

Against iPhone OS, Android is the choice for those that have no choice  - mlongo
http://ipadwatcher.com/2010/05/11/in-competition-with-iphone-os-android-is-the-choice-for-those-that-have-no-choice/

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ryandvm
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...

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davidw
Except that Android is _really_ open, something Microsoft still isn't.

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shin_lao
I'm not sure the openness of Android is important to customers.

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davidw
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
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.

~~~
slantyyz
"It completely blows BB out of the water."

Like I said, that's not necessarily the point. From an IT manager's
perspective, vendor support is just as important, if not more important than a
product's features. When a company owns the OS and the hardware, there is no
buck passing for blame. It all goes to one vendor.

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martythemaniak
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
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
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.

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mattmaroon
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
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
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%.

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yumraj
<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.

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ErrantX
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

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

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rauljara
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.

