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Android 2.0 — Competition Against the iPhone and the Rest
GMGruman writes "Every few months, it seems, there is a new 'iPhone killer.' Android 2.0, in the guise of the Motorola Droid, is the latest such 'killer.' But what will it really take to beat or match the iPhone (single page), and does Android or any other mobile OS have the right stuff? There's a lot more to the answer than is usually discussed. This article takes a look at the strengths that may allow Droid and Android 2.0 to provide strong competition to devices like the iPhone and the Blackberry, as well as the obstacles it continues to face that could inhibit adoption."
I don't think it will be an iPhone killer. At best, it will slow Apple's growth to a significant degree. However, with it's exchange integration, etc, it could take a measurable chunk from Blackberry.
And, as a long-time Palm user, this will likely be the last nail in the coffin for Palm. I'd decided months ago that the replacement for my 700p was not likely to be another Palm, but nothing was really grabbing me. I was resigned to go to a crackberry. Now though, I may end up an early buyer of the Droid.
My wife will almost certainly get one, since she was on the edge of buying a GPS device.
I hope there's no single 'killer'. Diversity is a good thing, it gives choice and keeps competition driving things forward. It won't be too many years before pretty much all phones are smart phones, and there's a lot of room in the phone market for a lot of vendor's to exist and profit.
So here's to hoping we see a nice market share for iPhones's OS, Android, Maemo, WebOS, and Windows Mobile.
It comes down to carriers, and Verizon Wireless does have excellent coverage. I'm on an expired contract so I could have jumped to AT&T without any penalties, but the Droid has got what I've always wanted: a phone that's open enough to let me hack for fun, while also polished enough that I don't have to hack it just to make the basics work.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
This is especially true considering that the iPhone is essentially a single model with multiple revisions, whereas Android is an OS. The Android OS will almost certainly sell more than the iPhone device, but the ramifications aren't nearly as straightforward as comparing one device with more sales than another -- especially from a developer's perspective.
I think the Droid campaign has been brilliant so far, and has stirred up a lot of interest and buzz about the phone.
As a Pre owner, I wish Palm had done something like that instead of using the strange scary-lady ads that didn't do anything for anyone.
My bet is when the Droid is actually launched, you will see those ads showing what it can do that the iPhone can't and why it's cool.
What has me puzzled is why Nokia hasn't got any commercials out for it's N900. It runs a Debian Linux variant, and runs full flash right now, and it's hardware is superior to the Droids in some ways. Why they aren't shouting about it from the rooftops, I don't know.
Even Nokia is abandoning Symbian for maemo http://maemo.nokia.com/
Look, there is nothing special about the Iphone OS any more.
Neither the hardware or or the OS is the significant factor, as both platforms have achieved rough parity.
The Apple APP store defines the difference these days.
With 90,000 apps (75,000 of which are redundant "Crapps") it has the clear lead in developer mind share, monitization infrastructure, and deployment.
When someone writes a wrapper for these App store Apps that allows them to run on Android, its game over for this particular advantage.
Apple is entrenched and the clear leader. But lets face it, the hardware has no particular advantage any more, and the User Interface is pretty much Windows 3.1 looking with a desk top full of random icons with no organization.
Its not Apples fault. The iPhone OS was never designed with all of those app in mind. If/When Apple re-works the interface, with categorization of apps, (folders if you will) they can maintain the lead.
But Android has the advantage of youth, and none of the baggage of middle age.
Still, its the Apps. Android doesn't need as many apps to make it a complete user tool, because so much is bundled, but they still need more than currently exist.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
But by changing the rules they allow for the iPhone to become just another smartphone. That coupled with being on a single carrier isn't going to do much for their future.
What I think we'll see for US "smartphone" market share in early 2011:
Apple will loudly proclaim that they are the most popular smartphone. Google will proclaim that Android is the most popular smartphone OS. RIM and Microsoft will say, "Hey! Remember us? We've got amazing stuff coming real soon now!"
The point is that both Apple and Google will be proclaiming victory.
It behaves more like a real world object than any UI I have seen anywhere.
Yeah, I can see that.
Hey, you look nice, let's have sex.
- Fuck you, go away!
Hey, this app look nice, let's install it.
- Fuck you, go away!
I think the iPhone is Apple business as usual: ..."-ideas.
* Great user-interface as long as you like the defaults, if not you're screwed.
* Plenty of "wouldn't it be great if they user could
And then the usual:
* Controlled environment.
* Limited amount of options.
* Vendor lock-in.
* High prices (phone + plan for the time = excessive $$$)
If you have some issue with the UI, want support for more services or codecs, want to have an alternative application for doing the same thing, then you are screwed.
Like the iPhoto galleries on a real mac, looks nice but you can't export them to anything except MobileMe. Want remote desktop? Get MobileMe. Don't really fancy iTunes with no plugins? Well you're kinda screwed (Songbird isn't a viable alternative imho.) Want to play DivX on your phone? .. Got friends using MSN? Suck to be you!
And that's why I dislike Apple so much. If they where more open with things and just focused on innovation without being total asses they would had been nice.
GP does get a key point: The software is key. Carriers (and freaking Verizon in particular) in the US simply refused to understand this. They build the network, while all the innovation is in the handsets and the software, but for some reason, US carriers seem to think they are the true innovators and handset providers are fluff. Now that Verizon has screwed up on handsets for three years straight, they finally realize that their strength is simply the network they build. Maybe they've been listening to their own adds. They're finally going to ship a modern phone, without screwing up the software first. Stupidity at Verizon may be going out of style.
Anyway, as said before on slashdot, Android vs iPhone is just like Windows vs Mac all over again. With Verizon on board, Motorola building 20 new Android phones next year, and 50 Android sets in the works around the world, Android is set to finally deliver on it's promise of unifying the software across a broad spectrum of handsets. There wont be any single iPhone killer, just as no single PC was ever a Mac killer. However, I see nothing that can stop Android from becoming the world's dominant smart phone OS.
The Motorola Droid isn't quite as exciting of a device as the Sony Xperia X10. I suspect we'll keep seeing Android based "iPhone killers" plunk away until Adroid wins the race.
Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
"Apple keeps those measures of control because they help to protect their platform's image from incompetent or unscrupulous coders, and their negative impact on most users is relatively minor. If that balance ever shifts, either due to more competent coders (supposedly Flash 10.1 is heavily optimized) or more demanding users (with friends whose phones do some or all of the above), the rules can change in an instant"
Ok thats a downirght B.S. excuese right there. The majority of the flash files people would be going after/ watching/using would be from youtube.com or google.com or myspace.com for video which last time I checked had some of the top people in the world dealing with compression, codexes and flash players in the world. Saying Apple is trying to keep bad ugly un-useful flash apps from their users is like saying Apple isn't trying to not lose money from forcing people to only buy videos from their itunes store.
It has nothing to do with scary bad coders, it has everything to do with them keeping people from getting videos outside of what they control (itunes).
TruePunk | Games
The HTC Magic is however frankly a crap device. On paper it has good specs, but it's a generation too slow for the OS and it's not really that nice.
Disclaimer: I own one.
Android was never going to compete on the first generation devices. The new generation - starting with the Motorola Droid - will be the ones that start to demonstrate the platform to its full potential.
It'll be interesting to see how well it does. Me, I'm skipping Android for a generation and going n900..
You mean the phone that sold 110 million units in its first for years? It was a great simple,slim phone, when it came out. You need to really hand it your geek card. Plus, there was a day when everything thing that was Motorola mean quality. Also they made the first phone with Itunes, that Apple designed and crippled. LG? You mean the revised the Gold Star that was known for crap electronics for years?
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