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It's not just a matter of counting iOS users v Android users.  My guess would be that few of those Android systems could run an app like Affinity, and of those that could, not many would.  Then think about the development and maintenance costs of an app that's got to run on different hardware configurations and goodness only knows how many different OS versions.  And just supposing that producing an Android version is practicable, what are you going to stop doing in order to free up the necessary resources?  I don't know the answer to any of those questions, but, along with many others, they need to be considered before a company starts developing software for a new platform.

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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2 hours ago, IanSG said:

My guess would be that few of those Android systems could run an app like Affinity, and of those that could, not many would.

As it is, the iOS version of Affinity Photo requires an iPad with an Apple A8x CPU & a M10 coprocessor or better, which means it will not run on any iPad older than the iPad Air 2. An Android version would likely have comparable hardware requirements. As I understand it, not many Android devices run on hardware with that much onboard computing power, so the potential market for an Android version is probably much smaller than one might think.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, when I purchased it last year it was the fastest tablet on the market and can still give any iPad a very long run for it's money. As regards to development it is cheaper to design for Android than it is for Apple. an Individual developer account for Apple is about $99 per year, a company developer account starts at $300 per seat per year, again apple thinking about how much money they can screw out of joe public. An Android developer account is about $20 per year. I have been a software developer for over thirty years, developing for Windows, Linux, Apple and Android. There are a lot more development hoops to jump through for Apple than there is for Android. If you are talking about the "Software Development Life Cycle" then it does not mater what operating system you develop for as the costs are the same. I much prefer to design and code for Android than Apple. 

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1 minute ago, Simnix said:

If you are talking about the "Software Development Life Cycle" then it does not mater what operating system you develop for as the cost is the same.

But it does matter how much work has already been done on one or another OS. As you may or may not know, Affinity began as a research project at Serif to test the feasibility of developing a graphics app that would run acceptably on a device with severe limitations on the amount of memory available to applications. Even though the company sold only Windows apps at that time, they decided to run the project on that era's iPads & iOS versions because they did inherently have that limitation.

 

As I am sure you know, iOS is not identical to the Mac OS but it does share enough similarities that that early work could be leveraged for the development of Designer for Mac. The Windows versions were later derived from the Mac versions in what one of the developers described as porting them from the Mac OS to Windows. No details were given but it is reasonable to assume that by then, the company had considerable experience with developing (& marketing & supporting) both those OS's, plus a good start for IOS as well. Nothing has been said about any similar experience with Android, but it does not seem likely that at this time the costs would be the same for Serif.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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33 minutes ago, Simnix said:

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, when I purchased it last year it was the fastest tablet on the market and can still give any iPad a very long run for it's money.

Perhaps, but TechRadar's "Final Verdict" in its review of the Samsung Tab S2 suggests that might be a bit overoptimistic when compared to an iPad Pro model, particularly those with Apple's "A10X Fusion" processor. According to some online sources, it is considerably more powerful than any other mobile processor currently available, including some used in laptops. I do not know how true that is but Apple does have quite a bit of expertise in the design of ARM based CPUs.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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27 minutes ago, R C-R said:

 According to some online sources, it is considerably more powerful than any other mobile processor currently available, including some used in laptops. I do not know how true that is but Apple does have quite a bit of expertise in the design of ARM based CPUs.

I've seen other reports saying the top end Snapdragons are the equal of the AX10, but that's not the point - there aren't enough people owning them to justify the cost of porting the app.  

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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27 minutes ago, IanSG said:

I've seen other reports saying the top end Snapdragons are the equal of the AX10 ...

It is hard to find anything really definitive about that -- I browsed several reviews of the latest Tab S3 & inevitably they make comparisons to the iPad Pros, but usually just say something like both are powerful enough for most uses. Time's comparsion review said the iPad processed special effects "considerably faster" in the Prisma app, but without any details about which effects, image sizes or anything else it doesn't mean that much, & there are probably other reviews that say the opposite.

 

40 minutes ago, IanSG said:

... but that's not the point - there aren't enough people owning them to justify the cost of porting the app.  

I have no idea how large the market really is for either high end product going forward, but it seems pretty clear that the major costs of developing the iPad version have already been paid, while that is not likely to be true for any Android version.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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27 minutes ago, R C-R said:

I have no idea how large the market really is for either high end product going forward, but it seems pretty clear that the major costs of developing the iPad version have already been paid, while that is not likely to be true for any Android version.

To be fair, I've expressed an opinion, based on a half remembered article comparing high end android tablets to laptops. The conclusion was that the tablets don't provide enough bang for the buck - yet.  

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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Mobile development is a tricky thing, and developers have my sympathy. I love my iPad Pro but I have had Samsung tablets in the past too. In my experience it just seems like my Android loving friends are cheap bastards! :D

 

I tell them about an app or game coming to Android, they look at the price tag and roll their eyes. Not to be outdone, I have friends that are iOS fanboys and when they complain about the new Files app in iOS 11 being disappointing, I point them to Stratospherix FileBrowser. I use this little gem of an app to not only access my Dropbox, Google Drive but also any and all Hard Drives attached to either of my Mac Pros. There is a bit of a learning curve but it makes getting files on and off the iPad/iPhone much more manageable (and even enjoyable). 

 

So great, you would think these buddies of mine would jump at the chance to buy FileBrowser. But then they look at the $5.99 price tag and frown. What? Exactly! How can you make any money in mobile development when people are so damn cheap.

 

I would gladly have paid the same $50 Desktop amount for Affinity Photo for iPad and the upcoming Affinity Designer for iPad. But Serif has priced them at $20? And then they have sales where you can pick up Photo for $10? And yet I still have a hard time convincing people to take the plunge and buy Photo for iPad.

 

LumaTouch makes LumaFusion, which is this really incredible video editing app for the iPad/iPhone that cost $20. Again, I recommend it to people but the price tag gives them pause. I don't have any concrete stats to prove it, but I think iOS users are more willing to pay for more expensive apps but even that has limits. People have become so ingrained that mobile apps should be free or cost next to nothing.

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On 12/11/2017 at 0:12 AM, Scungio said:

People have become so ingrained that mobile apps should be free or cost next to nothing.

A friend of mine buys top end cars, bikes, cameras etc, works in IT, will buy expensive desktop software but won't pay for a mobile app!  I conduct a simple thought experiment - if I met the developers in a pub, would I buy them a drink?  

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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Yeah, it is why we can't have nice things for mobile! Many are just too cheap to pay for mobile apps. People also like to downplay that mobile devices are not powerful enough or just toys, that we should temper our enthusiasm for professional apps. I think all of that is just baloney. You look at the specs of the current iPad Pros and it is easy to see Apple bumping the next version to say an 8 core (4 high performance, 4 low performance), probably 8 GB of RAM, etc.

 

I bought the 9.7" 2016 iPad Pro and Apple Pencil and have been thrilled with it. Is it going to replace my Mac Pro? No. But as a companion device, for me take on the go it is damn near perfect for me, although I will probably buy the next 12.9" iPad Pro in 2018 if they produce one. 

 

But if we are ever going to have great apps for iOS, consumers/professionals have to be willing to pay for quality apps.

 

Savage Interactive's Procreate is a great app and it is at version 4 now and all I have spent on it is $6 and I got the version 4 update for free. How do they make a profit? I would gladly have spent money for that update. You look at Lumatouch and their LumaFusion video editor for $20, a fair price in my opinion but I think most people will balk at spending additional money when say version 2.0 is ready.

 

I look around and there are so many quality apps now, ever try Wooji Juices Ferrite Recording Studio? And now we have Celsys bringing Clip Studio Paint to the iPad although the pricing may be too extreme for that one. Over $100 per year? A mobile app that is more expensive then the desktop version? That seems crazy to me.

 

Mobile apps on iOS are not just toys. You can get work down with Affinity Photo (and soon Designer), with Procreate and Clip Studio Paint, can edit videos and sound with LumaFusion and Ferrite Recording Studio. But if we want to see more of these apps come to iOS we need to support and pay these developers for their hard work. But it seems very daunting to me, my experience is that I am in the minority, that everybody else wants things to be free or cost $1 or $2. So, to get back to the original posters question, I can understand why Serif might not want to spend any additional time or money into developing for other mobile platforms. 

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  • 7 months later...

I don't know, but I use my Galaxy Tab S3 mainly for making notes and doing wireframes / scribbles for my screendesign work. I'd NEVER design on my tablet, that's what my workstation is for! It's not very productive to work on a tablet. But that's a general issue. Why would I spend 2 hours fiddling with a tablet if I could do the same work (better) on my workstation in just 15 minutes? Just because it's cool? I don't agree.

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9 minutes ago, Wiredframe said:

 I use my Galaxy Tab S3 mainly for making notes and doing wireframes / scribbles for my screendesign work.

I used my tablet mainly for reading the manuals for the various software programs I use on the desktop.

 

Windows PCs. Photo and Designer, latest non-beta versions.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...

I have iPad Pro 2 and several earlier IPads . I do however rely upon Google to store and move all my photos and trust Google not to mess them up as Apple do.

I have stopped using a PC and store my photos on an Huawei tablet. I only wish I could edit on the Android app. There must be many who feel as I do.

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14 minutes ago, Brian29 said:

I do however rely upon Google to store and move all my photos and trust Google not to mess them up as Apple do.

Just curious but how does Apple mess up your photos?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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26 minutes ago, Brian29 said:

I have iPad Pro 2 and several earlier IPads . I do however rely upon Google to store and move all my photos and trust Google not to mess them up as Apple do.

I have stopped using a PC and store my photos on an Huawei tablet. I only wish I could edit on the Android app. There must be many who feel as I do.

Apple Photos is not perfect; however, to my knowledge it has never mess up my photos. I do wish it would allow me to rename. MacOS version allows you to make Smart Albums.  Files app works for, except AP files store on iPad location, example ABR files.  iCloud does work with AP.

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

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Seems to be a constant theme. Which OS?

I like my Android devices, phone and tablet. Love my PC as I can use Affinity. Don't have an Apple machine as I can't afford one. My choice.

But I learn most of my 'Publisher' from tutorials that are run on Apple machines. I even use the internet to view the Apple based tutorials when I am using my android devices. Therefore I am an Android, Apple, WindowsPC user. Best of all worlds.

Happy bunny

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