

Here's how Google Android could really take down iPhone 2.0 - edw519
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4268146.html

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pavelludiq
I don't like apple that much. They have some good ideas, but the general
attitude of the company makes me suspicious. The iPhone is pretty good, but i
don't like the way apple sells it. I wont be able to put my hands on one of
those, because at least for now apple is not selling iPhones in Bulgaria. I
like the macs too. I messed around for an hour or two with a friend of mines
macbook. I like MacOS X but its not that better than Ubuntu(i prefer kubuntu
though) Buuuut its too expensive. Its pricey to begin with, and when a few
companies redistribute it from the US to Spain, and then to central Europe and
then to Bulgaria it gets really expensive for me. MacOS x is not that good to
make me buy a really expensive laptop. A Dell with ubuntu is pretty decent and
i might get one in the fall(or maybe an eeepc) Anyway the iPhone is going to
have some tough competition in many of the countries its going to ship.
Especially with that activation thing. People in Romania are not going to be
that patient, and if it had shipped in Bulgaria patience was going to be even
a bigger problem. And the price for us is high, what's left for Nigeria. I
admire the hackers at apple. There geniuses, but the marketing guys annoy me,
maybe its just my Balkan scepticism and distrust. If you try to make a
Bulgarian pay too much for something and make him wait until you make sure he
does what you want him to do you are going to get your self a middle finger
before you see $199 so its smart that they don't sell them here :D As for
Google, I haven't read enough blogs about it's phone yet.

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bprater
I'd love to see Android give iPhone a run for it's money, but I'm not seeing
it happening in the early term. We still haven't seen Android in the wild.
Android doesn't have a strong obsessive, visionary like Jobs.

And you can't underestimate the thundering power of the AppStore. Like iTunes,
Apple is going to make it dead simple to add apps to your phone.

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stcredzero
AppStore is one thing that Google could do just as slickly as Apple. It would
be right in their core competency.

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jcl
I was going to post something similar, but then I wondered: If building
something like the AppStore in Google's core competency, and the AppStore is
similar to iTunes, why isn't Google already doing something like iTunes? Is it
simply lack of a locked-in hardware platform like what Apple has?

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stcredzero
In the case of iTunes, they've chosen not to compete. In the case of Android,
they have chosen to compete.

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mdasen
Android will NOT take down the iPhone. It won't happen.

What I think will happen is that Android will offer a compelling alternative
in a way that Apple's iPhone and iPod line have never seen before. While the
iPhone will still be popular, we'll have a duopoly rather than the iPod's
monopoly. Just my prediction, but maybe I'm just sick of the winner-take-all
markets that technology has become.

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lg
Then maybe Canonical will run a marketing campaign and future people will have
an OS duopoly of OSX and Ubuntu.

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axod
Interesting, but for me, I'd still happily use the iPhone for the same reason
I have a MacBook and not something with linux installed.

I can see android being hugely successful for people who want to learn,
tinker, and develop - just as linux is. But if you want to just get stuff
done, I'd say MacBook/iPhone wins against Linux/Android.

Also I don't think Android has _that_ much chance against the lure of the
iPhone. There's a clear upgrade path/leverage system from iPods (which pretty
much everyone has) to iPhone.

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stcredzero
Right. The developers might balk at Apple's restrictive ways. But the end-
users are probably going to be delighted with quality of the upcoming apps.
It's all about controlling the seamless user experience, and what Apple's
doing amounts to a subtle quality control on the 3rd party apps.

As the article points out, not everyone wants to wade through a deluge of
untested applications.

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davidw
I think they're sort of opposite ends of the spectrum, and that it's probably
not a winner take all market. Just as Linux completely dominates MacOS X for
applications where you need real control (servers, embedded, etc...) Android
will be popular for many people and companies. On the other hand, the
qualities of the iPhone in terms of user experience are pretty obvious, and
will win a lot of people over... but probably won't dominate the market, which
has never seemed to be an Apple goal in any case.

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allenbrunson
I can think of the first thing Google could do in their fight against Apple:
set fire to that godawful-ugly demo phone shown in this story. It reminds me
very much of all the me-too iPod "competitors." Creative, Dell, et al: "Hey,
we can make one of these things cheaper, and with more features!" Then they
turn out an uninspiring piece of junk not unlike that google phone, which
quickly fades from view.

This popular mechanics story is tone-deaf, which is true of almost all
mainstream articles written about Apple. It really amazes me how often the
press and Apple's would-be competitors get it wrong. But the comments it has
generated here are good, so I voted it up.

Apple customers are not interested in the highest number of features crammed
in the ugliest box. They want a device which looks and feels nice. Something
that's easy to figure out, that does what you want it to without having to
hunt through the manual. Something that makes a nice addition to your life.

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jonknee
... By not requiring $90 a month plans.

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brandonkm
Compared to the iPhone the android just falls short because of design flaws
that arn't folded well into the handset. To really be a true competitor
(iPhone killer), the android platform would need to be implemented on a device
that can rival the iPhones features/look (i.e. nokia s60 touch or the n98
concept).

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schtog
Can you develop for free to the Android? You have to buy a developers package
for the iPhone right?

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umjames
You only have to pay a $99 (more for enterprises) yearly fee to actually
deploy native apps to the iPhone. You can download, develop, and test in the
simulator iPhone code today for free.

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jcl
For free, provided you already own a Mac, I'm guessing.

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mikeryan
I'm not sure the SDK runs w/ XCode which is free but I believe OS X only - the
language is Objective-C so it could be built on a PC but I'm not sure how
you'd emulate.

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schtog
Judging from the pictures and having tried neither the iPhone looks a lot
slicker and nicer. The Android has too many buttons to look appealing.

