8 ms·

Why Betting on IPhone Over Android Is Wrong

14 points by jboydyhacker 17y ago

tseabrooks 17y ago
But thats only half the story, right? The other half is that people (enough for apple to be successful) decided they wanted apple again and have been switching to apple products for the last half a decade. Where does this fit into the analysis? He has only looked at half of the history here and the other half seems to contradict his main point.
colinplamondon 17y ago
The iPhone is $100. Wintel was able to beat Macintosh due to pricing, not due to quality. Windows was the next best option for people who didn't want to shell out $$$$. iPhone is the nobrainer choice for anyone with a clue, unless they are specifically looking for something open source. That's maybe .5% of the market. Android's market is as an alternative to the iPhone on carriers that don't have the iPhone- a market that's being shut down abroad as Apple expands beyond their launch partners. Edit: it helps if I use the right words :) Don't post on HN before coffee!
- grandalf 17y ago
  Macintosh beats wintel on pricing? Could you give an example of that? I've heard a lot of people complain about how bad aspects of the iPhone are... it was a bold and game changing device, but I don't think a product that has changed minimally since the first version launched should be getting too confident about continued market share.
  - halostatue 17y ago
    Consistency matters. The iPhone 3G and 3GS are incremental improvements over the earlier models; they don't need to be revolutionary in the hardware—the software is key to most of the iPhone experience. I hear a lot of people complain about the iPhone, but I wonder how much of those complaints are about the piss-poor U.S. carrier. I've heard no complaints from my circle in Toronto, and I've heard of few complaints in Europe. My biggest problem is that I can't roam with it for a reasonable price when I go to Europe this summer.
    - stcredzero 17y ago
      Truphone/Skype
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    > product that has changed minimally No different screen sizes or shapes to support, few memory or processing speed or peripheral availability changes. Everything that made developing Java for cellphones horrible, it doesn't have.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
dasil003 17y ago
People pay 2.7 times what a PC costs, for the Apple product with the exactly same interior components. In what parallel universe is this guy living in? Why is his number so exact? Is there a citation? I'm pretty sure if you want Apple hardware specs for a third of the cost you need to own your own factory in China.
- herval 17y ago
  all you need is to buy Dell, HP or even Lenovo. Or do you have exact numbers that show you CANNOT get hardware with the same specs as Apple's for a fraction of the price...?
mdasen 17y ago
We'll have to wait and see how it plays out. Being "open" hasn't propelled Linux over Windows. And it should be noted that most people aren't using Android in a way that's more open than the iPhone - people get their programs from the Android Market, OS updates are provided by the handset manufacturer/carrier, etc. In some ways, the iPhone is more freeing since one doesn't have to worry about the carrier or device manufacturer abandoning it for OS updates - as my roommate looks forward to a 6 month wait for an update to his HTC Hero which is now two versions behind! I think what it really comes down to is who provides the best experience. Freedom is part of that experience - can you use the device how you want. Part of that is open-ness, but part of that is having something that works right. No one would say that anti-virus software enhances the user experience in its own right, but millions use it because it prevents something worse. Likewise, restrictions on what you can install can have two sides. It's a balancing act. Whether Android or the iPhone will get it right is debatable, but I think it's definitely a balancing act.
- grandalf 17y ago
  Linux has grown way faster than windows over the past 10 years... Check again in another 5 years.
  - pierrefar 17y ago
    Not on the desktop. On the server is where it's kicking ass.
  - evgen 17y ago
    It is easy to show fast "growth" when you are starting from what is effectively a zero percent usage. Microsoft will ship more copies of Windows 7 this month than there are people who have ever run a non-embedded Linux over the entirety of it's existence. The first ten percent or so of growth is easy, the rest is much harder.
    - SamAtt 17y ago
      Especially when you're gaining at the expense of a dying competitor. I don't claim to know how much Linux will grow in the future but there's no doubt it's growth over the last 5 years has had a lot to do with Sun collapsing and companies moving away from Solaris. That's a market that's all but dried up at this point.
hubb 17y ago
this article is barely legible.
unalone 17y ago
People are really voting this illiterate mess of a blog post up? A market can exist with more than one product, free doesn't instantly beat paid, and this entire conversation has been repeated nonstop for three years. Why are we all still such fuckholes?
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  People are voting it because they want it to be true, not because it's likely. Our mask of rationality is only a thin disguise over the truth, which is just that we don't care about those topics about which we are capable of being rational.
  - dasil003 17y ago
    Gah! That's even worse than upvoting based purely on agreement.
halostatue 17y ago
Dumb article. Darby Lines has a great article on x-killers that is infinitely better than this article. http://www.theangrydrunk.com/2009/12/14/ive-seen-things-you-people-wouldnt-belive/ http://www.theangrydrunk.com/2009/12/14/ive-seen-things-you-... Some people will prefer iPhone; others will prefer Android. The only way to get applications that work on both is through web standards or to write them separately. Both can win without the other being a loser.
- theBobMcCormick 17y ago
  I think you're 100% correct that the smartphone market is more than big enough for both to win. IMHO, RIM, Palm, and Windows Mobile are much more at risk than either Apple or Android. BTW. For getting native applications to work on both, this looks pretty promising: http://www.appcelerator.com/ http://www.appcelerator.com/ Haven't had a chance to try it myself yet though.
jpcx01 17y ago
I see developers and power users switching over in droves. Android is advancing much faster than iPhones on the tech side. I do think it'll unseat the iPhone in market share within a few years.

14 points by jboydyhacker 17y ago

But thats only half the story, right? The other half is that people (enough for apple to be successful) decided they wanted apple again and have been switching to apple products for the last half a decade. Where does this fit into the analysis? He has only looked at half of the history here and the other half seems to contradict his main point.

colinplamondon 17y ago

The iPhone is $100. Wintel was able to beat Macintosh due to pricing, not due to quality. Windows was the next best option for people who didn't want to shell out $$$$. iPhone is the nobrainer choice for anyone with a clue, unless they are specifically looking for something open source. That's maybe .5% of the market. Android's market is as an alternative to the iPhone on carriers that don't have the iPhone- a market that's being shut down abroad as Apple expands beyond their launch partners. Edit: it helps if I use the right words :) Don't post on HN before coffee!

grandalf 17y ago
Macintosh beats wintel on pricing? Could you give an example of that? I've heard a lot of people complain about how bad aspects of the iPhone are... it was a bold and game changing device, but I don't think a product that has changed minimally since the first version launched should be getting too confident about continued market share.
- halostatue 17y ago
  Consistency matters. The iPhone 3G and 3GS are incremental improvements over the earlier models; they don't need to be revolutionary in the hardware—the software is key to most of the iPhone experience. I hear a lot of people complain about the iPhone, but I wonder how much of those complaints are about the piss-poor U.S. carrier. I've heard no complaints from my circle in Toronto, and I've heard of few complaints in Europe. My biggest problem is that I can't roam with it for a reasonable price when I go to Europe this summer.
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    Truphone/Skype
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  > product that has changed minimally No different screen sizes or shapes to support, few memory or processing speed or peripheral availability changes. Everything that made developing Java for cellphones horrible, it doesn't have.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

dasil003 17y ago

People pay 2.7 times what a PC costs, for the Apple product with the exactly same interior components. In what parallel universe is this guy living in? Why is his number so exact? Is there a citation? I'm pretty sure if you want Apple hardware specs for a third of the cost you need to own your own factory in China.

herval 17y ago
all you need is to buy Dell, HP or even Lenovo. Or do you have exact numbers that show you CANNOT get hardware with the same specs as Apple's for a fraction of the price...?

mdasen 17y ago

We'll have to wait and see how it plays out. Being "open" hasn't propelled Linux over Windows. And it should be noted that most people aren't using Android in a way that's more open than the iPhone - people get their programs from the Android Market, OS updates are provided by the handset manufacturer/carrier, etc. In some ways, the iPhone is more freeing since one doesn't have to worry about the carrier or device manufacturer abandoning it for OS updates - as my roommate looks forward to a 6 month wait for an update to his HTC Hero which is now two versions behind! I think what it really comes down to is who provides the best experience. Freedom is part of that experience - can you use the device how you want. Part of that is open-ness, but part of that is having something that works right. No one would say that anti-virus software enhances the user experience in its own right, but millions use it because it prevents something worse. Likewise, restrictions on what you can install can have two sides. It's a balancing act. Whether Android or the iPhone will get it right is debatable, but I think it's definitely a balancing act.

grandalf 17y ago
Linux has grown way faster than windows over the past 10 years... Check again in another 5 years.
- pierrefar 17y ago
  Not on the desktop. On the server is where it's kicking ass.
- evgen 17y ago
  It is easy to show fast "growth" when you are starting from what is effectively a zero percent usage. Microsoft will ship more copies of Windows 7 this month than there are people who have ever run a non-embedded Linux over the entirety of it's existence. The first ten percent or so of growth is easy, the rest is much harder.
  - SamAtt 17y ago
    Especially when you're gaining at the expense of a dying competitor. I don't claim to know how much Linux will grow in the future but there's no doubt it's growth over the last 5 years has had a lot to do with Sun collapsing and companies moving away from Solaris. That's a market that's all but dried up at this point.

hubb 17y ago

this article is barely legible.

unalone 17y ago

People are really voting this illiterate mess of a blog post up? A market can exist with more than one product, free doesn't instantly beat paid, and this entire conversation has been repeated nonstop for three years. Why are we all still such fuckholes?

houseabsolute 17y ago
People are voting it because they want it to be true, not because it's likely. Our mask of rationality is only a thin disguise over the truth, which is just that we don't care about those topics about which we are capable of being rational.
- dasil003 17y ago
  Gah! That's even worse than upvoting based purely on agreement.

halostatue 17y ago

Dumb article. Darby Lines has a great article on x-killers that is infinitely better than this article. http://www.theangrydrunk.com/2009/12/14/ive-seen-things-you-people-wouldnt-belive/ http://www.theangrydrunk.com/2009/12/14/ive-seen-things-you-... Some people will prefer iPhone; others will prefer Android. The only way to get applications that work on both is through web standards or to write them separately. Both can win without the other being a loser.

theBobMcCormick 17y ago
I think you're 100% correct that the smartphone market is more than big enough for both to win. IMHO, RIM, Palm, and Windows Mobile are much more at risk than either Apple or Android. BTW. For getting native applications to work on both, this looks pretty promising: http://www.appcelerator.com/ http://www.appcelerator.com/ Haven't had a chance to try it myself yet though.

jpcx01 17y ago

I see developers and power users switching over in droves. Android is advancing much faster than iPhones on the tech side. I do think it'll unseat the iPhone in market share within a few years.