

Why Betting on IPhone Over Android Is Wrong - jboydyhacker
http://www.blindreason.org/2009/12/why-betting-on-iphone-over-android-is.html

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mdasen
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
Linux has grown way faster than windows over the past 10 years... Check again
in another 5 years.

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evgen
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
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.

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dasil003
_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
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...?

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unalone
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
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
Gah! That's even worse than upvoting based purely on agreement.

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colinplamondon
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
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
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
Truphone/Skype

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halostatue
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-...](http://www.theangrydrunk.com/2009/12/14/ive-seen-things-you-people-
wouldnt-belive/)

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
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/> Haven't had a chance to try it
myself yet though.

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tseabrooks
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.

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jpcx01
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.

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hubb
this article is barely legible.

