iPhone/Android developer here >Closed systems like the iPhone allow for programs perfectly customized for the hardware The closed nature of the platform doesn

iPhone/Android developer here >Closed systems like the iPhone allow for programs perfectly customized for the hardware The closed nature of the platform doesn't help this at all. The fact there are only 5 iPhoneOS platforms, 4 of which are virtually spec identical (iPhone 2g, iPhone 3g, iPhone 3gs, iPodTouch[most different]), and now the iPad makes it easier to use fixed width layouts and screen mappings. The hardware variation between the handsets is only noticeable, not an impediment. However the fact all of them can run the latest iPhoneOS release means the platform is much more stable. The lack of fragmentation is what makes iPhone OS so powerful. If google makes it so all future phones have sufficent specs to handle all upgrades, then streamlines the upgrade process, then we're likely to see more inroads in android. Android's biggest weakness is that each phone is on a different OS version (and there are vast differences between these versions). Some of the phones (notably the G1) aren't ever going to be upgradeable to the current latest version (as said by engineers) due to the small onboard memory. The capabilities of these different OSes are very large. It would be the difference between running iPhoneOS2.0 vs iPhone OS3.2 (the new one that's on the iPad).