What Eric Schmidt Actually Said About Developing for Android First

Speaking of Eric Schmidt, it ends up CNet’s Stephen Shankland misquoted him yesterday. Schmidt did not say:

Whether you like Android or not, you will support that platform, and maybe you’ll even deliver it first.

His actual words were:

Whether you like ICS or not, and again I like it a great deal, you will want to develop for that platform, and perhaps even first.

I’m disappointed that Shankland got the quote slightly wrong, but, I think what Schmidt actually said fits even better with my analysis of what he meant — that sheer unit sale numbers alone will make developers want to support Android first. Numbers alone don’t explain iOS’s developer support. As Anil Dash pointed out last night, Symbian remains the world’s most-used smartphone OS. Unit numbers haven’t helped them.

★ Thursday, 8 December 2011