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Uh, my brother, brother-in-law and about everyone I know that's contract has expired since the droid came out. There are places where iPhones just aren't offer

Uh, my brother, brother-in-law and about everyone I know that's contract has expired since the droid came out. There are places where iPhones just aren't offered/don't work well. Here, the competition is more for the BlackBerry market.

mechanical_fish 17y ago
There are places where iPhones just aren't offered/don't work well. Yes, but do you know what? That advantage of the Android platform is entirely temporary, as the original article hints at near the end: As Apple expands to other carriers in the US it will be even more clear the massively better product they have for consumers. We're just waiting for that shoe to drop. It's not as if Steve Jobs does not know, probably down to the second, exactly how long Apple's exclusive contract with AT&T will last in the USA. Nor does it seem likely that Verizon and T-Mobile -- however eagerly they appear to have clutched Apple's competitors to their breasts in the short run -- will hesitate for a nanosecond to augment their current offerings with the iPhone if that will earn them additional money.
- netcan 17y ago
  I think it might be a mistake to assume that the iPhone is even aiming for ipod-like market share. Soon the smartphone market will virtually disappear and replaced by the phone market. Do we really think that Apple will own the lion's share of the phone market? I think a mac-like strategy is more likely: Apple take a big, juicy, high margin chunk of exactly the piece of the market they want. All the other phones will need some sort of OS too.
  - mechanical_fish 17y ago
    All the other phones will need some sort of OS too. Absolutely. And from what little I've seen of how the Android market has played out so far, this might as well be Google's official mission statement. But this is what the original article is about. "The people who aren't well-served by Apple" is a large market, and is always likely to be a viable market. But it is a terribly fragmented market, and it has an ephemeral definition to boot.
- dannyr 17y ago
  Yes. IPhone will be more widespread when it becomes available to carriers. However, I doubt the OS will be available to manufacturers to use for their handsets. That's the advantage of Android. Manufacturers can use it and have them negotiate with carriers. With the IPhone, it cannot expand as fast as Android since Apple is the only one producing it and they need to work with every carrier. Whereas with Android, Google will not be doing any of these (or doesn't have to). The phone manufacturers will be doing it for them.

mechanical_fish 17y ago

There are places where iPhones just aren't offered/don't work well. Yes, but do you know what? That advantage of the Android platform is entirely temporary, as the original article hints at near the end: As Apple expands to other carriers in the US it will be even more clear the massively better product they have for consumers. We're just waiting for that shoe to drop. It's not as if Steve Jobs does not know, probably down to the second, exactly how long Apple's exclusive contract with AT&T will last in the USA. Nor does it seem likely that Verizon and T-Mobile -- however eagerly they appear to have clutched Apple's competitors to their breasts in the short run -- will hesitate for a nanosecond to augment their current offerings with the iPhone if that will earn them additional money.

netcan 17y ago
I think it might be a mistake to assume that the iPhone is even aiming for ipod-like market share. Soon the smartphone market will virtually disappear and replaced by the phone market. Do we really think that Apple will own the lion's share of the phone market? I think a mac-like strategy is more likely: Apple take a big, juicy, high margin chunk of exactly the piece of the market they want. All the other phones will need some sort of OS too.
- mechanical_fish 17y ago
  All the other phones will need some sort of OS too. Absolutely. And from what little I've seen of how the Android market has played out so far, this might as well be Google's official mission statement. But this is what the original article is about. "The people who aren't well-served by Apple" is a large market, and is always likely to be a viable market. But it is a terribly fragmented market, and it has an ephemeral definition to boot.
dannyr 17y ago
Yes. IPhone will be more widespread when it becomes available to carriers. However, I doubt the OS will be available to manufacturers to use for their handsets. That's the advantage of Android. Manufacturers can use it and have them negotiate with carriers. With the IPhone, it cannot expand as fast as Android since Apple is the only one producing it and they need to work with every carrier. Whereas with Android, Google will not be doing any of these (or doesn't have to). The phone manufacturers will be doing it for them.