Hacker News Reader

Comment by kumarm | Hacker News Reader

When I first saw the Interview (Mike Arrington did the Interview at Tech Crunch Disrupt), I was really disappointed with their answer to something like "So When is Android Version scheduled?", CEO went on saying how great iPhone is.

This was 2 years back. How can you not be working on Android version by then?

View on HN

I have sympathy for the idea of focusing on one platform until you've got something people actually want. You'll move faster that way.

Sounds like they never quite got there.

I disagree for social apps that rely heavily on the network effect. Cutting out a major mobile platform doesn't just cut your userbase by half, but it also significantly reduces the utility for the other half too.

If you're making an app where it's value heavily stems on how many of your friends use it, then only working on one platform is a great way to "never quite get there".

> doesn't just cut your userbase by half

Even more, considering Android takes up about 80% of the market share. Focusing on iOS first is a well known strategy, but if you gain any traction - Android release should be out quickly. There is no excuse to ignore that big amount of market share.

I agree with that. Because of the network effects of social apps, it's not really 2x for launching on another large platform - we got about 10x results from launching Dasher on Android. We probably waited too long to do it.

Ummm...? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.checkthis....

For this app I don't see much benefit of an Android version but I see it diluting their efforts meaningfully.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com