To me that's the problem. 1 The burden shouldn't entirely be on the developer, and 2. I can attest developers are often lazy, I know I'd be very uninterested in testing my app on n device profiles in the hopes I get them all. I'd either pick the device i have, or not bother with a convoluted platform.

Sounds like Layar is a perfect example. Is it truly not compatible with Android 2? Is it because 2.0 isn't backwards compatible? or is it because when Layar put the app in the marketplace, the Droid wasn't out, so they couldn't check that box? Or embed that metadata?

If what Brian says about meta data is right then there should be less compatibility problems because an app can be targetted at a device with sufficient features for it to work. Comparatively, the number of browsers we have to support is always changing, and web sites can't just be "hidden" from certain browsers because they're expected to work everywhere. You're also forgetting Opera, and you're forgetting that there are multiple versions of each browser (e.g. IE 6/7/8, Firefox 2/3/3.5, Safari 3/4, Opera 8/9/10 beta, Chrome, not to mention the ones we don't bother testing). So I think web developers have a *much* tougher time ensuring global accessibility compared to mobile app developers!

I think that's where we differ in opinion. I don't see it getting better over time, because more devices and more variables will enter the market.

Web Developers have had to deal with inconsistencies, but the number of them has never changed. IE, Firefox. Maybe Safari. Of course now Chrome is in the mix, but overall the problem has never been more than 3 or so browsers, and many simply gave up. "This site isn't compatible with X browser, sorry"

I do agree with Dave, that it's probably too soon to tell, but my opinion hasn't changed, that the current state of things will get worse for Android developers.

"This is due to an API change in the Android implementation on this device. It breaks a feature that was enabling Layar to draw a camera view in portrait mode and overlay it with the well-known Layar interface elements. Unfortunately this is not something that can be fixed easily. Therefore Layar is not available for users of Verizon’s Droid phone at this moment. Note that the Verizon Droid Eris phone is supported, as it runs on a different Android implementation.

The upcoming major version of Layar (v3) will change this and we will also support Android 2.0 devices in this new version."

Does it suck that developers have to do additional work to make their app compatible on different devices/different platform versions? Sure (been there, done that). Does it suck enough to stop them from developing apps for the platform? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Will it get easier as the platform matures? Probably: web developers have seen cross-browser compatibility improve over time, so I imagine it will happen here as well.

And Google programmers are also writing apps for the Android platform, so they also have a stake in making it easy to develop cross-device/cross-version apps.

So it sounds like, if the developers provide the correct metadata, any app that you see in the Marketplace will at least run on your device.

Whether or not it runs well is another matter, but apps are easy to remove and you get notified when there are upgrades to any apps you have installed (even if you haven't ever opened the app).

The point is valid but overstated, the phone products are very similar to each other at this point. I think the phones are what the market is looking at right now and currently that is what Android is being judged on. I’m betting instead of going the way of Symbian it goes the way of Windows.