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Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

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151–160 of 193 posts

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#151
post #110

Why is Lyons so bitter? His arguments revolve around Android having more "features" and otherwise being an iPhone knockoff. The features debate is old and boring - maybe he cares, but I don't and I suspect that most iPhone buyers don't either. And as developers, why should we be excited at a knockoff? Do we need to punish Apple for being successful? Unlike Microsoft, Apple has not tried to force people to run its OS.…

>Why is Lyons so bitter?

People who say that other people are bitter are usually just bitter. The guy is a technology columnist and he talks about technology. What a huge surprise.

>And as developers, why should we be excited at a knockoff?

Humorously just yesterday Daring Fireball and other Apple apologists were pointing out that Google bought Android long before Steve Jobs had his iPhone epiphany. But yes, the iPhone is a knockoff of Windows Mobile, and numerous other phones that came before.

> Unlike Microsoft, Apple has not tried to force people to run its OS.

What. A. Load. Of. Shit.

Apple saw that they had a hit with the iPod and they hung onto "Mac only" for as long as they could, and remarkably it was fairly successful. It isn't accidental that iPhone development is Mac only. Apple does cross promotions with large brands to make iPhone applications, trying to build a world where not having an iPhone means a second tier world. Adobe's cross compiler was a huge threat to that.

Apple is worse than Microsoft ever dreamed of being. They got by with it because they were cute and tiny, but that time has passed. They don't get the free pass any more.

>I understand that some people don't like the situation they are in

Sounds like you're the one that doesn't like the situation he's in. But I'm sure you'll come into all of these discussions to set people straight.

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How else was Apple going to maintain their 55%+ profit margins on the things? It sure does make you wonder why Verizon is charging as much as AT&T for their Android plans when the device is almost half the cost. I guess the answer is because they can, because they have a better network. I also wonder if Android handset vendors will try to get a cheaper plan out of Verizon when the Verizon iPhone supposedly lands this…

> How else was Apple going to maintain their 55%+ profit margins on the things? Gross margin on Apple products has consistently been around 33%, at least for as long as I've been listening to their quarterly conference calls.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2009/07/29/report-iphone-margins...

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#153
post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This is an enormous responsibility that Apple has never had to deal with -- there's a difference of at least 3 if not 4-5 orders of magnitude in the number of different types of hardware platforms that each company had to deal with. Apple is supporting two gens of hardware. The iPhone OS will support the iPhone 3GS, the latest iPod Touch, the next-gen iPhone (as of now, unreleased) and the iPad. Android has 19+ phon…

>Apple is supporting two gens of hardware. The iPhone OS will support the iPhone 3GS, the latest iPod Touch, the next-gen iPhone (as of now, unreleased) and the iPad. It's three generations. The iPhone 3G is a supported platform for iPhone OS 4.0. You do miss out on multitasking though. >I think its interesting that Mr. Lyons is "blown away" by Android features that will be coming to his iPhone in 30-60 days, with th…

> ts also Apple's for making sure that the iPhone only allowed signed carrier profiles with iPhone OS 3.1 so that you could no longer download an alternate carrier profile with tethering enabled.

This sounds like it was added at the request of the carriers. Free tethering for everyone costs Apple nothing, and improves the user experience.

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#154
post #111

I love the competition but if I can present an alternative view: Why I'm sticking with the iPhone: I plug it into iTunes and it automatically syncs everything and backs up the device automatically. All my accessories work with the dock connector including my car. I can still get software updates for my 3 year old iPhone 2G. Music & media players are superior to Android in my opinion along with it simply being easier…

" It's easier to buy an iPhone. There's basically just one model or the hold-over model from last year. With Android phones I feel like there's always something better right around the corner."

Can't believe that lack of choice can ever be a good thing.

It's like saying "It's easier to pick a job if the government is the only company to work for. If there are private companies/startups, I feel like I can work for another company that is better."

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#155
post #10

1980: CPM on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price. 1990: DOS on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price. 2000: Windows on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price. 2010: Android on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price.

What higher price? IPhones cost $100 to $300 new with contracts. The Android phones I've seen cost $100 to $300 with contracts. Most of the cost is in the service plans, which are very similarly priced. I suppose there may be a bunch of crappy Android phones, floating around under my personal radar, available for even less than $100. That sounds like false economy to me. If you're gonna get soaked for $2400 in cellul…

> The Android phones I've seen cost $100 to $300 with contracts. Most of the cost is in the service plans

The unsubsidized N1 costs $1700 over two years compared to ~$2500. If you factor in the cost of the contract, the difference is huge.

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#157
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another difference that is not to be ignored is that Windows was the backbone of one of the best businesses of the decade, maybe the best. Android is like a side project. They aren't going to fight for it like Apple will.

Good point on your first sentence, but I disagree with the second. From the keynote they put on yesterday, Google has made it clear that they'll put a ton of effort and innovation in. They basically called out Apple the entire time. Apple has dominance now because of their huge head start and loyal fan base, but it's looking like Google is quickly overtaking them in innovation and features. Apple will always retain a…

"but it's looking like Google is quickly overtaking them in innovation and features" Such as? The announcements yesterday looked as though they'd finally caught up to iPhone 3.0, including the huge cheer for "Update All".

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#158
post #151
post #110

Why is Lyons so bitter? His arguments revolve around Android having more "features" and otherwise being an iPhone knockoff. The features debate is old and boring - maybe he cares, but I don't and I suspect that most iPhone buyers don't either. And as developers, why should we be excited at a knockoff? Do we need to punish Apple for being successful? Unlike Microsoft, Apple has not tried to force people to run its OS.…

>Why is Lyons so bitter? People who say that other people are bitter are usually just bitter. The guy is a technology columnist and he talks about technology. What a huge surprise. >And as developers, why should we be excited at a knockoff? Humorously just yesterday Daring Fireball and other Apple apologists were pointing out that Google bought Android long before Steve Jobs had his iPhone epiphany. But yes, the iPho…

What. A. Load. Of. Shit

Do statements sound better to you when internally punctuated?

Sounds like you're the one that doesn't like the situation he's in.

Yes! My news feed which used to be full of people doing interesting things is full of people whining about Apple's success.

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#159
post #38
post #10

1980: CPM on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price. 1990: DOS on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price. 2000: Windows on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price. 2010: Android on your choice of hardware or lock into Apple hardware & software at a higher price.

Isn't that a conveniently simplistic way of looking at the past 30 years of Apple?

You mean the same simplistic way Apple users look at Adobe?

Re: Fake Steve Jobs: Why I'm Switching to Android

#160

while all the commentators and media are wetting their pants about who has landed what blow on who I can't help feeling that the real winners are going to be us users. Apple will lose if they don't respond - and it would seem likely that they will be forced to add some of these features - streaming from my media library being one I would particularly like. Keep landing those killer blows guys and making your products…

I actually wonder how Apple will respond. Part of the reason for Steve Jobs' genius is that he single mindedly believes in his own vision of what users want and what the world should be like. And the problem with that is that although he's mostly right he's always at last partly wrong. So he'll try to respond by moving his platform closer to his own preconceived idea of perfection which is actually partly wrong. In other words, I wonder if one of Apple's fatal flaws is that they aren't capable of responding in a competitive firefight the way a company with less idealism would.
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