Android Apps are prone to problems due to the fact that anyone can upload an Android app including ones that suck power and are poorly designed for tablets and Smartphones, the head of Motorola Mobility has said.
Motorola’s CEO Sanjay Jha said that 70 per cent of returns of Android devices are down to problems with apps and software, rather than hardware.
Jha claims that the openness of the Android Market, meaning that anybody can upload an application, was permitting inefficient pieces of software.
Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Technology conference, he said: “For power consumption and CPU use, those apps are not tested. We’re beginning to understand the impact that has,” Jha said.
He claimed that Motorloa’s Motoblur interface, overlaid on the standard Android operating system, was delivering for Motorola an insight into the impact of poorly designed apps. He said that the company had already identified several apps that “sucked power”.
“We are getting to the point that we should be able to warn you,” Jha said. That could mean, for instance, warning users that some apps have caused other people problems. Jha said that such a system would promote more informed choices.
Motorola was among the first companies to adopt Android, and now only makes Android phones. As it has been joined by rival manufacturers, however, the company has used software such as Motoblur to differentiate itself from the competition.
“Now there are a number of players so Android is not a differentiator,” Jha said. “The negative is all of us are competing extremely hard to get more market share and attention,” he said. “So those are the trade-offs there.”
Recently HTC said that they will soon launch its own software development kit for the Sense version of Android.
The SDK, called OpenSense, will allow developers to create Android apps designed specifically for HTC’s specs and interface. The move fits in with HTC’s Android strategy so far, which is to differentiate itself from the so-called “stock Android” look and feel of most other mobile manufacturers.
HTC is one of the most celebrated makers of Android devices, as it is the name behind all of Sprint’s popular Evo brand, as well as Verizon’s flagship Thunderbolt 4G phone, to name just a few.
Separating HTC from the rest of Android seems to be at odds with Google’s goal, which is to unite all of its connected mobile devices, and highlights why Android has become such a fragmented platform. Nevertheless, HTC thinks its customers will find value in getting apps they know were specifically designed for their particular phone.
