Are you trying to choose which tablet computer to get? There are now several on the market and we wrote an article to help you make a choice but one of the things that keeps boiling up are the apps. One of the things I want to know from people is “how many apps are enough?”
How Many Apps Are Enough | Choosing A Tablet Computer
There are many factors that will go into your choice on which tablet to buy. We covered most all of those and really it comes down to just a few things when you consider that most all of them have nearly identical hardware specs and general software functions.
Here are the various flavors of tablet you can currently choose from:
- iPad or iPad 2
- Samsung Galaxy Tab
- Motorola Xoom
- Blackberry PlayBook
In my mind, those are the main players. I know there are others but these ones represent what I would consider the ones to watch. And in deciding which one to choose it comes to down to many factors but one of the factors I keep hearing a lot about is the apps. As of this writing there are 83, 136 iPad apps. There are over 150 or so Android Honeycomb tablet apps and the PlayBook has just over 3,000 apps.
Which tablet would you choose based on those numbers? Most would say they will choose the iPad because of the over 80,000 apps. And a lot of people are saying that this is the defining factor when comparing the best tablet for them.
How many apps are enough?
So, in thinking of this, the question I have is this: How many apps are enough? When you think about it, do you really need 83,000 apps? Does that add value or is it making for a very crowded and confusing choice for consumers?
And the PlayBook has 3,000 which some are saying is the downfall of this tablet, but isn’t 3,000 quite a lot? Well it’s not a lot when you compare it to 83,000 but if you stop and think for a moment, 3,000 is still quite a bit to choose from.
I would also guess that most people are comparing volume and not realizing that there can be a limit to choice before it has diminishing value.
The diminishing value of the apps.
At the end of the day, there may come a time when the sheer number of apps will be diminishing in value rather than an asset. Consumers love choice but when you have too much to choose from then developers might start to move to other platforms in order to play in a less competitive space.
This all occurred to me while writing up a review of the PlayBook and thinking how the major media companies were reacting to the low number of apps on the other platforms. So I asked myself how many apps are enough and I came to the conclusion that there could come a time when choosing a tablet computer should not be based on that fact alone because it already feels like we have enough choice.
How do you feel about this? Do you feel like we have too many apps or do you feel this really is what makes the iPad superior to the other tablets?
Hello Shane, I found your site recently, and it’s great.
I wanted to comment on this, and indeed, I do agree that using the app volume as a selling point isn’t a realistic measure of the quality of the tablet. Having said that though, I’ll admit there are some great apps on the IOS platform that doesn’t exist on others. But the hard part is finding that diamond in the rough. Apple’s iTunes doesn’t make it easy to dig through those 83000 apps to find the good ones, or the pertinent ones. Without a doubt, IOS is the more popular tablet choice, but you do give up some liberties when you head to Apple’s realm. But for most end users this may not be a big issue, and clearly, hasn’t been. Without a doubt, this year will be a good year for the tablet industry.
Hi there Dower –
First of all thanks for the comment. I appreciate it. I agree that it’s pretty hard to find the diamond in the rough – and 83,000 to me seems like a very crowded aisle in the grocery store…I just wonder to what extent developers will start feeling defeated and move to other less crowded platforms…well at least until the other ones have 83,000
Shane, fantastic and well-informed writing as always. It’s why I enjoy your articles and always learn new insights.
In our Twitter exchange, I should have stated my comment re: “long term value” with 3K Playbook apps vthis way. My concern about Playbook is if this current disparity in number of apps is a leading indicator of future developer interest in building Playbook apps. Whether or not a tablet manufacturer has the long-term support of the developer community is an important consideration when I’m evaluating a $500 investment.
To your point, the sheer comparison in numbers isn’t enough. You’re right, how many apps does one person need? But, the developer community currently looks like it’s placed its vote with who they think will be the long-term player in tablets. And, that long-term player looks like it’s Apple based on current market share and developer support.
Hi Tony,
That makes sense completely. I was wondering if the rather crowded space would mean that there could potentially be a decrease in development as the developers see that there is less of an opportunity to make money with so much competition and a very difficult time marketing within the App Stores.
But from a user perspective, they will see the large app numbers and think the platform is better which to some extent it is – but larger app numbers does not mean a better tablet….the iPad had a huge start in front of all the others so the larger number of apps does not surprise me.
One thing to also consider is how the company treats it’s developers. Currently even though Apple’s approval process is mysterious and at times Draconian, their price to entry is pretty cheap ($100/year), and their toolset works very well for their products. Apple is also pretty receptive to its developer base. If their WWDC conference is any example, that thing sold out the first day!
Android comes in next with it’s relative low cost per entry (I think it’s a certain dollar amount per app submission, I can’t recall). The development tools are all free and the language is Java, so for many developers it’s an easy in. The major complaint I hear is the simulator environment is awful, and their hugh version and phone style variation makes it hard to develop for; since you can’t be sure your app will work on one phone/tablet to the next.
RIM has a tough challenge ahead, I hear their SDK is pretty slim, and their cost per submission is high. You pay for a block of submissions, and even if a submission fails, you lost your block. Not a very friendly model. The latest buzz is that the early reviews for the Playbook don’t look too hot, the hardware is good, the software isn’t.
The other company to look to will be Microsoft. They let the ball drop on the mobile space, but they’ve learned some lessons and have made some smart moves with their latest Windows Phone 7 platform. They’ve done some nice work integrating their core products into their platform, like their XNA framework, which is used to make games on the XBox and Windows PC’s. They’re borrowing quite a bit from what Apple has done, so I think they may have a shot, even if they are late to the game.
But clearly Apple has won the mindshare of the public, people want Apple products just because of their namesake now, so even if Android has more deployed platforms, Apple will have the lead for quite some time… That is, unless they make some titanic fumble in the next few years.
“How many apps is enough” is a good question, but it falls short, I think. For me, the iPad was the only choice because it was the only tablet that had the apps that fit one of my required use cases: PDF annotation. I have also been pleased by the competition in the iOS ecosystem because it leads to incrementally better apps. I think your analysis re: diminishing returns misses the importance that competition brings to any marketplace, including mobile apps.
What is important is that your platform of choice has the necessary apps for your use case.
Thanks and I agree. That’s a good point about diminishing returns. I think in general, that having massive choices does not necessarily mean that one platform is “better”. Rather to me it means that it has a competitive advantage.
The volume of apps does mean that it can potentially support more needs, such as the annotation but at what point is there just too many?
I find it hard to actually think of a reason why there would be “too many” apps. Rather, I think the issue is whether the App Store interface is good enough to find apps you are interested in. Another reason why more apps, even if they are very similar in functionality, is helpful is that competition not only improves feature sets, it also helps to drive down prices.
I have never thought it is about how many apps a product has, but does it have the right apps and capabilities. For example, in the realm of capabilities – I am looking for a tablet that runs flash. As far as apps go, 150 is plenty if they include the apps that an individual needs. I have over a hundred apps on my iPad and use about 20 or so.
So what is overkill?
Hi mike. Good question. How many is too many? Well I think that right now with 84,000 that’s reaching a pretty interesting point where only the new ones get found. And in my mind that harms developers to an extent. Actually it might help them make better apps.