The Androidmarket for tablets and phones are virtually exploding - worldwide.
There is a BIG chunk to be taken on this market for the “early bird” with the vision.
Are there concrete plans for a Android- version of Scrivener? And if, since it makes a big difference, when can it be expected?
There are plans, yes, but it won’t be for a while yet. The iOS version is our testbed for the mobile version, and once that is working well, that will be our basis for porting to android. That is well along the development path, so we’ll be able to start work on the Android app once we’ve really hammered out the kinks in the iOS version during testing, and found any flaws in the design (there’s no point making the same mistakes on two platforms).
I don’t believe in the “early bird” theory, by the way. 
There’s not much evidence that being the “early bird” wins out. Most of the industry behemoths and popular apps - Microsoft Word, Google, Firefox - were far from “early birds”. I think it’s much better to concentrate on making something really good that is worth buying than trying to get into a market first - not that we think in terms of “markets” and suchlike around here, anyway; we concentrate on making software we like. In this case, Lee - the Windows developer - is keen on an Android version and making it a reality.
KB, I hear you and I can appreciate that your “needs” differs somewhat from that of mine and other consumers on “androids”. I can also appreciate that todays stock of Scrivener customers are more keen on a solution for iOS. Maybe Scriveners geographic homemarket in terms of numbers of ios- vs androidusers differs a lot from Europe and other parts of the world. It’s true that you don’t need to be the “early bird” in order to be prosperous - but then ofcource you instead need to be big enough, have the funds and the vision to buy the catch of that early bird - or find other convincing ways to let you have a share of that fat worm.
In all markets and fields there will always be a catch for “the early bird” to be had. It’s as basic as “no free lunches”
Other than that, I congratulate you to have developed a useful and smart software. Its a great "catch"so to speak. I will keep using it until someone else “serves” a similar meal on a plate/platform closer to me.
I guess it depends on how you define “early bird”. If it’s “first to market”, then I don’t agree with you - a lot of the big players now weren’t massive when they started; they got massive because people swarmed to them when they arrived. If you define “early bird” as “first to do things right or better”, then I would agree more. Even so, we’re not necessarily after a “catch”. Obviously we want to survive as a business, but it’s important we take things one step at a time and get each step right along the way, so that we can retain our independence (we have no investors or suchlike, so everything we do is built off the success of what we have done). Android is definitely going to be part of that.
What do you mean by Scrivener’s geographic home market, by the way? If you mean the US, then that is definitely our largest market. And we do have team members in the US (as well as Australia). Our roots are in the UK, though, so very much European (despite our government’s efforts 
). Our market is more English-speaking at the moment, not only because of the massive US market, but also because we haven’t translated Scrivener into other languages - but that is changing.
Our current user-base is definitely more iOS-oriented, though. This has less to do with geography than history - the history of Scriv, that is. Because Scrivener has been around on the Mac for nearly seven years, and on Windows for only two, we have many more Mac users than we do Windows users. And Mac users tend to use iOS devices. Thus, the demand has always been for an iOS version, so it makes sense to start there.
I studied the ‘early-bird’ issue at business school. Back then, pretty much all of the literature - academic theories and case studies - stressed the importance of being firstest with the mostest, in a General-Patton-ish kind of way. That helped to encourage a lot of companies to rush to market, notably in the dot-com boom of the late 90s, but often with only transient success, finding themselves subsequently overtaken by rivals who’d pursued a more considered approach.
Since then, it’s my impression, although I’m no longer a business student, that academic opinion has swung in the other direction. Fast or fast-ish second movers, or even well-thought-through thirds, are now regarded as good as or better than moving first.
You still hear some of those original first-mover concerns voiced by novelists who see a rival book published just as they submit theirs to a publisher. Or film directors, whose movies are premiered after others with similar themes.
Yet I’ve a feeling the latest academic theories are right. First movers don’t necessarily win. Underlying excellence matters.
(Just footnotin’. 8))
Put simply …
No problem and good luck
This is getting a bit theoretic I think
The actual situation is that I am one buyer together with millions of others standing with money in hand asking for a softwaresolution to buy.
After all, It’s nothing actually WRONG with being the first to serve a meal to a hungry bunch. Being the second supplyer to the same bunch will be a bit harder since their demand probably allready is filled.
Thats demand and supply.
On the other hand, there may be other reasons to move slowly, or in a total different direction for that matter, but ofcourse its not a bad business in it self to be the first to serve a customer. 8)
There IS something wrong with it if you can’t do it right, which is my main point - we are a small company and can’t just rush out an amazing Android app quickly, when our resources are limited. We prioritise and work hard to create software we ourselves love. Oh, and if there were truly “millions” of customers waiting to buy Scrivener, an Android app would already be in your hands because we’d be stinking rich and have plenty of money to throw at it. You have to remember that Scriv is a niche, non-mainstream app.
I thought pioneers got arrows in their chests. Think about it. They’re the avant-garde, out in front of the main troops. When the Indians attack, the pioneers get it first… in the chest.
Nicht wahr?
No, pioneers get plenty of arrows in the back: from competitors who want to stop them from getting there first, and from others who are so terrified at where they are leading them that they want to stop them.
M.
I write to Scrivener files every day on my Android (Nexus 7). Sync the (draft) files to Dropbox in plain text and then use the DB editor or Jota+ to write/edit. It’s not structural heavy-lifting, but I wouldn’t want to do any of that with a 7 (or 10) inch screen anyway, and it is writing - where and when whatever inspiration I ever get comes my way.
YMMV - as my early-teens daughter is now saying at every irritating opportunity.
Eric
Thanks Eric,
Will check that option out 
And even behemoths can’t keep all of their users.
I used to use MS Word for 12 to 14 hours every day. I probably use it for about an hour every month now—only when a specific situation/client demands. Scrivener and OS X Pages have replaced Word.
I used to use a lot of Google stuff (search, docs, G+, etc). Have binned all Google products now—save for blue moon searches.
And Firefox was my browser of choice back in the day. Safari or Opera now.
While we understand that you have concerns about the quality of the product, is there any informed guess on when the iOS version will be available and focus will move forward to Android?
The iOS version will be out this year… sometime. Work on the Android version will therefore start later this year.
I don’t understand why anyone would want an exploding android device. And why on earth would you want to write on one? You could lose your fingers. 
(Police car in Hyde Park, London)