Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would argue Windows Mobile is the Windows of Mobile.
Wow. That one was served up t-ball style.
True. It's been easier than some of the other comments here that have been in disagreement.
iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
31–40 of 88 posts
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#32Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#33Why is it so hard to understand? Apple's objective isn't to become the largest. Apple does not see this as a winner-take-all platform war. Apple's core values are all about it's ability to change things, it's ability to think different, it's ability to move forward without obstacles. Apple wants to make, and sell, the best and most beautiful devices they can imagine. For that they don't need to "own the market", thei…
I think the thing you are missing is not that Apple are happy or contented with low market share/high profit margins (which they are), but usually that they achieve that by succeeding in customer satisfaction.
In the US (not everywhere), they aren't hitting that note because they continue to be weighed down by AT&T. All those awesome features don't mean anything if you spend all your time bitching to your friends about dropped calls (which is all I hear from my non-techie friends here).
AT&T were shamed at the last WWDC over tethering and such, and they've been shamed again over new price plans which aren't necessarily consumer friendly, over continued awful service, over what Jobs himself said was "things have to get worse to get better... which means things will get really great soon." It used to be that Jobs would cancel a supplier to spite anyone who dared accidentally unveil a release before Apple did, and now it's a company that will let its brand get tarnished by having consumers kicked in the balls for five years straight.
Apple's exclusivity deal is anything but friendly to their customer base, and that is the key difference between the Apple of old and the Apple of new. People are upset not because the iPhone isn't great, but because Apple are acting like pricks, like they have done with Google and Google Voice, like they have with other App Store rejections (I find the "replicating iPhone features" particularly rich in comparison with all the spam apps on the App Store), like they have done about saying nothing to the consumer about why AT&T is sucking and why Apple appear to be doing nothing about it.
The Apple of old wouldn't have hamstrung their customers the same way Apple is now doing. Putting the user first was their mission. In the US, on the iPhone (less so the iPad), that is starkly not the case.
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#34imo the "Code for Android first, and iPhone/iPad second" suggestion to "Apple developers" has very little merit for most Apple developers
For developers, it will make more sense to distinguish between ideology/opinions of bloggers and cold market realities.
For starters, revenue returns of Android apps are generally a small fraction of revenue returns for identical iPhone apps in spite of the fact that iPhone owners have a lot more apps to choose from. For another, the Android fragmentation problem makes life even more difficult for developers. As an example, when Twitter released their official Android Twitter app, only 27.3% of Android owners could even consider downloading it. The app wouldn't run on 82.7 of devices because of the fragmentation problem.
Now it does make sense for some apps to be released only on Android. For instance, if you think that your app may be rejected by Apple, it will make more sense to just create an Android app. If you're not comfortable with Objective-C, it makes sense to go with Android because Android apps are a lot easier to develop.
Btw If first-mover advantage is really the goal, Windows Phone 7 will be a much better option. However, many Android enthusiasts don't like Microsoft. So I suspect that they won't concede this as a great reason for Android developers to do Windows Phone 7 development first and the do Android second :)
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#35Do android phones have multi-touch, or do apple patents prevent this?
I'm working on UI trees that can be rearranged with the mouse. It works OK, though a little awkward. I think with a touch screen, it would be incredibly intutive - like rearranging physical blocks.
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fully agree that both sides of the coin are important. However, of the following potential developments: 1) New Android phones become much faster and/or have longer battery lives 2) New iPhones become much more open and less locked-down I think #1 is much more likely.
Agreed on this comment 100%. I think Android is going to have more handsets, manufacturers, carriers, and eventually users. Their products are going to continually improve. The recent past has shown momentum on the innovation side that is lapping iPhone, I believe. I don't think iPhone is going to open up at quite a rate.
Everyone seems to think that Android will eventually dominate the market because "the products are going to continually improve". Guess what, so is iPhone. Apple have made it clear that this is their primary business. They're in it to win it. This is not Google's primary business--it is a loss leader to support that business. I think it's far from inevitable that Android will win out (pettiness of the Apple vs. Google battle aside).
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#37imo the "Code for Android first, and iPhone/iPad second" suggestion to "Apple developers" has very little merit for most Apple developers For developers, it will make more sense to distinguish between ideology/opinions of bloggers and cold market realities. For starters, revenue returns of Android apps are generally a small fraction of revenue returns for identical iPhone apps in spite of the fact that iPhone owners…
Sometimes ideologies and opinions are all we poor bloggers can bring to the table. :)
Yes, the revenue realities of today are true today. I am hoping that Google can work on the fragmentation issue and get that solved very soon, or at least made much more clear. Second, I think the Chrome Web Store will be a major help toward promoting the discovery and purchase of Android applications.
I know first-mover advantage has some weaknesses, but what I see is a growing user base with some needs. Where needs can be met, there is money to be made.
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#38Do android phones have multi-touch, or do apple patents prevent this? I'm working on UI trees that can be rearranged with the mouse. It works OK, though a little awkward. I think with a touch screen, it would be incredibly intutive - like rearranging physical blocks.
Android did not initially support multi-touch. It does now.
Re: iPhone 4 Is Nice, But It's Not Enough to Slow Android
#39How knee-deep in a silly Android vs iPhone fanboy war do you have to be to write a long post addressing the supposed presumption that iPhone 4 was going to slow Android down? What sensible person is even constructing thoughts along these lines? Many kinds of critiques, positive and negative, of both platforms are welcome. But this sort of fanboy service horse race punditry is not. At this stage, the smartphone market…
Not sure why you're getting downvoted. I've noticed that the Hacker News trolls really come out of the woodwork on Apple related submissions: in terms of the submission, senseless upvoting/downvoting and gradeschool level utterances. I suppose the general quality of the thoughtful submission/discussion on HN has to be offset by something .
I don't even see the option to downvote. Maybe I have to be more of a vet to get that privilege. I appreciate all discussion here, especially that which challenges my assumptions.