obviator

Right from the start Android has been designed with a form of Responsive Design. With scalable XML layouts, and selectors to choose which layout is loaded for different DPI devices, one could argue that even early versions of Android are at least as design-friendly as modern HTML5.

That's not to say there aren't challenges. But the whole point of Android was always to create an industry standard for a wide range of devices. This requires - by definition - support for a variety of screen sizes, DPIs, hardware features, etc. When most people talk about fragmentation as a negative point of Android, they're forgetting what Android is. A common platform, running on an unlimited number of devices. That's by design, not accident.

I've seen a few of my apps copied - and not just the functionality, but nearly identical name & description posted on Google Play! The automatic reaction is to be annoyed by this, but ultimately it's not a big deal for me.

In the long term, I think the positive effects of sharing with the developer community will outweigh the negative effects of copycats. Sure, it's a little disappointing to see someone else using your ideas. But I'd much rather this scenario (where everyone can copy, be inspired, or even steal freely), rather than a patent-ridden ecosystem where you can't take inspiration from anywhere, for fear of being sued.

So at the end of the day - no, I don't feel the same way. I understand the position Chris took with kreci.net, but for my part I just take the copycats as an indication that we're still living in a free marketplace :)

I'm the author of this post, would be happy to answer any questions people have about further stats from this month. There are a lot of networks, so it wasn't possible to post absolutely every detail!

I'll be watching this thread for a while, so feel free to post any queries you might have below.

IMEI most likely. They can transmit the number as a non-reversible hash (MD5 or similar), that way the number never gets sent or stored as plain text.

The graph of daily activations is pretty amazing. Based on current growth rates, they should pass 1 million daily activations some time in 2012.

How does this compare with elusivestars.com? They're trying to do a similar thing, allowing developers to upload Android apps and pay reviewers to provide feedback. The goal is also to provide better reviews than the Android Market.

Personally, I'd be more interested in paying a small amount (say $10 per review) to a number of people and getting feedback from a few different perspectives, rather than putting all my eggs in one basket. $100 per review would only be worth it if the review would be published in a prominent place where it could provide some publicity for my app as well.

"Check the timing of transitions between visible elements."

I think this comment is even more valuable than the rest of the article. Coding tips are helpful, but most of these can be figured out pretty quickly by a decent programmer. The timing / UI lag issue is something that I see a lot with Android apps, but not so much on iOS. As an Android developer it's important to consider these little details, and be aware that not everybody on the market will have a phone as powerful as yours ;)