The latest version of Android was released in July—a little over 3 months ago. Yet the popular HBO Go app is not compatible! You can’t watch HBO Go on your brand new Nexus 7. You can’t watch HBO on any Android device that was updated to Android 4.3.
Can you imagine if HBO didn’t make its app compatible with Apple’s iOS 7? Nope, I can’t.
Martin
on 03 Oct 13So why is this “The worst thing about Android…” when your last sentence implies the onus is on HBO? “Can you imagine if HBO didn’t make its app compatible with Apple’s iOS 7? Nope, I can’t.”
Your post is not clearly communicating the point you’re trying to make.
Evan
on 03 Oct 13I would have to agree with Martin here.
kerrigan
on 03 Oct 13I love reading meaningless, whiny, pretentious posts from a respected website first thing in the morning.
What is the purpose of a “my dad is better than your dad” article?
vandzi
on 03 Oct 13Problem is not with android but with app. There are more possible reasons: your devices doesn’t have required hardware(app can require e.g. sim card, camera etc) or developer set max allowed android version bellow new 4.3. What i don’t like is that you don’t know reason. It should be mentioned why device is not compatible.
wal
on 03 Oct 13So the HBO devs don’t know what they’re doing.. and what’s the “worst thing about Android”?
wal
on 03 Oct 13vandzi: The app is not compatible because the developers set a maximum allowed android version. Seems pointless, because “by design, new versions of the platform are fully backward-compatible”.
ctwise
on 03 Oct 13It’s OS version take-up. The entire user base of iOS upgrades to the latest version at a very fast rate. If your app isn’t compatible with an upcoming iOS release most of your user base is going to be affected. That’s not the case with Android, so developers can (and do) prioritize updating apps to the latest Android release much lower then on iOS.
Aurélien
on 03 Oct 13The worst thing about android is (Problem) HBO app doesn’t work.
Let’s find a root cause, you have 20mn ! 1->2->3->4->5 Problem : HBO App doesn’t work Cause1 : new android version Cause2 : HBO didn’t checked the compatibility / prevent the issue within the code Cause3 : HBO doesn’t care enough about its android’s customers (and too much about iOS customers?) cause4 : let’s open a debate : is it related to the amont of $ generated by each plateform? or the relationship between HBO and this category of customers ? or maybe between android dev team and the Apps Dev team? I’ll take answer (d) HBO App dev team are subcontractors without dedication to the future of their app. cause5 : relationship between HBO company and it’s supplier have been neglected.
To fix this please read the first and final chapter of the Deming management method (and everything in between).
Thank you for your time and patience.
Petr
on 03 Oct 13But Android is open ! Hack your own app ;). Or recompile OS to answer with different OS version. Or something. You are not locked to Apple garden, so use it somehow…
Ravi
on 03 Oct 13We knew the HBO developers were idiots long before this. Back when HBO Go worked on the 2012 Nexus 7 with 4.2.2, MAX Go (effectively the same app from the same company) did not.
Nor was this a mere oversight. I sideloaded MAX Go because I thought it must have just been a typo or something. It wasn’t. I have no idea how, but the genius developers at HBO somehow managed to make one work, but not the other. There is something deeply broken in their software development process. If they haven’t made an equally bizarre mistake on iOS, they’ve just been lucky.
Anonymous Coward
on 03 Oct 13BTW… when are you going to update the Highrise app for iPhone 5 with a larger screen that was released over a year ago?
Jeff D
on 03 Oct 13Doesn’t surprise me. After all, they still have a Flash website.
Greg
on 04 Oct 13Wait, I have HBO GO on my 2012 Nexus 7 with latest 4.3. And it works… Not even sideloaded
Michael Guren
on 04 Oct 13Your phone already comes with a great app. It’s called a browser. Just log into HBO Go through that.
John Lowe
on 04 Oct 13My interpretation of Jamie’s point is that major broadcasting companies (and M&E firms in general), in this case HBO, are more inclined to ensure their apps are compatible with the latest iOS versions than Android. It’s a similar story for Sky (News Corp). I’m in a similar situation, Nexus 7, HTC One and simple apps like Photoshop and Monopoly aren’t compatible with Android 4.3.
I can understand that there are a plethora of devices and operators and testing for Android 4.3 is painful compared to the smaller number of boxed combinations in the Apple world, but it’s quite a lame excuse given the new cool tools for testing mobile apps (HockeyApp, TestFlight, QuincyKit). I wrote a piece about this here http://energetic.io/blog/2013/09/09/4-steps-to-dramatically-improve-app-sales/
Gene Kay
on 04 Oct 13Android sucks, period. Important people use Apple, and HBO works great on it.
This discussion is closed.