I work in the tech sector. Many of my colleagues jumped on the iPhone initially because it was so new and different. The vast majority now have gone to Android phones. Most, myself included, don’t like Apple having such a strong hand in content for the iPhone. Open is better.
The iPhone and Apple is like the America On-Line of old.
You kind of knew about the level of user by the fact that they were using AOL as an ISP in 2001. AOL is where we sent our parents and computer phobic friends until they could get a grasp of what's out there.
Same for iPhone. I would buy one for my mother, wife or aunt; but that's about it.
Yep - agree and who was one of the first companies to teach us that “open is better”? Apple, with the Apple II.
Nowadays I consider Apple to be as much as “lifestyle provider” as a hardware/software company. I’ll grant that they do both of those things very well, but they are pieces in the over-arching business model whereby Apple runs your life...or nearly so. They’re not alone in having this vision (after all Microsoft helped give us MSNBC), and it’s unquestionably opened up technology for millions of people who like it and are willing to pay for it.
But now I think we’re seeing (in Android) a viable alternative that isn’t as heavy-handed. It seems pretty clear that Microsoft cannot make the transition, and that early innovators like RIM just don’t have a sustainable advanatage any longer. So I think it will end up being Apple for those who want their vision of the lifestyle, and Android for the rest of us.