6 ms·

Against iPhone OS, Android is the choice for those that have no choice

11 points by mlongo 16y ago

david_adams 16y ago
That article was a single thought that could have been expressed in a single sentence drawn out into a whole essay.
- rauljara 16y ago
  But you can say that about any essay with a well constructed thesis. Given that a well constructed thesis is considered a hallmark of "good" writing, you can say that about any "well written" essay. My point being that supporting evidence and elaboration are worth something. You shouldn't critique an author for supplying them. Especially when it isn't that hard to find other things in the essay to critique.
martythemaniak 16y ago
Oh, snarky, bitter Apple-bloggers, can you learn to write without subtly (or not so subtly) insulting everybody else? Is it any wonder that people still think of apple users as elitist? It seems none of them can even begin to imagine people actually preferring another product over an iPhone. I was a happy iPhone user for close to 2 years until I got my Nexus One, and now I am a happy Android user.
- jz 16y ago
  I'm fed up with the snarkiness from Apple lovers and haters. I have several Apple products, MBP, iPhone, and Airport Base Station and I have never touted that they are superior or better than other offerings out there. I just silently go along and do my own thing and still attract tons of negative comments. There seems to be an inferiority complex in both Apple fanboys and Apple haters.
  - slantyyz 16y ago
    Technology in general tends to bring out strong behaviours that seem to be based on cognitive dissonance. Whether you're talking about Apple/Linux/Windows, XBox/Nintendo/PS3 or Canon/Nikon, you're going to see discussions branch out into quasi-religious debates.
  - Tamerlin 16y ago
    "I have several Apple products, MBP, iPhone, and Airport Base Station and I have never touted that they are superior or better than other offerings out there." So you're the one!
ryandvm 16y ago
The author makes a fair enough point that Android is basically the operating system vendors and carriers have been forced to choose if they have any hope of competing against Apple and AT&T. But think back 25 years ago when PC vendors were in a similar quandary. The could come up with their own hardware/software stack; they could partner with Microsoft and install DOS (and later Windows); or they could sit out and watch Apple eat up the personal computer market. This is playing out exactly like the personal computer saga of the 80s and 90s. Apple wanted to go it alone with a closed, arguably superior ecosystem while the hardware partners and Microsoft (then) / Google (now) are left pushing the open environment. We all know how this story ends...
- davidw 16y ago
  Except that Android is really open, something Microsoft still isn't.
  - shin_lao 16y ago
    I'm not sure the openness of Android is important to customers.
    - davidw 16y ago
      Maybe not "consumer" type customers, but it may well be to more sophisticated customers such as businesses, who want to have more control, not be locked in, want to be able to do their own integrated systems, etc...
      - slantyyz 16y ago
        Not sure I agree with that. The problem with Windows Mobile was that there was no vertical integration. Who do I call when I have a problem? The phone manufacturer? The OS supplier? Blackberry has been very successful in the business world because they control the hardware and the OS. If there's a problem (and you can't tell if it's hardware or software related), you resolve it through one company.
mattmaroon 16y ago
This is some pretty serious monkey math. It doesn't matter that Android outsold iPhone 28% to 21%, it says, because iPhone grew from 16%. It omits the fact that Android grew from near 0. It's not hurting the iPhone yet because the industry is still in a growth phase, and even with RIM holding steady there was still a 50% market share held by increasingly irrelevant OSes like Symbian and WinMo. The real test will be the upcoming year. Most of the other OSes have faded away at this point. There's not enough marketshare left for both to grow like they did last year.
- mlongo 16y ago
  It is a question of comparing bananas with bananas and apples with apples. (No pun intended.) Android is growing as other manufacturers switch their OS to it. These same manufacturers are loosing market share to Apple. Android will continue to grow until all manufacturers that don't have their own viable OS have migrated. How much market share these manufacturers will hold in the future against Apple and Blackberry (perhaps HP in the future?) is the real question.
  - mattmaroon 16y ago
    No one manufacturer may top Apple individually, and it won't matter. The precise reason Android will grossly outsell iPhone in time is that it will have the collective R&D and marketing and carrier biz-dev of every major manufacturer but one. It's a perfect repeat of what happened in home computing and it will end the same way. And just like there, Apple won't be too pissed because they'll still make a fortune. Owning the high-end 5% of a market is sometimes as good as (or better than) being the dominant force in the other 95%.
yumraj 16y ago
<sarcasm>So, basically the author is saying that against the OS of no-choice (iPhone OS), Android is the choice for those that have no choice.</sarcasm> Seems a bit lop sided. The way I see it, Android is for those who prefer an OS Of-choice.
ErrantX 16y ago
The question, though, is whether Android is stealing a portion of Apple's market. Or if they are both just stealing off of other areas. I suspect the latter. In which case it makes sense that more phones = more market grab. I suspect Apple are perfectly happy with a 21% market share on one phone (compared to a combined market share of 28% with multiple phones across multiple manufacturers). Will be interesting to see what happens when the decreasing market share of Symbian/WinMo etc. reaches it's minimum and the "newer" OS's have nowhere else to steal but from each other.. :D

11 points by mlongo 16y ago

david_adams 16y ago

That article was a single thought that could have been expressed in a single sentence drawn out into a whole essay.

rauljara 16y ago
But you can say that about any essay with a well constructed thesis. Given that a well constructed thesis is considered a hallmark of "good" writing, you can say that about any "well written" essay. My point being that supporting evidence and elaboration are worth something. You shouldn't critique an author for supplying them. Especially when it isn't that hard to find other things in the essay to critique.

martythemaniak 16y ago

Oh, snarky, bitter Apple-bloggers, can you learn to write without subtly (or not so subtly) insulting everybody else? Is it any wonder that people still think of apple users as elitist? It seems none of them can even begin to imagine people actually preferring another product over an iPhone. I was a happy iPhone user for close to 2 years until I got my Nexus One, and now I am a happy Android user.

jz 16y ago
I'm fed up with the snarkiness from Apple lovers and haters. I have several Apple products, MBP, iPhone, and Airport Base Station and I have never touted that they are superior or better than other offerings out there. I just silently go along and do my own thing and still attract tons of negative comments. There seems to be an inferiority complex in both Apple fanboys and Apple haters.
- slantyyz 16y ago
  Technology in general tends to bring out strong behaviours that seem to be based on cognitive dissonance. Whether you're talking about Apple/Linux/Windows, XBox/Nintendo/PS3 or Canon/Nikon, you're going to see discussions branch out into quasi-religious debates.
- Tamerlin 16y ago
  "I have several Apple products, MBP, iPhone, and Airport Base Station and I have never touted that they are superior or better than other offerings out there." So you're the one!

ryandvm 16y ago

The author makes a fair enough point that Android is basically the operating system vendors and carriers have been forced to choose if they have any hope of competing against Apple and AT&T. But think back 25 years ago when PC vendors were in a similar quandary. The could come up with their own hardware/software stack; they could partner with Microsoft and install DOS (and later Windows); or they could sit out and watch Apple eat up the personal computer market. This is playing out exactly like the personal computer saga of the 80s and 90s. Apple wanted to go it alone with a closed, arguably superior ecosystem while the hardware partners and Microsoft (then) / Google (now) are left pushing the open environment. We all know how this story ends...

davidw 16y ago
Except that Android is really open, something Microsoft still isn't.
- shin_lao 16y ago
  I'm not sure the openness of Android is important to customers.
  - davidw 16y ago
    Maybe not "consumer" type customers, but it may well be to more sophisticated customers such as businesses, who want to have more control, not be locked in, want to be able to do their own integrated systems, etc...
    - slantyyz 16y ago
      Not sure I agree with that. The problem with Windows Mobile was that there was no vertical integration. Who do I call when I have a problem? The phone manufacturer? The OS supplier? Blackberry has been very successful in the business world because they control the hardware and the OS. If there's a problem (and you can't tell if it's hardware or software related), you resolve it through one company.

mattmaroon 16y ago

This is some pretty serious monkey math. It doesn't matter that Android outsold iPhone 28% to 21%, it says, because iPhone grew from 16%. It omits the fact that Android grew from near 0. It's not hurting the iPhone yet because the industry is still in a growth phase, and even with RIM holding steady there was still a 50% market share held by increasingly irrelevant OSes like Symbian and WinMo. The real test will be the upcoming year. Most of the other OSes have faded away at this point. There's not enough marketshare left for both to grow like they did last year.

mlongo 16y ago
It is a question of comparing bananas with bananas and apples with apples. (No pun intended.) Android is growing as other manufacturers switch their OS to it. These same manufacturers are loosing market share to Apple. Android will continue to grow until all manufacturers that don't have their own viable OS have migrated. How much market share these manufacturers will hold in the future against Apple and Blackberry (perhaps HP in the future?) is the real question.
- mattmaroon 16y ago
  No one manufacturer may top Apple individually, and it won't matter. The precise reason Android will grossly outsell iPhone in time is that it will have the collective R&D and marketing and carrier biz-dev of every major manufacturer but one. It's a perfect repeat of what happened in home computing and it will end the same way. And just like there, Apple won't be too pissed because they'll still make a fortune. Owning the high-end 5% of a market is sometimes as good as (or better than) being the dominant force in the other 95%.

yumraj 16y ago

<sarcasm>So, basically the author is saying that against the OS of no-choice (iPhone OS), Android is the choice for those that have no choice.</sarcasm> Seems a bit lop sided. The way I see it, Android is for those who prefer an OS Of-choice.

ErrantX 16y ago

The question, though, is whether Android is stealing a portion of Apple's market. Or if they are both just stealing off of other areas. I suspect the latter. In which case it makes sense that more phones = more market grab. I suspect Apple are perfectly happy with a 21% market share on one phone (compared to a combined market share of 28% with multiple phones across multiple manufacturers). Will be interesting to see what happens when the decreasing market share of Symbian/WinMo etc. reaches it's minimum and the "newer" OS's have nowhere else to steal but from each other.. :D