Do you remember those old Apple vs. Windows commercials that ran about ten years ago? They played into the debate over which operating system was better for users. Then, as desktop and laptop computers started to fade, the debate took on new life in the mobile arena. The argument became one of which mobile OS, Android or iOS, was superior. Snap fell victim to that debate, and now they are paying the price.
Snap is the company behind the popular Snapchat image messaging service that has been in a battle with Facebook and Instagram for years. The company focused almost all its energies on creating a killer iOS app in the belief that the market for Apple smartphones would be enough to sustain them. That emphasis has sustained them to a degree, but it has all but eliminated Snapchat's growth potential and competitive edge.
The lesson to be learned here is that it's time to stop the debate over iOS and Android and start focusing our attentions on cross-platform development. Despite all the success Apple has had with its iPhone series, Android is not going away. And even though Android is used on a much longer list of devices that can sometimes present compatibility and usability issues, ignoring the Android market is akin to mobile app suicide.
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It's All in the Numbers
The general public has been rather unaware of Snap's problems with Android given that most of the platform's users are iPhone owners. But the company's recent SEC filing, in advance of its initial public offering, shows Snap struggling with Android while putting most of their effort into iOS.
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The figures suggest that the overwhelming number of Snapchat users being iPhone owners has nothing to do with Android users not wanting to use the app. A more likely scenario is that they are dissatisfied enough with the Android version that they use Facebook or Instagram instead.
Snap's SEC filing includes a company admission that they have had numerous technical issues with the Android version of their software. They believe those issues caused a "noticeable drop in daily active users on the platform" during the last half of 2016.
For anyone in the software development arena, such an admission by Snap is major. To acknowledge that not giving proper attention to Android is chasing away users is also to acknowledge that the iOS-only focus is harming business. Fortunately for future Snap investors, the company has realized its mistake and is now shifting gears.
Cross-Platform Development Is the Future
As Snap re-prioritizes in order to give Android the attention it deserves, companies like iTexico are growing by offering comprehensive cross-platform development for iOS, Android and Windows. The Austin-based software developer is one of a growing number of companies aggressively pursuing cross-platform development as the wave of the future.
Snap has learned another valuable lesson here. They have learned that developing primarily for iOS and then trying to port to Android doesn't work well in the real world. The primary development-porting model makes it nearly impossible to keep features the same across multiple platforms throughout an app's life cycle. This ultimately means that the primary platform gets all the latest, cutting-edge stuff while the other platforms languish. This is a good way to turn off customers, as Snap discovered.
Hopefully, Snap will do more than just give proper attention to Android. Hopefully, they will embark on a cross-platform development strategy that transforms Snapchat into an app developed simultaneously for all the major platforms at once. If iTexico can do it, so can Snap.