I know that my question is quite generic and maybe there is more than one approaches to take that decision. But I would like to listen different approaches that maybe I haven't thought since now. Also, forgive me if stack overflow is not the right place for questions like this (since it is not technical and specific) but I strongly believe that there is not more appropriate place for this question than here. Also I am pretty sure that this subject may be interesting for many android developers here.
So, when I have to make that call, first of all
- I consider the official statistics of each distribution. So, I take a look in diagrams like this. Of course we have to keep an eye to the market and to consider very seriously what will be the future of our app one or two years later
- A second factor can be the api restrictions, but if you face this problem, sometimes is easier to decide.
- Least but not last is the specific market statistics and trends. For instance if the app is paid then you go to more specific statistics, for example Android L users spend more money on google play than the older version users.
All these thoughts became more strong after the release of Android L which is in my opinion the most competitive version against apple. Android L encourages the use of Material Design , contains cool animations and ifrom the point of view of speed , memory management and more technical stuff is way better than the older versions (as it supposed to be).
Thank you
