Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 29th Mar 2010 09:48 UTC
PDAs, Cellphones, Wireless There are various trains of thought regarding Apple suing HTC, and one of them is that Apple feels threatened by Android's rise in popularity. Some laughed this away, but when you look at recent statistics regarding mobile web usage, it becomes pretty clear Apple has every reason to feel threatened by Google's mobile operating system.
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iPhone vs. Android
by fuzzywombat on Mon 29th Mar 2010 13:05 UTC
fuzzywombat
Member since:
2006-11-21

I just don't think Apple can keep up with the sheer number of Android phones coming to market these days. Samsung, Motorola, LG, HTC, and soon Sony Ericsson are offering multitude of features, size, style and prices while iPhone has just one handset with different storage capacities and prices. Every one of these companies in Open Handset Alliance have multiple handsets in the product development pipeline while Apple seems to have a release cycle of one hardware update per year. The sheer selection of devices and wireless service providers makes Android much more flexible platform at this point.

Apple has to address couple of issues with the iPhone or they'll once again have a single digit market share product in the long run.

1. AT&T exclusivity. iPhone needs to be on multiple carriers especially Verizon to compete against the Android onslaught.

2. App Store. The current state of App Store is not sustainable. It's almost impossible to find apps because of the sheer number of apps and the search system is entirely inadequate. The ratings system is largely broken and they skew towards the negative since users rate the app during uninstall process. The app approval policy is a mess and it's getting worse.

3. Multitasking. If you've used Android for couple of days, you'll know that lack of multitasking is single biggest technical drawback on the iPhone. The purported stability and battery life issues with multitasking aren't entirely a myth but it's definitely overblown by far. Ability to multitask makes a huge difference on how you interact with the device as well as what kind of apps are possible on the Android.

4. Performance. The Droid and Nexus One are much snappier than the iPhone. This is immediately noticeable when launching and using apps.

5. Screen. AMOLED screen is indeed much better than what iPhone has to offer. The long explanation about how pixel count of Nexus One AMOLED screen isn't what they say they claim doesn't matter. You just have to look at the Nexus One and iPhone screens side by side and you know which is better hands down.

6. Keyboard. If you are going to win over the Blackberry crowd, you have to have a real keyboard. There is a segment of the smartphone users that will never even consider to buy the iPhone because it doesn't have a keyboard. You can point, scream, taunt, and jump up and down all day but that's not going to change this simple fact.

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