Android outsells iPhone OS for first time
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- MrT0
Oooh which smartphone OS shall I go with this week?First world problem for cunts.
- LOLutopian
- +1********
- Hey, it's not the most important thing in the world .. but if you create stuff using computers, it's relevant.********
- i guess if your living in the first world and have third world problems, thats when you're really fucked********
- LOL, set.********
- Yeah it wasn't a good Sunday until I went fishing.MrT
- CockDiesel0
I had flash on my ipad. I immediately removed it. The web sans flash is much better. No crazy ads. It's not flash that I was missing, it was the content ... Hulu in particular.
- are you superhuman?lvl_13
- he is, he IS, He once had his head stuck in a hat, he immediately removed it. his head without hat is much better.georgesIII
- bettergeorgesIII
- pango0
which android phone?
- drgz0
So, what action should we take?
- ********0
Maybe this is similar to the battle Apple and Microsoft had in 80s?
Apple; produces a beautiful and functional software and hardware based system that they have full control of. The user can be assured that choices made on their behalf will benefit their user-experience, but will have to sacrifice some freedoms.
Microsoft; opened up the hardware platform, allowing the IBM PC to become a commodity device. Any company could produce hardware based on the platform - opening up the market, and allowing hardware manufacturers to compete with each other based on price. A reduction in the price of hardware, leads to a large increase in the number of compatible devices available. They produce software (operating systems / applications) which _compliment_ the commodified hardware. Every customer who bought an IBM PC compatible PC was tied in as a likely customer. The vast user-base ensured success over Apple.
Google; following in Microsoft's footsteps. They've managed to find a way to commodify the hardware and get their software on the phones. The game has changed since the 80s, because Google makes money from services, rather than selling closed-source software - but the basic idea is the same. Take over the industry through the creation of commodities and compliments.
It's macroeconomics innit?!
- ********0
I think the story involves a philosophical battle:
Steve Jobs wants the world to be improved (as seen through his eyes). Through Apple, he's partly able to achieve his vision.
In reality the world is a messy, chaotic place - because people have to be able to create and make choices themselves. It's very difficult to impose a personal world-view on developers / users - because no one likes to be told what to do. If you give people the chance to try to make choices themselves, a lot of people will take that choice. Freedom trumps beauty.
- I'm proud of you, was afraid you'd stay socialist foreverraf
- SoulFly0
Someone probably mentioned this already, but once Apple goes with Verizon, the iPhone will be at reach for Verizon's 90 million users.
I'm been a hardcore fan of Apple for many years, but even I won't accept switching to AT&T because of the horrible experience dealing with that company in the past.
The competition right now has nothing to do with the phone technology, the competition is being geared by the phone carriers.- In the UK you can already get an iPhone on any network.********
- Is it not just in the US that the carrier is limited?********
- In the UK you can already get an iPhone on any network.
- ********0
The Droid isn't bad, it could be where corporate groups are buying them in droves, similarly to how MS Office outranks Mac OS's.
- Office isn't an OS. You make very little sense.monospaced
- ********0
Just read this .. I think a lot of the reasoning makes sense;
- DrBombay0
I have an iPhone and it is cool, but I really want to get an Android based phone. Thing is AT&T doesn't have many of them available right now.
Most of the reason I want an Android based phone is similar to why I have a PC instead of a Mac. I enjoy the freedom and ability to do what I want with it and not be shackled by Apple.
You can disagree with this all day but being confined by iTunes and the media formats it supports is shitty.
Also being treated like a thief by Apple is tiresome too. I reinstall the OS on my machine at home that the iPhone is connected to, I can't go backwards from the phone, I need to completely restore all of the items manually because Steve Jobs thinks I am trying to get over on him.
- ********0
- ukit0
I think the computer world would suck if there were no Macs. Clearly there's space for both, the commodified approach and the high end branded approach.
I'm sure both iPhone and Android will be going strong in five years, and maybe even Palm OS and Windows Mobile.
- beav0
But does it make telephone calls? There are much larger problems in the world, and in your country.
- georgesIII0
the devil agrees
- Atkinson0
Having owned and used the iphone 4 and HTC Desire, IMO the Desire is a much better phone and 'multi purpose' thing. There's my review.
- ukit0
P.S. Saying Google will "beat" Apple is pretty silly. Think about it, each iPhone sold Apple makes a small fortune off of (even more than you'd think because the price is subsidized by the carrier).
Google on the other hand makes exactly nothing when you buy an Android phone. So really, Android could take 75% of the market to Apple's 25%, and Apple would still be raking in the cash while Google lost money. A business plan that wouldn't be possible if Apple took the commodity approach.
Eventually I'm sure Google will figure out a way to make money off the millions of Android users, but so far I think it's a net loss for them.
- This is probably where Google become more dangerous than Apple -> Google probably monetize behavioural data on a larger scale than Apple.********
- large scale than Apple.********
- Yeah, it's more about that. Although Apple has their own ad service now.ukit
- This is probably where Google become more dangerous than Apple -> Google probably monetize behavioural data on a larger scale than Apple.
- ukit0
In some ways Google is a lot like Microsoft. They have a core business where they are so far ahead they are virtually unchallenged (Windows for Microsoft, search for Google), and then about a billion side businesses very few of which have become profitable.
Whereas, give Jobs some credit, he's the only CEO who took an existing business and created a whole new product in just a few years that is now somewhere like 40% of Apple's entire revenues.
- ********0
> Eventually I'm sure Google will figure out a way to make money off
> the millions of Android users, but so far I think it's a net loss for
> them.I agree with what you're saying ukit, but I'd argue that Google are already making money from Android.
People assume that open-source == no profit, but that isn't the case. As far as I can tell, macroeconomics is still at work. IBM supports open-source on a large scale .. why? Is it because they have a love for fellow geeks and world harmony? ... of course not.
They support free software, and then get to sell hardware and consultancy services off the back of it .. it's another case of commodities and compliments.
Google needs free (unmoderated) access to a market in order to keep their business model going. Without this they're done for. With the iOS, Apple calls the shots .. if Apple decide they don't want an App in their store, they can put it on review forever. This means that their service-led business model could potentially be killed off.
By being supposedly benevolent, they enable continued success.
- how do you come to that conclusion? They just captured a huge mobile market they never had before.********
- "... potentially be killed off *under iOS"********
- how do you come to that conclusion? They just captured a huge mobile market they never had before.
- rosem0
sencha excites me even more now.