Ralph wrote:
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I don't doubt that Android is a good target though - sorry, I wasn't clear on that. The point is that high sales alone doesn't make a good target either - you want to look at the customer demographic and usage. Most Android phones aren't up to scratch as a smart phone (the common expression is "land-fill Android") and people buy them simply as a cheap phone. The browsing and software sales figures reflect this. Even Google makes more money from iOS than Android. The customer demographic for iOS is 100% high-end – Apple doesn't make any low-end devices – and people who buy them are also likely to pay for good software.
Two things.
I highly doubt that anyone - or at least most people - who are going to buy into the whole BIMx/BIMx DOCS concept will really do so with the aim of using it on their smartphones as opposed to on a full-fledged tablet (particularly more so for BIMX Doc which involves actual drawings and documents with text and details).
So the argument about cheap Android smartphones is somewhat of a none-starter actually for two reasons, (aside for the intended device usage) - with the second reason being that cheap, and not up-to-scratch Android tablets (or phones) will simply not open a small to medium sized (or any size at all) BIMx model. Period.
If you have a low-end Android phone or tablet - the question of whether or not you're the intended target doesn't even begin to enter into the equation. You might as well be a Windows 8 or Blackberry user.
And as I've already pointed out, the high-end Android devices (with both hardware and OS up to scratch) will have no problem handling a typical BIMX (and I would imagine BIMx DOCS, if it existed for Android) model that it's iOS counterpart can.
Secondly, the continued use of "browsing and software sales" statistics )as opposed to actual device sales statistics in which there's no question and doubt as to who's on top) to justify developing a particular software towards a particular demographic is a rather flawed argument based on badly interpreted/ badly used data along with flawed logic.
This same line of reasoning was used in the LinkedIN discussion forum only then they tried to use it to attempt to justify the notion that iOS devices are actually more proliferated in the market than their Android counterparts based on the notion that more internet usage statistics show iOS users to be online more (and browsing more), and like I pointed out to the person who brought up those statistics then, that all that those statistics really tell us in hard numbers is the browsing and internet usage HABITS of iOS users more so than their actual numbers as a total demographic and certainly not relative to Android users.
Maybe (or more likely) iOS users are actually online more often than Android users, and maybe they seem to download more iOS software (and Apps) than Android users (probably more so due to the consolidated nature of Apple's tablet/smartphone App ecosystem), but in the context of the current discussion - despite the fact that these statistics have almost nothing to do with the relative actual number of devices sold (and concurrently actual users out there) - it's frankly speaking a hollow statistic in terms of the intended target user demographic of what would be a niche tablet application like BIMX Docs.
A lot of the people who make up those "browsing and software sales" statistics are actually people who would never buy (nor need to buy) an application like BIMX, so what's the point of bringing it up?
And in terms of the actual intended demographic target - the AEC community, and their affiliated collaborators - I would see one making the argument that iOS is more popular in the Architecture market (thanks to the proliferation of Macs in Architecture in general) but would the same hold true for the other end of the AEC market (Engineers, Civil, MEP, adjunct consultants,...etc) among whom PC's are more common and popular?
Ralph wrote:
Apple doesn't make any low-end devices – and people who buy them are also likely to pay for good software.
That's really a value judgment on the type of people/person who buys Apple (versus Android) devices, isn't it?
And fact of the matter is that some people buy Apple/iOS devices simply as a status symbol or simply because it's the hip thing (not saying every does this) more so than because of the actual brand value and efficacy of the platform.
Conversely, people who invest in Android devices aren't necessarily doing so because they either can't afford iOS devices or they don't appreciate good value for money regardless of cost.
Some times you just buy a product because it serves you most basic needs and does exactly what you want it to do.
Nothing more, nothing less.
It's probably too late to claim not to have wanted to turn this into an iOS versus Android debate, and we've already been told that an Android version is coming in 2014, so all this is obviously moot.
My only interest in entering the discussion had been to do with the lack of a desktop version which, while directly affecting Windows 8/Surface Pro users (for whom it should have been a no-brainer, IMO, since, of all the tablet platforms, it's the one that can actually run anything a full-computer can) - also affects other users who might appreciate the current workflow of checking one's BIMx models on a desktop before sending them out, or even just people interested in having such a tool for internal office meetings without having to turn to a tablet to review a model in the absence of iOS devices.
Anyway , I'll bow out here.
I believe the Windows users have their answer (more or less...sans the desktop version) as do the Android users.
