Google Letting Android Developers Slip

Developers have been waiting on Google’s SDK updates for their Android mobile phone operating system for around 4 months now, posting numerous complaints and annoyances all over the developer Google Group. So much so that a petition was circulated last month to urge Google to step up and send out the fixes.

No such update had been made available; or so everyone thought.

Recently an Android advocate at Google, David McLaughlin, made the mistake of sending out a note to Android ‘developer contest winners’ to everyone on the developer list. The note speaks of SDK updates being sent to a select few developers instead of the entire community.

“To clear things up for those who were not in the loop early on,” explained Josh Guilfoyle of Google’s developer team. “Google has required the ADC round 1 winners to sign an NDA to get access to newer versions of the SDK.  For unknown reasons, Google has elected not to make this decision public. Several developers and developer advocates have commented loosely on this decision, generally explaining that we should not expect a new public SDK, but that one will drop some time before handset launch.”

This has caused an obvious stir for those developers who don’t appreciate being left out. Many are claiming they will now focus on development for Apple’s iPhone; Android’s clear competitor in this market.

This may not appear to be a big deal to some, but the lack of communication has the potential to stifle the creative output from developers.

A big part of success for platforms like Apple’s iPhone and the slowly moving Android is what developers put out. Keeping these developers happy means a software provider can have a plethora applications based on their product made available to the public at no cost; which makes their product more attractive to consumers in the end.

If Google don’t make it clear what they are offering to developers, there is no doubt their support will drop. You can’t rely on a few contest winners to support development.

Source: PC World

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Posted on 18 Jul 08 - Filed in Android - Comments - Written by craig

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