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Apple IPhone v. Google Android Ping!
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Posted on 09/08/2010 5:07:20 AM PDT by Swordmaker
This weekend, I’ve been catching up on some reading. One post that was of particular interest to me was David Beach’s article from last week about developing for Android. Beach, who is a product manager at eBay Mobile and a co-founder of 12seconds, basically says that the experience sucks for a number of reasons (all of which Google can fix, but will take quite a bit of work and time). But one quote in particular stuck out to me:
Android has succeeded despite Google. In fact it’s safe to say that Android is successful for one primary reason. The iPhone is only available on AT&T. If the iPhone was on Verizon a year ago. Android would be no where near as popular.
Obviously, Beach isn’t the first person to bring this idea up. But he brings it up in a way that he’s able to back-up his feelings from a developer's perspective, while at the same time roping in what isn’t ideal from a consumer perspective about Android as well.
This is going to sound like flame bait, and everyone knows that I love the iPhone — but I have to agree with Beach. I’ve used no less than six Android phones for extended periods of time over the past couple of years. I really am trying to like them. But I just can’t.
Now, don’t get me wrong, almost all Android phones are a million times better than the phones we had just a few years ago before the iPhone burst onto the scene. And if the iPhone didn’t exist, there is no question that I would use an Android phone and would probably be very happy with it. But the iPhone does exist. And I simply can’t bring myself to use an Android phone when I know a superior device is out there. That’s my only requirement for me to use a product: it has to be the best.
The only valid argument I can see for the iPhone not being the best is the AT&T (T) requirement. So let’s put that aside for a second.
While I obviously understand that people have different tastes, I can’t see how you can objectively say that the overall experience of using an Android phone isn’t worse than using an iPhone. There are a dozen or more elements that are better about the iPhone.
Everything from the big: the App Store versus the Android Market (from the consumer perspective) — to the little: the multi-touch and overall touchscreen responsiveness.
Even the most diehard Android loyalists I know (like Jason and Mike) will readily admit that the iPhone offers a better user experience. So why do they love Android (again, besides the lack of AT&T requirement)? The openness. They hate that you can’t get Google Voice on the iPhone (I hate it too). And in general they hate Apple’s restrictive policies for the App Store (which I don’t like either). But those are problems that most regular consumers don’t think about — or realize exist at all.
Instead, like Beach says, the thing some consumers don’t like about the iPhone is that it’s AT&T only (in the U.S., obviously). Even if you live in an area where AT&T doesn’t absolutely suck, having no choice of carriers is a big restriction. People have work plans, family plans, etc, etc, that they just can’t switch. Or they don’t want to.
If the iPhone was on Verizon (VZ) (which is a larger network, remember), is there any question that it would be selling at least double the amount of units it is right now in the U.S.? I don’t think so. What if it was available on all the networks? And what would happen to Android sales if that was the case? That is the big question here.
Next year, it’s looking increasingly likely that we’ll get at least a partial answer. If the iPhone is available on Verizon or even just T-Mobile, will the pace of Android sales slow down in the U.S.?
I know a number of people who are Android users simply because of the iPhone/AT&T restriction. If and when the devices comes to Verizon, they will jump ship. The big question is: will millions of others follow? Or, perhaps more importantly, will millions of new users that would have gone with Android now go with iPhone?
I’m seriously curious to know why you like Android over the iPhone if you do. Is it because of the openness ideal? Is it the variety of devices? Is it the variety of carrier choices? Or is it something else?
The Market is a mess, the media situation is arguably worse, and the user experience is still just off when compared to the iPhone. Google (GOOG) is working on improving all of those things, but Apple (AAPL) is rock solid in all of those areas right now. Both sides will keep improving, but Google’s problem is that Apple is ahead and has remained ahead. Can Google surpass them? I’m just not sure I can see how unless Apple regresses — which they’ve shown no signs of doing. What I can see is a Verizon iPhone. And so do plenty of others.
Apple and Google are in the midst of a PR war for who is activating more devices each day. Google is doing 200,000 a day. Apple is doing 230,000 a day. But Apple says Google’s numbers may include upgrades. Google says Apple is wrong. This will go on and on.
It’s great that there is competition in the market right now. But would it be as fierce in the U.S. if it weren’t for the AT&T situation?
Would most people just be using an iPhone? Beach states it as a fact, but I don’t think it’s an unreasonable question to consider. And it’s something I’m sure Google is considering as the Verizon iPhone approaches.
pingarooney
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All of the AT&T sales people around here are now into them and are switching their own personal phones to droids. I have heard 5 or 6 of their sales people say the droid is better, and none say the reverse.
I think the author is right that the iphone is better. I don’t think he’s right about the amount sales would increase on a new network and that is (as it always is with Apple) because of price point. Droids can be had for free or close to it with a 2 year contract.
As for me, I cannot survive without a Qwerty so I’m on a droid.
My wife and I are in the process of switching from Blackberry to Droid 2.
I have a Blackberry and the only reason I do is for the keyboard. For surfing the web, it just plain sucks. My contract is up in a couple of months and I will be switching either to a Droid or an iPhone. My hubby and both kids have iPhone 3GS. I would have the first iPhone 4 in the family. That fact alone, knowing it will drive them all nuts that I have the latest, might be enough to pull me in that direction.
I love my new Samsung Epic 4G Android phone on Sprint. I never had an iPhone and didn’t want one. I’ve been a happy Sprint customer for 15+ yeas. I liked my Blackberry, but when I saw the Epic (Galaxy S, actually,) I had to have it.
The processor is wicked fast. The AMOLED screen is crystal clear. The slide out keyboard is awesome. The camera is high quality. My decision had nothing to do with Apple or Google. The phone hardware was what sold me.
Sounds more like a Beta - VHS redux to me. Both good, but one turns out to have broader market appeal because of greater availability (from more sources) and/or lower cost.
How do you get an iPhone to synch with Outlook? Does it synch to the contacts and the calendar as well as the email?
Can you do without third party applications and/or additional expense?
Does it have to be an Exchange or IMAP account or can it be plain old POP mail?
And both are obsolete. As is the analogy.
If that's the analogy, the iPhone is VHS -- more titles than Android by a 6-1 margin. But the analogy itself is flawed. We have moved to an increasingly platform-agnostic world; the Internet is the platform that matters, and content doesn't care what you use to view it. On the desktop, the Mac offers a better user experience. Linux is cheaper. Windows is squeezed in the middle, maintaining its market position more by inertia than anything else. But there is a place for all three; none is going to go away any time soon.
In the mobile space, Android is in one way like the Mac -- far fewer software titles, but relatively few tasks it can't do. It would be a mistake to make too much of the difference in the number of software titles, just as it is on Mac vs. Windows. Most people don't care if they have ten or a hundred word processing apps to chose from; the vast majority of users only need one, and most will chose Word anyway.
There will be no mobile phone equivalent of Windows, simply because there is no need for a single dominant platform. Any platform compatible with the relevant standards -- h.264, HTML, PDF, JPEG, TCP/IP, and increasingly Facebook -- is a player, and choosing one or another simply a matter of taste.
Android may end up selling far more units than iPhone, but that doesn't worry me or, more to the point, Apple. Apple is accustomed to competing with cheap commodity hardware from a companies with razor-thin margins that come and go, and is perfectly content to let the other guys take all the bragging rights while Apple has to settle for all the profits.
Yes. BETA vs VHS. Or, Mac vs Windows. Or Macy’s vs Walmart. Or Rolls vs Ford. Or... yeah, that’s the point.
Quality vs Quantity. The oldest consumer debate in the history of the world.
It should be obvious to anyone by now: Apple chooses the Quality, the luxury, the experience. And leaves the quantity, the price points and the frustration to everyone else.
What is remarkable is this: No one expects Rolls Royce to outsell Fords in terms of numbers. If they did, WHAT would that be saying?
Are you trying to sync with Outlook as a stand-alone application, or with an Exchange Server? If the former, iTunes for Windows syncs with Outlook, or you can use the Mobile Me service ($99/yr.) to add syncing across the 'Net. You can also use Google for calendars and contacts and sync that to the iPhone; it's free, but involves a bit more setup.
If you're talking about Exchange server, just set up an Exchange ActiveSync account in System Preferences.
Does it synch to the contacts and the calendar as well as the email? Can you do without third party applications and/or additional expense?
Yes and yes.
Does it have to be an Exchange or IMAP account or can it be plain old POP mail?
The iPhone can use POP mail, but that's a completely separate matter from syncing contacts and calendars. You can sync contacts and calendars when you sync the phone via USB, without adding any additional software or services; iTunes speaks Outlook. Keeping things synced wirelessly requires some sort of server-based solution; Exchange, Mobile Me and Google all work out of the box.
If you can use IMAP instead of POP, it's worth doing. POP was designed for the days when most people used one device and connected it to the Internet fairly infrequently. IMAP assumes frequent communication with the server, and does nifty things like mark messages as read or unread everywhere.
Yep. I know several people who have switched to an Android from an iPhone too. Love my Droid X and now my inner circle of friends are getting them too- mainly because the know I’ll help them if they have problems! LOL. I hate being the tech reference point sometimes.
I am w/AT&T. Just purchased a Samsung Captivate. Very, very happy w/it.
Was rotating back and forth between the Samsung and iPhone, went w/Samsung because I like their product and read about the Galaxy S, good review. Started out w/Samsung Blackjack, then Blackjack II, then the Epic. Since I liked the Samsung, gave it a try, kept it.
BTW, I customized my DX and it looks sweet. Very minimal and clean. Love the word-based icons in the dock, as well as the BattStat.
Epic is Epix.
Now that I know rintense is a droid afficianado go to type person, I'll put the gun away and just bug her....
:-)
Just got my Droid X a week ago. Happy so far.
So if you’re using POP mail and Outlook you do have to use a third party application which is iTunes which is how the iPhone synchs.
But iTunes does work with Outlook directly and will import contacts and calendars
However, IMAP and Exchange accounts work directly after setup on the iPhone.
Mobile Me will add extra functionality “on the move” but costs $90.00 a year which is in addition to the cost of the data plan from ATT but will allow connection to the POP mail account.
So the only way to synch to a pop mail account is by plugging it into computer running iTunes? The ATT data plan doesn’t allow access to the POP mail account?
Why does it use an application created for the iPod to work a phone?
I’ve had both an iPhone & a Samsung Droid. I’ll be going back to a Blackberry. The Blackberry is a serious business tool. The others are toys that have problems syncing with Outlook (iPhone not so much). AT&T service on the iPhone just plain stinks when you are traveling the hinterlands.
I don’t surf the internet much from my phone. I need a phone that works, email & text messaging. I also need a phone that seamlessly syncs with Outlook. That still equals Blackberry.
You can set up POP mail accounts directly on the iPhone, and it'll retrieve mail just like any computer. POP doesn't "sync." That's one of its weaknesses compared to IMAP.
Just make sure that you have the iPhone and the computer set to leave messages on the server -- otherwise, when one device retrieves a message, it won't be available to the other device.
When you talk about syncing calendars and contacts, that's a separate operation. The POP account doesn't enter into it. Outlook combines those functions into one application, but otherwise they have nothing to do with each other. That's where Mobile Me or Google comes into the picture.
Why does it use an application created for the iPod to work a phone?
Why do computers use a program created to send files down a parallel cable to a dot-matrix printer to create documents for the Internet? iTunes does the job, and since the iPhone has all the functions of an iPod, there wasn't any need to reinvent the wheel.
I don’t use my Blackberry for business purposes, so you and I are of two different minds on that device.
I doubt it.
It does not make sense since Apple has a history of being first but not being the most.
That said the “experts” are predicting apple to EVENTUALLY go to $100+ more than its current share price.
Droid is crossing carriers.
Windows Phone 7 comes out in a two or so months.
touch is not new to phones. All producers seem to be creating the same thing.
Apple just has the one stop must shop store that adds to their product. One of the big companies needs to make a one stop everyone can shop store for applications. (oops have to say the hip “apps” word not applications because it is too many sylables for the add generation)
I am surprised the iphone store has not been targeted for anti-competitive practices.
Oh my! Fanboydom at it’s biggest and best... Even though Android is trouncing the iPhone in sales, it’s still the iPhone causing all things in the market. The only reason the iPhone is getting beat is because of the iPhone. Android exists and succeeds because of the iPhone, and thus the iPhone should be congratulated on once again capturing the sales crown indirectly.
This is really a twisted-thinking column. Seriously, there is no logical answer here...
Why is Android winning in markets (like the UK and EU) where the iPhone is available from multiple carriers? Must be the iPhone again hurting the sales of iPhone and building the sales of Android.
But, when you’re an apparent fanboy like the writer of this column, I guess the world DOES revolve around Apple!
Canada also allows the iphone on multiple carriers now and I think sales would translate to the US the same way.
I thought it was a new marketing strategy. Drive business to your competition and Win!!
Hand in hand with the oft-tried “we lose money on every sale but we’ll make it up with volume” approach...;)
No. The iPhone has its own native MAIL app that is a normal email client which will work over the Internet via 3G or WIFI with any email server the same way as a desktop email client will, POP or IMAP or other mail protocol.
The Mobile.Me account will allow the user to sync his mail so that mail read on one device is marked read on all, mail deleted on one, is deleted on all, etc., across all mail accounts the user has set up to be in sync on all Mobile.Me connected devices.
In the US, so will the iPhone when the AT&T exclusive contract expires. In many other markets, there are already multiple carriers.
As it is, Apple is selling every iPhone they can make... and there is still a three week wait for delivery in Australia and other markets and line ups every day as people order more.
No, it isn't. But multi-touch with its gestures and the unique implementation on a mobile phone is. . . and it is patented by Apple.
The other producers seem to be copying the same thing, and it is likely to come back to bite the in collective their legal rear ends. Honestly, they are not creating anything!
I am surprised the iphone store has not been targeted for anti-competitive practices.
Why? Would you be surprised that Ford dealers are not been targeted for "anti-competitive practices" for only selling accessories for Ford products? Why not compel them to sell Chevy parts and accessories as well? Maybe they should be required to sell non-Ford after-market repair parts as well? Is Apple or Ford preventing you from buying another make car or phone? Maybe Burger King should be required to sell BigMacs?
but with cars there are multiple dealers who compete to sell cars which travel on the same roads.
Google tried to have an android application for sale in the i store but was rejected. I don’t know what happened with that action. It is also similar to microsoft saying you could only use windows explorer to surf the internet or that solitare was integral to windows.
Toner and ink companies tried to say the use of non oem cartridges violated the warranty but that was ruled anti-competative. The same was tried for oil changes at non-dealer car service locations and was also legally rejected.
And with cellular phones there are multiple of dealers who compete to sell sell cellular phones that communicate on the same airwaves... or on the same carrier. There is no difference.
Google tried to have an android application for sale in the i store but was rejected. I don’t know what happened with that action. It is also similar to microsoft saying you could only use windows explorer to surf the internet or that solitare was integral to windows.
No, Google did not try to place an Android app in the Apple app store. There would be no purpose in that because it could not possibly run on an iOS device. There are many Google apps in the Apple app store. Google Phone, after being initially accepted by Apple, was rejected at AT&T's direction because AT&T's legal department claimed it competed with some of AT&T's core services which put Apple in violation of their primary vendor agreement. Apple had no choice but to reject Google Phone, just as it must reject all unauthorized by AT&T tethering apps. Their primary controlling contract with the carrier compels them to do so.
Your comments on ink and toner are irrelevant and wrong. Use of the incorrect third party toners and inks CAN void your warranty on the parts affected by the use of unauthorized ink and toner. What that case revolved around was the use of third party papers, repairmen, and use of third party toners and inks did not void warranties on parts NOT related to the use of those products. For example the use of third party toner cannot be used to justify not repairing a fault in the paper tray or power supply unless one can demonstrate that the toner caused the problem. You are correct about repair services except again for warranty work. The MS windows explorer case is irrelevant entirely.
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