This seems to be a digression. The point isn't that the "task" of development is easier than web development. Of course it's not, that's ridiculous. It might be done with fancy Java IDEs, but it's still embedded systems development on physically disjoint hardware.
The point was that the added cost to development due to platform incompatibilities is less than it is in the web world. And I think that's largely inarguable. Where is the list of Android incompatibilities that is anywhere near as complicated or exhaustive as http://caniuse.com for example? People in this thread are having a lot of trouble coming up with any specifics at all, in fact. Mostly just a list of apps that break somewhere; no one seems to actually remember any real bugs or workarounds.
The point was that the added cost to development due to platform incompatibilities is less than it is in the web world. And I think that's largely inarguable. Where is the list of Android incompatibilities that is anywhere near as complicated or exhaustive as http://caniuse.com for example? People in this thread are having a lot of trouble coming up with any specifics at all, in fact. Mostly just a list of apps that break somewhere; no one seems to actually remember any real bugs or workarounds.