (and iPhone owner), “I'm not alone. I think that in future, as we live in more mixed device households, consumers are going to demand more freedom to move easily from one platform to another.”

Truer words have never been spoken.