Mobile App Testing

And what would that edge be, you ask? Support for automated testing. An unnamed Microsoft blogger recently argued that it is far cheaper to develop on Windows Phone than it is for Android, and laid out seven reasons why. Among the arguments we find this:

Windows Phone supports automated testing for Quality Assurance (QA) purposes. Android doesn’t, so Android partners are on their own when it comes to that phase of handset development.

There are other reasons why the author believes developers will gravitate towards the Windows platform. Here are a few quotes we picked up courtesy of Paul Thurrott at WindowsItPro.com:

The Android market is already hugely fragmented, with multiple OS versions and multiple, unique devices with unique hardware and device driver issues. “Mobile devices need drivers for their various components—screen, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G radio, accelerometer”—device drivers that Android partners need to author for themselves, incurring additional upfront and support costs. Microsoft authors and supplies device drivers for Windows Phone.

Unlike Windows Phone, Android doesn’t have a plug-in architecture for those partners that wish (or need) to add code to the system. So, when it comes time to deliver Android OS updates or other updates, every single Android device requires unique development, and many partners are simply skipping adding updates because of the costs. Windows Phone partners don’t have to roll their own updates.

Although the core Android OS is “free,” many of the features that Microsoft includes in Windows Phone aren’t available for free on Android, so Google partners would need to find and integrate, license and pay for, or even independently develop alternatives. Examples include office productivity software for viewing and editing, audio and video codecs, and high-level location services.

Is the author right? Will developers (and users) adopt Windows Phone because of efficiency? What about feature set? Usability?