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> Android has arguably won the smartphone wars, but "Android winning" and "Google winning" are not necessarily the same thing. This is false. Google wins when

> Android has arguably won the smartphone wars, but "Android winning" and "Google winning" are not necessarily the same thing. This is false. Google wins when more people use the Internet. Android is fulfilling its initial goal incredibly well: offer a free and open-source mobile OS to encourage mobile device proliferation. Android is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

Nerdfest 13y ago
The article's description of what we're to happen if Apple did not have competition is quite accurate and write frightening. Even with the north American market share that Apple has they abuse it where possible.
- gibwell 13y ago
  Apple hasn't abused anything.
- cloudwalking 13y ago
  Yes I agree. Android is not about North America. Android is about India, Africa, and China.
  - Elv13 13y ago
    It is banned from China (AFAIK, they use Alibaba fork). India and Africa are mostly untapped markets. The 80% market share come from America and Europe
    - tomkarlo 13y ago
      That statement is entirely incorrect. http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2012/12/smartphone-market-share-trends-by-country.html#.UmSfthRDsao http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2012/12/smartphone-market-share...
    - zhte415 13y ago
      Android is not banned from (or, in) China. It is hugely popular. See, for example, a popular website's offerings for Android telephones: http://mobile.139shop.com/commend/170__001_1.htm http://mobile.139shop.com/commend/170__001_1.htm Interestingly, in China, and this is personal experience not a market survey, the more one moves away from big brand manufacturers of Android telephones, the more pure / bare-bones / no manufacturer or telecom added applications the Android install is (again, China experience only). I am sitting in mainland China with an Android phone in my pocket. 518 Yuan can easily buy a bright 5 inch screen, 4 days battery life (my average usage) with WiFi on most of the time, only one manufacturer installed app (Baidu input; being in China, this useful), 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 2 SIM card slots, SD Card slot (free card included, only 2GB, but free is free), 5MP camera (2MP reverse), user serviceable battery.
Brakenshire 13y ago
> This is false. Google wins when more people use the Internet. Android is fulfilling its initial goal incredibly well: offer a free and open-source mobile OS to encourage mobile device proliferation. > Android is doing exactly what it was designed to do. That's effectively what it says in the article: "It's easy to give something away when you're in last place with zero marketshare, precisely where Android started. When you're in first place though, it's a little harder to be so open and welcoming. Android has gone from being the thing that protects Google to being something worth protecting in its own right." i.e. Android is doing what it was designed for - protecting Google's presence on the mobile web - but with such a dominant market position Google found that it ceased to be solely a means of protection, and actually an asset in its own right. It's in that extension of the original aim where the interests of Android as an open source project and Google as a for-profit company do not match up.

Nerdfest 13y ago

The article's description of what we're to happen if Apple did not have competition is quite accurate and write frightening. Even with the north American market share that Apple has they abuse it where possible.

gibwell 13y ago
Apple hasn't abused anything.
cloudwalking 13y ago
Yes I agree. Android is not about North America. Android is about India, Africa, and China.
- Elv13 13y ago
  It is banned from China (AFAIK, they use Alibaba fork). India and Africa are mostly untapped markets. The 80% market share come from America and Europe
  - tomkarlo 13y ago
    That statement is entirely incorrect. http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2012/12/smartphone-market-share-trends-by-country.html#.UmSfthRDsao http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2012/12/smartphone-market-share...
  - zhte415 13y ago
    Android is not banned from (or, in) China. It is hugely popular. See, for example, a popular website's offerings for Android telephones: http://mobile.139shop.com/commend/170__001_1.htm http://mobile.139shop.com/commend/170__001_1.htm Interestingly, in China, and this is personal experience not a market survey, the more one moves away from big brand manufacturers of Android telephones, the more pure / bare-bones / no manufacturer or telecom added applications the Android install is (again, China experience only). I am sitting in mainland China with an Android phone in my pocket. 518 Yuan can easily buy a bright 5 inch screen, 4 days battery life (my average usage) with WiFi on most of the time, only one manufacturer installed app (Baidu input; being in China, this useful), 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 2 SIM card slots, SD Card slot (free card included, only 2GB, but free is free), 5MP camera (2MP reverse), user serviceable battery.

Brakenshire 13y ago

> This is false. Google wins when more people use the Internet. Android is fulfilling its initial goal incredibly well: offer a free and open-source mobile OS to encourage mobile device proliferation. > Android is doing exactly what it was designed to do. That's effectively what it says in the article: "It's easy to give something away when you're in last place with zero marketshare, precisely where Android started. When you're in first place though, it's a little harder to be so open and welcoming. Android has gone from being the thing that protects Google to being something worth protecting in its own right." i.e. Android is doing what it was designed for - protecting Google's presence on the mobile web - but with such a dominant market position Google found that it ceased to be solely a means of protection, and actually an asset in its own right. It's in that extension of the original aim where the interests of Android as an open source project and Google as a for-profit company do not match up.