Google Android tipped to overthrow iPhone

Brian from Eldora, IA

17 October 2009 at 4:16 am

There is pretty much nothing that an iPhone can do at this point that an Android device can not do. On there other hand there is a LOT that an Android device can do that an iPhone can not. Run Google Voice, integrated into the dialer. Run background applications/multitask, talk while browsing the internet, run applications that have not been approved by apple. Have an application show up as available for download in minutes after it is submitted to the app store. Download music directly to the phone from a variety of sources, not just from Apple. (And no, despite whatever world Paul lives in, most people do NOT use itunes.) These are all things non-”geeky” (as stated in one person’s post above) people can do.

If we delve into “geeky” then, yes, you can (well up until the newest iPhones that were just released) jailbreak your iPhone and install applications not approved by Apple, however you WILL void your warranty) But at that same level of “geek” an Android user has access to the kernel of the phone itself. Because the entire underlying operating system source code is available to the end user, the operating system can be customized, tweaked, changed in what ever way you choose to modify it. Want more home screens, simple, increase performance by removing stuff you don’t use, bingo. Multitouch, it’s a snap. (Already done by HTC on their Hero lineup with the Sense UI, on production phones.) There are multiple “ROM” versions available from various people to replace your stock Android OS with, or use the source code, and the source code for these alternative ROM’s to roll your own. The developers will be happy to help you.
It will be the features that bring in the non-geek types, as well as the variety of different form factors, and the applications, choice of carriers etc…
It will be the open platform that you can control in any way you wish, that will bring in the “geeks”.

Apple will continue to attract their “fan-bois” and the people who *want* to be told what they can do and how to do things. The iPhone will continue to survive, and will even grow some once it is released on other networks than AT&T, but by that time, there will be serious competition from some serious devices running Android on those other networks. A few people who believe the hype, will switch to the iPhone, but I seriously doubt that man who have already adopted Android will switch, and the few who do will almost certainly not find the iPhone all it was hyped up to be.

From a developer standpoint with Apple you have to pay for the SDK, pay $99 for the app store, submit your application and pray that it is approved in a few weeks. Have an update for your program, or a bug-fix, re-submit, start praying again, your improved application will probably be available to your customers in a few weeks. You must conform to Apples many and strict rules and regulations in the development of the application, what features it can and cannot use.

With Android the SDK and the NDK (For writing code to run nativly on the phone.) are freely available, and if you wish to write an application there is a $25 app store (Market) setup fee. There are very, very few rules to follow (no malicious software, no porn) that you must follow, and approval of submitted application/s is almost instantaneous. Don’t want to pay Google the $25 registration fee for the Market, no problem, put it up on your web site directly, or on a number of other sites. Want to produce an “Adult” product, no problem, same method. Google goes out of their way to keep you from being “locked in” to any platform, even their own. Want to export your contacts, calendar, email, etc from google, “there’s an app for that”.
Google WANTS you to be able to freely choose to move your data to another service. Obviously they hope you do *not* choose to do so, and work hard to make your experience as positive and productive as possible. It helps keep them innovative and customer oriented.

Apple, on the other hand, tries every trick in the book to keep you “locked in” once they “have you” they want to make it as hard as possible for you to “leave the compound.”

As to Gartner’s predictions, I don’t personally take that into account at all. They are wrong just as often as they are right. Personally, I see Android surpassing the iPhone even sooner if Apple sticks with AT&T for another year.

When I bought my HTC Hero at Sprint last Sunday, the sales person I dealt with was genuinely excited with his Hero that he has been allowed to use for the past week or so, as were the other employees I heard talking with the 10 or 11 other people who were in the store purchasing Android phones. My friend and I were the first two people in the door when they opened, and by the time we left (It took about 90 minutes because we were both switching to Sprint from another carrier.) all 12 of the Hero’s that this particular store had available for opening day, were spoken for. Every single person who came through the door that morning were there specifically to purchase an Android phone, except one person who was there to return a Windows Mobile phone they decided not to keep (within their 30 day trial period.) and even he was asking about the Android, but the store was out of stock by then. I don’t know what the fate of that person was.

Verizon will be carrying Android within a few weeks, with more coverage than any other carrier in the U.S. and it should be the first phone they have ever released that hasn’t been “hobbled” in some way. To get Verizon, of all carriers, to open up to the idea of not locking up phone functions, is a major triumph for consumers fed up with locked-up/locked-in hardware and plans.

Let the Apple Fan-bois think what they want, I fully support the open exchange of ideas, and the freedom to choose. This is why I chose Android.

Brock Gunter-Smith from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

16 October 2009 at 10:23 pm

Hilarious. This article lacks depth…of knowledge and insight. I enjoy reading reports from Gartner, however as Apple has proved time and time again, 3 years is a long time and they’ve turned entire industries upside down in that time. Now that they’ve made strong inroads into the smartphone market and are even winning over large Corporate customers with their “toy smartphone”, I’d bet more money on them moving to keep up this momentum…not just let it slide.

Paul from wa

16 October 2009 at 8:25 pm

What a load of rubbish! Or just a paid advert for android. iphone is popular because it works with itunes which most people use, its app store, its ease of use and its look.
Nothing sporting android has any of these features. The only market it will take away from is Windows mobile which is 3% of the market.

Effrem Harris from Sydney

16 October 2009 at 7:28 pm

The iPhone is a phone, not a operating system.
The Andriod OS will operate on multiple brands on phones, therefore its highly likely to overtake the iPhone OS in market penetration. The iPhone OS will only work on iPhones/iTouches (Apple products).

Skythra from Brisbane, Australia

16 October 2009 at 6:59 pm

Yeah, I don’t think so. This is on what assumptions here? That apple is going to sit around and wait for this to all happen without doing a thing? I don’t like apple, but thats out of principal that the majority of people do like their phone.

I chose windows mobile as an alternative to the iphone, I don’t think everyone is going to go android (an unproven and rather geeky platform) or symbian (a largely unsupported by app developers platform). This article is a bunch of hype to make news.

It will never come to fruition. You’re saying that apple can’t make the ipod a ipod touch, an ipod nano. How is this honestly going to be much different? They will diversify as competition changes. They aren’t going to wait for 3 years after they’ve lost their dominance before making change.

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