On Dec 9, 9:38 am, Miroslav Pokorny <[email protected]> wrote: > The Iphone v Android standoff is basically Intel/Windows v Mac all over > again. One combination is only available from one supplier in both cases > Apple, whiel the other has many hardware manufacturers.
There are a few differences: - Most mobile phones are sold subsidized through carriers. So the carriers decide which phones most users buy. Apple is now going for broad distribution here, though it will never be as broad as Android (I think the U.S. is now one of the few, if not the only country where only one carriers sells the iPhone). Apple initially sold the iPhone without subsidies but changed that with the 3G; Google failed to change that "subsidized behavior", too, with the Nexus One and quickly gave up. - Windows had the most apps and supported the most hardware (graphics cards, sound cards, printers and such). Mobile phones have much less periphery to support, but through the standard dock connector, iOS devices support more hardware by far than Android and has more apps (though I'd say for most users, Android has enough apps, lacking mostly niche apps). The web erases that app advantage for iOS partially since it provides functionality for most devices (though not as sophisticated as native apps). - DOS/Windows had more games. Now iOS has, and Android just started to change that. Though here the comparison between iOS and Android is more akin to game consoles vs PC games. - Unlike the PC, which remained a single category for more than 25 years, we see adjacent categories showing up (tablets, TV devices) that expand the smartphone platform. Again, iOS has the advantage now until Honeycomb ships in spring 2011 with tablet-ready UI. As I said before, the competition between iOS and Android is good for everybody. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en.
