This is a probably a longer and more involved conversation than you think. There's a few primary factors in supply and demand for app developers:

1. Native vs HTML

There's a huge difference in the available supply of developers and companies currently equipped to make an html5 site that plays nice with both ios and android. I think we're likely to see a proliferation of tools like phonegap (http://phonegap.com/) and a slow down of native apps as html apps eat that market share. When you consider currently ios requires objective-C and android Java, you have 2 languages with different tool chains and a more involved development and release process competing against a very well understood and super fast html/javascript ecosystem. In my opinion html/js will eat the mobile dev community as quickly and dominantly as it did for native Windows/OSX applications.

2. Expanding platforms

Currently ios and android own the market, but with microsoft, mozilla, ubuntu, etc. all getting into the mobile os game it's conceivable that the overall market could keep growing without making android/java skills a "must have".

3. Better native app tooling

Writing full featured web applications 10 years ago was really hard. Rails, Django, Laravel, etc. along with REST APIs and json revolutionized how we build web services making it a whole lot easier. Then much more recently jquery followed by a million javascript frameworks did the same for front ends. If native android development keeps growing similar tooling is sure to be built to drastically reduce the entrance barrier.

Overall I think it will become easier/cheaper/faster to build mobile apps, but I sort of doubt that will manifest itself in the form of most developers learning and rallying around Java and the Android API.

On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 4:35 PM, <techlists@phpcoderusa.com> wrote:

Hi Paul,

One would think that Andriod programming is going to be with us for year... decade at least. However that begs the question, what do you (or anyone else) think the long term demand will be? Increasing or decreasing?

Is there any barriers to entry like a nasty learning curve? Specialized hardware? ETC...

I think I looked at the SDK about a year ago and as I recall it looked to be Java based and then I think I was told of a C++ SDK. IIRC - I think it was something that looked to take a little effort to learn but not too bad.

I think i recall something about using JavaScript.....?

Thanks!
Keith

On 2014-08-03 16:09, Paul Mooring wrote:

Not to discourage you from trying to make this happen, but a bit of
perspective might help. Currently android/java developers are in
great demand, where I live the average salary is around $110,000/yr or
roughly $2100/week. Having done a bit of contract/outsourcing work
myself, I can tell you the experienced contractors/developers intended
to lose as much as a weeks time on any project just trying to
understand what needs to happen and working with the stake holders to
make changes along the lines of "one more simple thing". The take
away is there's going to be a minimum price/complexity to justify
taking on a project for a skilled/competent developer and if your app
doesn't meet that benchmark you're going to have hard time finding a
U.S. based competent developer interested in it.

This doesn't mean it's a bad idea or you shouldn't do it, just keep in
mind that while you may be really passionate about your idea to
developers it's one of many offers to work on a contract for an
individual offering below market rates. That's a great fit for
contractors in India, students or a dev trying to expand her skill set
(web dev still learning mobile apps, etc.) but not so appealing to
established professionals.

On Sun, Aug 3, 2014 at 10:04 AM, <joe@actionline.com> wrote:

Wanted: Android App Developer $??? Reward ...

How can I find a skilled/competent/reasonably priced Android App
Developer ... preferrably Arizona local or at least in the U.S.?

I've tried elance.com [1] and odesk.com [2] and several similar

sites, without
success. Mostly get proposals from India and Pakistan, etc.

I'm willing to pay up to $1,000 (perhaps more) to get the results
we need
for an app to read, scroll, flip pages, and search within a book.
Should
be relatively simple and straight-forward. Need to be able to add
to the
content and submit updates to the Google playstore myself.

See my first-attempt (which does not yet work as well as we need it
to)
here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.CompareBibleVersionsPackage

[3]

Please respond either here or off-line to joe(at)actionline.com [4]

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Paul Mooring
Operations Engineer
Chef

Links:
------
[1] http://elance.com
[2] http://odesk.com
[3]
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.CompareBibleVersionsPackage
[4] http://actionline.com
[5] http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss

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Paul Mooring

Operations Engineer

Chef