4 ms·

But it won't be like that in 2015. Android is already dominating in developing world. Low-end devices powered by Android is the future. In India for example, ma

by dm8 14y ago

But it won't be like that in 2015. Android is already dominating in developing world. Low-end devices powered by Android is the future. In India for example, maid at my friend's house didn't have mobile phone till 2007. Now she has mobile phone but she wants to buy "smart phone" with few thousand rupees (equivalent of 100 odd USD) and saving money for it. When my friend told me about it, I was stunned. In the hindsight, it looks like Android was masterstroke from Google. It wiped out MSFT from OS market for handheld devices.

zachalexander 14y ago
Funny how history seems to be repeating itself. Seems like Mac OS vs. Windows all over again, on phones. To go down that tangent for a minute -- I've been wanting to bounce these thoughts of HN for awhile. I always heard people argue (when I was a wee lad) that Apple not licensing their OS freely like Microsoft did was a terrible mistake, as proven by their rapidly diminishing market share. You could argue that, well, they're doing better now, but I wonder if this is a short term aberration. Their recent success seems to have been propelled by their innovation in the mobile space (much as their early desktop success was propelled by... their innovation in the desktop space), but I wonder if history will repeat itself: Apple does well at first, until competitors roughly catch up in terms of features, for cheaper, and with a more thriving market of third-party apps, and more and more people switch to the new platform and Apple's marketshare shrinks. I'm sure many people have made this observation before, and have much more insight into the situation than I do.
- logn 14y ago
  It's not a fair comparison and never was. Apple makes appliances: the hardware and software. When they let hardware clones into the market they cannibalize their business. Power Computing made great Mac machines and much cheaper than Apple. But Apple didn't want to be outsold on hardware and be reduced to only a software company (like Microsoft). You're right: Google is now the Microsoft in this scenario, the software company (although they're moving into hardware now but we'll see how that goes).
davycro 14y ago
I just spent the last three months developing a mobile app for the South African market and I disagree. In South Africa, Android phones cost USD $200 and higher. I bought a Nokia X2-01 for USD $50. Android phones must drop into the USD $50 range before they will have traction and I am not sure this will be possible.
- Moto7451 14y ago
  I'm not an expert on South African carrier economics but decent to good Android phones do exist in the 70-100 dollar range on prepaid carriers like MetroPCS and Cricket. I'm pretty sure that means a $50 USD android/other smart phone (maybe Firefox OS) wouldn't be too hard to produce. I'm under the assumption that these carriers do provide a small subsidy (even though they're contract free) which may or may not make sense for your country's carriers.
  - davycro 14y ago
    When I first arrived I thought that Android would be the dominant upcoming phone. But for reasons I do not understand, the devices are marked up. An iPhone 4 in South Africa will cost $800. I would like to see more android phones in the developing world, because developing for Nokia is a pain.

by dm8 14y ago

zachalexander 14y ago

Funny how history seems to be repeating itself. Seems like Mac OS vs. Windows all over again, on phones. To go down that tangent for a minute -- I've been wanting to bounce these thoughts of HN for awhile. I always heard people argue (when I was a wee lad) that Apple not licensing their OS freely like Microsoft did was a terrible mistake, as proven by their rapidly diminishing market share. You could argue that, well, they're doing better now, but I wonder if this is a short term aberration. Their recent success seems to have been propelled by their innovation in the mobile space (much as their early desktop success was propelled by... their innovation in the desktop space), but I wonder if history will repeat itself: Apple does well at first, until competitors roughly catch up in terms of features, for cheaper, and with a more thriving market of third-party apps, and more and more people switch to the new platform and Apple's marketshare shrinks. I'm sure many people have made this observation before, and have much more insight into the situation than I do.

logn 14y ago
It's not a fair comparison and never was. Apple makes appliances: the hardware and software. When they let hardware clones into the market they cannibalize their business. Power Computing made great Mac machines and much cheaper than Apple. But Apple didn't want to be outsold on hardware and be reduced to only a software company (like Microsoft). You're right: Google is now the Microsoft in this scenario, the software company (although they're moving into hardware now but we'll see how that goes).

davycro 14y ago

I just spent the last three months developing a mobile app for the South African market and I disagree. In South Africa, Android phones cost USD $200 and higher. I bought a Nokia X2-01 for USD $50. Android phones must drop into the USD $50 range before they will have traction and I am not sure this will be possible.

Moto7451 14y ago
I'm not an expert on South African carrier economics but decent to good Android phones do exist in the 70-100 dollar range on prepaid carriers like MetroPCS and Cricket. I'm pretty sure that means a $50 USD android/other smart phone (maybe Firefox OS) wouldn't be too hard to produce. I'm under the assumption that these carriers do provide a small subsidy (even though they're contract free) which may or may not make sense for your country's carriers.
- davycro 14y ago
  When I first arrived I thought that Android would be the dominant upcoming phone. But for reasons I do not understand, the devices are marked up. An iPhone 4 in South Africa will cost $800. I would like to see more android phones in the developing world, because developing for Nokia is a pain.