New iOS tools to help Android developers by Google

Google and apple are two of the major competitors in software industry, especially with their Android and iOS operating systems for smartphones and tablets.

In the last 9 months apple has gained a tight grip on the market for high-end, expensive smartphones, the only types of smartphones that Apple makes.

Apple was able to grow its market share to almost 18% in the first quarter, because of heavy sales of Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. its third consecutive quarter of growth, according to Gartner. 

On the contrary, Google does not makes much profit from those smartphone sales, instead of smatrtphones It heavily depends on its ability to offer Google Search capabilities, benefiting from the rich data it can capture from users through searches to sell to advertisers. 

Google also has been on a mission to have Android apps, which are offered by many independent developers in the Google Play store, work across other platforms, such as iOS. At its annual Google I/O developers conference this week, the company announced important initiatives to expand its support for iOS and for the developers that build iOS apps. 

 Google announced that : 

CocoaPods, a management tool for iOS, will be the primary way for developers to obtain Google Software Development Kits (SDKs) for iOS. 

In a blog Google analysts said : 

use of CocoaPods will simplify the process of importing software into Xcode, a programming language for building iOS apps. As a result, developers can more easily work cross-platform,. 

Another big announcement From a blog was : 

Google launched App Indexing with iOS for a small group of test partners.  in addition to indexing from Android apps. Indexing is an industry term that means users can discover (or "surface") relevant content in a Google search. Now searchers will be able to open mobile app content both from Android and iOS apps. 

Other announcements Google made : 

include iOS support for its Cloud Messaging service and iOS app compatibility with the Google Cardboard SDK for Unity, a development platform for building games.. 

The steps Google took to please iOS developers were just a part of a number of I/O announcements. Some of the biggest news came from Google's announcement of Android M, the next upgrade to its mobile operating system, coming in the third quarter. 

What experts say : 

The indexing announcement of Google searches to include iOS apps could be a powerful tool for iOS developers and their customers, analysts and industry

Lei Sun, CEO for Yozio, a firm said :

"Google's announcement represents a huge step forward for apps that are already installed on Apple devices,"

Google's step is "essentially freeing the information inside of apps so it is easily discoverable for users, an incredibly important function since people find products and content on Google through mobile web search," Sun said.

To take full advantage of the innovation, Sun said developers need to install deep mobile links inside their iOS apps in order for the Google search engine to find the data. 

But indexing iOS apps for Google Search seems primarily to Google's advantage, not necessarily users, two analysts said. 

Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates said :

 

"Linking search to iOS is more about increasing the value of Google Search and means that Google Search becomes more versatile, valuable and sticky to end users,". 

"Google makes their money from search and sponsored search and not from Android licenses, so anything they can do to enhance use of Google Search on as many platforms as possible plays to their strength and ability to generate more revenue," Gold said. "The search folks don't care what OS you run, they just want to send you more ads that pay. It's a good play for Google." 

Even so, for Google, indexing iOS apps is "all about the user profiles and data" that Google can have access to, Moorhead said. "That's all Google cares about. Everything else is wrapped around that." 

Aothor's Bio: 

M2Soft is one of the leading mobile app development company which  provides advanced app development solutions solutions to enhance business growth of clients all around the Globe.We Have a team of passionate and dedicated individuals who loves collaborating to provide exceptional services.