There is no ignoring the fact that Apps are a multi-billion dollar industry. Consumers spent 6.2 billion on Mobile Apps in 2010 alone. Mobile In-App Advertising has sky rocketed in the past few years. So why are Sacramento businesses so reluctant to advertise in Mobile? I've seen very little activity from local businesses. While more successful businesses like restaurant chain Mikuni Sushi have created their own iPhone App to promote customer loyalty, and firms like Shane & Co. are advertising in areas like Pandora, it's still pretty dormant out there. It's got me wondering what Sacramento Businesses are waiting for? I think they're missing the boat on in-app advertising.

Apple's iAd Network has given App Developers the perfect opportunity to monetize their apps by displaying ad content for publishers like you and me. I'm still waiting to see an ad for Thunder Valley popping up in my Angry Birds. When that starts to happen, I'll know that Sacramento Businesses have caught wind to the fact that their entire demographic is waiting to see their Ad.

Wouldn't it be great if mobile were easier to develop for? It feels like 1994 again and I'm talking about a war heating up between Internet Explorer and Netscape (who the hell are they?) Instead it's 2011, and now we're talking about the Mobile war. It's common knowledge that Apple has been dominating the market for years. Since Google launched Android, they've been in constant competition with one another, with BlackBerry still retaining a considerable market share as well.

Even though relatively new, the elephant in the room is... it's STUPID not to develop for Android. As much as we'd love to think it's still all about Apple and BlackBerry - it's Android that currently has the dominant share in the smartphone market.

What it doesn't have going for it, is a singularly identifiable platform like Apple and BlackBerry do. Thus, Androids many faces and devices make it a moving target and notoriously difficult to develop for. Documentation is cryptic and hardly a starting point for the development of the next great app. You can surf night and day and still not find enough documentation to even get you started!

Many great programmers have professed a deep seething hatred for developing for the Android platform. Tumblr founder David Karp was recently quoted as saying "Android absolutely SUCKS to develop for". While I haven't given up and stopped developing for Android, I do happen to think that Google rushed a shoddy product and then promptly pushed it down everyones throat. It's not the elegant string of pearls they'd have you believe it is. From the clunky API and non-existent support to the convoluted mishmosh mess that is the legacy codebase, Android is... shall we say, "difficult". Like I said, I haven't given up on Android... but you won't see me light up at the opportunity to develop an App for it.