Android Fragmentation Is Not A Big Deal, Says Angry Birds Developer [Peter Vesterbacka Of Rovio Dismisses Android Fragmentation, Says That Jobs Overreacted To It During Conference Call]

Posted on TFTS by Kevin Schram on Tuesday, 28. December 2010 under: Mobile/Cell Phones

The fragmentation of the Android platform has been constantly attacked by iPhone fans and others, even by Steve Jobs himself. I’ve always held that it’s something of a straw man argument, and now Rovio co-fonder Peter Vesterbacka agrees with me. Vesterbacka, who is the public face of Rovio, the developer of mega-popular game Angry Birds, said in an interview with ‘Tech n’ Marketing’ that the fragmentation isn’t that serious for developers.

Vesterbacka was asked about Jobs’ rant on fragmentation. During an Apple earnings conference call a few weeks ago, Jobs went completely unhinged and started screaming about Android was impossible to develop for because of fragmentation, 7-inch tablets sucked and any other things that wondered into his mind. When asked about Jobs’ opinion on fragmentation, Vesterbacka said:

Fragmentation on the device side is not a huge problem, but Steve is absolutely right when he says that there are more challenges for developers when working with Android. But that’s fine, developers will figure out how to work any given ecosystem and as long as it doesn’t cause physical pain, it’s ok.

And Vesterbacka went on to say one of the most profound things ever said about the mobile industry today. He made the point that with Android, iOS, webOS, RIM, Symbian, whatever, that the mobile industry today is a “fragmented world”. Vesterbacka:

It’s just important to understand that Apple is Apple and Google is Google. Different. And developers need to understand that. Different business models for different ecosystems. And wouldn’t forget about Nokia and MeeGo either, new leadership always tends to shake things up and create opportunity. And HP-Palm. And RIM. And even Microsoft. It’s a fragmented world.

So, it looks like the iFans will need a new argument for their attacks on Android.

Source

Steve
Interesting spin on that interview… but I think you’ve taken the one positive thing he said about Android and completely ignored all the rather negative things he said about it (which might explain why you haven’t actually linked to the interview itself… and why I assume you might not actually publish this comment).
While he did say fragmentation wasn’t a huge problem, he also said the following:
1.) Apple will be the number one platform for a long time from a developer perspective, they have gotten so many things right.
2.) Android is growing, but it’s also growing complexity at the same time. Device fragmentation not the issue, but rather the fragmentation of the ecosystem.
3.) The carriers messing with the experience again. Open but not really open, a very Google centric ecosystem.
4.) Free is the way to go with Android. Nobody has been successful selling content on Android. We will offer a way to remove the ads by paying for the app, but we don’t expect that to be a huge revenue stream.
If the iFans need a new argument for their attacks on Android, I’d say all they need to do is actually read the original interview… they’ll get plenty.