I touched on this when I posted Fake Steve Jobs’ hilarious anti-Android rant earlier today — I just can’t believe how many tech writers and gadget enthusiasts have written off Apple iPhone OS and crowned Google Android the king of the smartphone world. Whether it’s Gizmodo, ZDNet, The Next Web, or millions of forum ranters, you’d think that Apple has no chance at “catching up” to Google. Ninja please!!!
Don’t think I’m an Apple fanboy or anything. I love Google Android. I think it’s a fantastic operating system and a wonderful platform. In several respects, it does things way better than iPhone OS. Of course iPhone OS has several advantages as well. The bottom line is that they’re competitive products that offer different things that appeal to different consumers. Just because Google announced a bunch of great Android 2.2 enhancements at Google I/O 2010 doesn’t mean that it has suddenly left Apple in the dust.
Remember, Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is right around the corner. You can bet that Steve Jobs’ keynote on June 7 will be full of excellent iPhone sorcery. Yes, a lot of iPhone OS 4 details were revealed in April, but do you really think that’s all Apple has up its sleeve? I fully expect Jobs to wow consumers with great iPhone hardware and software features. I have no doubt in my mind that he will unveil a few things that will make Android users jealous.
Google has done a marvelous job with Android in a very short period of time. The OS has matured nicely. The development community has grown rapidly. Don’t think I’m dismissing those things. That said, iPhone is still the best mobile platform for media consumption. It still has the larger app catalog. It still has a sexiness that — rightly or wrongly — a lot of mainstream consumers buy into. Android is in an excellent place at the moment, but saying or implying that it’s trouncing iPhone is just preposterous.
So yeah! (I use that phrase because Eddie Izzard uses it, btw.) Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that online journalists are being reactionary and sensational. I just think it’s misleading to proclaim Google Android as the new king of the world when the reality is that it’s a competitive market now. And really, that’s great for consumers looking for a smartphone. It’s going to be all Magic vs. Bird with the two companies pushing each other to greatness.
Ninja please! I think I will have to use that instead of that other n word lol. I swear…
@all
I am so tech savvy because of rpad.tv, thank you all
Haha. I think Android market share will take a hit if the Iphone has more than one carrier.
How does Android do outside of the US?
it does very well . part of it is because apple has exclusives with carriers in other countries. by the way i used google android voice to text to write this comment.
Haha I love it when competitors go at it like that. Now I just need Jobs to make the same kind of banter at google.
@Sandrock323 I've been wondering about that actually. I wonder if he'll fire back at the WWDC presser or if he'll just play it cool. He's gotten less fiery since he got sick and I don't know if he wants to acknowledge the competition by directly responding. If he does, I'm sure it will be more powerful simply because of who he is, but perhaps it'll just be smarter to promote the iPhone and pretend Android doesn't exist. *shrug*
He went after Adobe without holding back. Granted in letter form, but still we can dream can't we?
He also attached Google in April with his iAds intro. "Let's be honest, the ads suck right now"
Now we know why Google and Apple are hatin on one another. Nothing to do with an OS…all about the ad revenues
@Sandrock323 Adobe doesn't compete with Apple on multiple fronts.
@smartguy On a business level, its ads, mobile OS, web browser, and more. On a personal level, Jobs feels betrayed by Schmidt being on Apple's board of directors for years.
@Ray
Of course he does. Kinda reminiscent of the Sony/Nintendo fiasco huh? I honestly believe that Apple will win out in the end. Google runs the risk of becoming demonized or more appropriately victimized by what plagued MS really…that was simply being software devs instead of really being heavy handed in the hardware being used. It would seem that Google is more proactive than MS ever was in that dept, but we'll see how it plays out.
Speaking of which…did you see what Gabe Newell had to say about designing games to run on the Mac and how stable it is compared to the PC? Interesting stuff. He and John Carmack have to be my two favorite guys in the biz.
@smartguy There are similarities between the fight with MS, but it's different enough. As for "winning", I think that's way overrated. Some analysts say that Google Android will have the higher installed base within two years. I don't know if I agree with that, but it will be close. For Google's big picture, it will make more money selling mobile ads than Apple. That's the company's core competency at the end of the day: advertising. So maybe Apple will sell more hardware, but it will probably make less ad revenue.
@Ray
That makes sense. Google is an ad company and Apple is just a cool tech company. I would expect Google to make money on ads.
It could (android) have the higher installed base easily. When you have multiple handsets on multiple carriers…the percentages are in your favor.
@smartguy Right, but I don't see iPhone exclusivity lasting beyond this year. There's just too much money for Apple to make by going with multiple partners.