Your mainstream user does not give two shits about "open-ness" and apps running in the background. Odds are they think the iPhone does already, especially with

Your mainstream user does not give two shits about "open-ness" and apps running in the background. Odds are they think the iPhone does already, especially with push notifications. It is a nice alternative to the iPhone on carriers that don't have it the iPhone yet, but that's certainly not a position of strength. The iPhone will be on other carriers and at that point the iPhone will almost always win out. Android is a nice second best to the iPhone. Price is irrelevant too. There's already a $99 iPhone, so what are they going to do, lower the Android phones to $50? Even at that point, the iPhone is still worth $50 more. I think palm tried this with the Pixi, the Pre, or the Pez. Yeah, that worked out well. Go lower than $50 and you're out of smartphone territory. Oh an unlocked phone? Your mainstream users do not give a shit, especially when it costs $538. Everyone is trying to be Apple, no one is trying to BEAT them.