I agree fragmentation in the Android ecosystem is an issue, but I don't see how this applies to this discussion. Whether there's fragmentation or not doesn't change the market share numbers.
The fact that 60% of Android handsets has malware on it is a misleading statistic. Also, this is not because Android contains some open source software. My Linux system is much more secure than a Windows PC or even a Mac.
It is true that some handsets aren't as accessible as others due to modifications made by the handset maker, but it's easy to avoid this with a little research, all handsets have gotten more accessible over time and Jonathan's article does a good job of discussing this.
Bloatware is a misleading term. The Samsung phones have a lot of accessibility improvements in them that haven't made it to Android or Talk Back yet, so it isn't true that Google devices are always the most accessible. In fact, Samsung has added some features to their version of Talk Back to make it easier for iPhone users to make the transition to Android.
I have a Nexus 7, and I can't recall a single application that came on the phone that was not accessible. This is also true for other handset makers, such as Samsung. I have switched to a few new default applications, such as a launcher, email program and web browser, but this was due to choice and not because the original applications were not accessible. I didn't have any trouble picking up and using my Nexus 7, and I am just a casual user. I don't think I've had to be a geek to use Android.
Remember, this discussion started when someone said Apple had no real competition. I and others pointed out that this isn't true. You may not like Android, and you may not think that the market share numbers for Android, demonstrate real competition to Apple, but I would disagree with this, and I'm pretty sure Apple is paying attention to what's going on with Google, Android, Samsung and other handset manufacturers and consider this real competition.
I don't think I did anything to turn this into an Android versus iPhone debate, and I'm sorry if I did. I do think it's important that information be accurate and that blind users know what their options are. I'm not rooting for Apple or Android or anything other than more accessible options for the blind. I cheer for increased accessibility in Android just as much as I do for improvements in Apple. I think it's unfortunate whenever an accessible product disappears from the market, even if it was a product I chose not to use.
On 16/06/16 22:07, John Panarese wrote:
Actually, if you have been keeping up with the markets, Samsung has been losing a lot of market share to both Apple, but from other Android handset makers. In fact, in their home country, they are no longer the largest handset company any longer. This doesn’t take into consideration the fact that Android overall continues to fracture in its use across devices, as the fact that less than 2 percent of all Android users are even running the latest software and over seventy percent of Android users don’t even know what is the latest software or if their device can even run it. In point of fact, handset makers really don’t want their user base to be able to upgrade their devices for lengthy periods of time which is why Android users often find their devices outdated within three months of [purchase it as just happened to my cousin. Add to that the additional reality that sixty percent of Android users have some form of malware on their phones or tablets is somewhat disturbing to me. It’s the risks you take with open source software, like it or not. It’s why I use Android for only curiosity and my geeky interest than utilize it for any important work. Also, from personal experience, to say Android is accessible out of the box is misleading. You have to take into consideration as to what device you are using. Out of the box, this can make a major difference in your Android experience, and in some cases, what other software you have to download. Accessibility works far better on Google devices because there isn’t the other bloatware that other handset manufacturers include. It’s why I went with a Google device and not another maker’s product. Also, web accessibility in Android is very sporadic. You do, in fact, have to be much more of a geek or a tinkerer to really use both Android and accessibility effectively. I have two particular friends who have really taught me a lot about Android over the last year. Take Care John D. Panarese Director Mac for the Blind Tel, (631) 724-4479 Email, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Website, http://www.macfortheblind.com APPLE CERTIFIED SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL and Trainer AUTHORIZED APPLE STORE BUSINESS AFFILIATE MAC and iOS VOICEOVER TRAINING AND SUPPORTOn Jun 16, 2016, at 8:40 PM, Christopher Chaltain <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Well, I don't think analogies to Toyota and Mercedes are relevant. Also, comparing Apple to Google doesn't tell the whole story, since Apple is a hardware manufacturer and Google is an OS provider. I'm also not sure where statements like Apple wins hands down over Samsung come from. Articles like: * http://bgr.com/2016/05/23/smartphone-market-share-q1-2016/ * http://www.macrumors.com/2016/04/27/iphone-15-percent-market-share/ Talk about how Apple only has 15% of the smart phone market share worldwide, trailing Samsung. If you just look at the US then articles like: * https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Rankings/comScore-Reports-January-2016-US-Smartphone-Subscriber-Market-Share Shows that Apple has just over 40% of the market, while Samsung has just under 30%. The original statement was that Apple had no real competition. I'd say 43% to 28% is real competition. On 16/06/16 13:24, Evan Reese wrote:True enough, but all those people who can't afford an iPhone are people who aren't using Apple's hardware and not in Apple's ecosystem. That's a heck of a lot of people. And Apple's hardware revenue is no longer growing. The market for high end smart phones is saturated in the developed world. If they want to keep growing, they are going to either have to make more affordable models, or find some other way to increase their revenue. I read recently that Apple is trying very hard, and so far, failing to increase their currently tiny market share in India; at least in part by selling refurbished iPhones to make them more affordable. They know they can't be complacent just because they win hands down against other high end makers such as Samsung. Since you mention cars, many of them make various models for various income levels. Apple does some of that, but I can't believe they don't want to put their devices in the hands of three quarters of the world's population who currently can't afford one. If they do want to get those customers, they will have to make lower end models. Of course, there's the risk then of losing their high end brand mystique. It's got to be a tough decision. Evan -----Original Message----- From: Sieghard Weitzel Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 1:31 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: WWDC event, was it yesterday? That's a bit like saying Toyota has much more market share than Mercedes. Android may have more market share world wide because there are a lot of low-end Android phones especially in countries like China, India, Indonesia and other Asian, south American and African countries where most people can't afford an iPhone or one of the high-end Android phones like a Samsung Galaxy. The fact is that three quarters of the world's population is in these countries and part of a socio-economic group which could never afford a phone which costs more than $50 or $100 at the most. However, if you look at how much money Apple makes from iPhones/iOS compared to how much money Google makes from Android it's a very different story. Google makes its money from advertising and Apple makes it from their hardware and services like Apple Music and the iTunes Store. Apple is a single manufacturer and they have a handful of phone models, Google licenses Android to dozens of manufacturers and there are hundreds of models of Android phones. Compare Apple with Samsung and their high-end phones which are really the competition for the iPhone and Apple wins hands down. Regards, Sieghard -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Evan Reese Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 8:58 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: WWDC event, was it yesterday? Last I heard, which was not very long ago, according to a recent issue of the Economist, Android has over 80 percent of the smart phone market. So I would say that Apple is getting serious competition already. Evan -----Original Message----- From: Christopher Chaltain Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2016 8:07 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: WWDC event, was it yesterday? I would claim that Apple is getting real competition from other smart phone makers. I haven't checked the numbers lately, but Android in general and Samsung in particular outsell IOS and i Phones. Even if Apple has let over Samsung or is doing better in particular markets, I think Apple would be crazy not to consider this serious competition. Note, I'm not saying Android or Samsung is better than IOS or Apple, but I just don't think it's true that they aren't real competition for the iPhone. On 16/06/16 01:42, Gary Petraccaro wrote:That will change when Apple starts getting real competition from other smartphone makers, or the blind start calling/writing the access people and requesting features such as what you want. If that doesn't do it, then Apple just has certain established attitudes toward their product and feels no reason to change them. One of those, the failure of Siri to open shazam or Google seems to me to be based on Apple's making a competitive product and not wanting it's operating system to give a leg up to a product not Apple's own. ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Sieghard Weitzel <mailto:[email protected]> *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]> *Sent:* Wednesday, June 15, 2016 1:19 PM *Subject:* RE: WWDC event, was it yesterday? Hi Jonathan, Well, isn’t that nice of Apple. They make such a big deal of how they are opening up the API’s for all of these iOS features to developers but they conveniently forget to mention that really they don’t. As much as I like my iphone and what Apple is doing in many areas, it is very annoying that they are so backwards in other ways. Regards, Sieghard *From:*[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Jonathan Mosen *Sent:* Tuesday, June 14, 2016 11:34 PM *To:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> *Subject:* Re: WWDC event, was it yesterday? Hi Sieghard, sad to say, Siri won't be opening your Audible book any time soon. For iOS 10.0, the Siri API will only work with six kinds of application: ride booking, messaging , Photo Search, payments, Calling, and Workouts. So, Siri won't be able to open a book in Voice Dream, Bard, or any other third-party book app. It won't be able to play music for you on Spotify or Pandora. It won't be able to play the most recent episode of a podcast using third-party podcast apps. I have no idea why Apple is so tone deaf to how far it is lagging behind in this space, but what they're coming out with is only going to improve the situation slightly. Jonathan Mosen Mosen Consulting Blindness technology eBooks, tutorials and training http://Mosen.org <http://mosen.org> <http://mosen.org> On 15/06/2016, at 6:59 AM, Sieghard Weitzel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi Devin, Yes, some of it sounds very nice, but as others have pointed out, there isn't much that is really groundbreaking. Collaboration in documents is something Microsoft has been offering for years and it is high time Apple opened up their API's to developers especially the one for SIRI. They pointed out that SIRI has been around for 5 years now and if you really think about it SIRI now is not a lot better than it was 5 years ago. Yes, it's a bit faster with dictation and can pull information from a few more sources, but why is it still not possible to say "Call Kevin from Bigrock Sports" just to give an example of one of my contacts where I have at least 3 or 4 Kevins in my contacts who all work for different companies. I can't even create a contact where I just enter a company name in the company name field and a single phone number and say, for example, "Call Bigrock Sports". I have to also put the company name in the last name field to do this. I should be able to say "Show me all my contacts who work at Bigrock Sports" or I should be able to tell SIRI to "Turn Voiceover Hints On or Off", but all of these things SIRI can't do. Another example: I can tell SIRI to "Remind me about my dentist appointment on Friday at 3 PM", but if I say "Remind me about my 3 PM dentist appointment on Friday at 2 PM" it will say it will remind me and when I check what SIRI created I see it created the reminder for 3 PM whereas I want to be reminded at 2 PM that my appointment is at 3 PM. There is a complicated way to say it so it does what I want, but I should be able to say it anyway I like or even in two parts like "Remind me about my dentist appointment at 3 PM on Friday" and when SIRI says it will I should be able to bring it up again and say "Start reminding me once an hour starting at 11 AM and it should understand that I want a reminder at 11 AM, Noon, 1 PM and 2 PM and maybe by its own intelligence SIRI should remind me again 15 minutes before if it detects my iPhone is not moving. This is true artificial intelligence, it already exists, the iPhone has the processing power to do it and so do Apple's servers. I can't say how much I look forward to being finally able to say "Play the Audible book I am currently listening to" or, if I have not started one but have a bunch downloaded I hope I can say "Play Night Ranger in audible" (just one example of a book by Alex Berentson I just finished). Another basic example of something super simple SIRI can't do. Try and ask SIRI to "Start the Stop Watch". SIRI will tell you "Sorry, I can't help you with the stop watch". Huh, really, it can set a timer, an alarm, it can create calendar events and reminders but it can't start the stop watch? Why? Best regards, Sieghard -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Devin Prater Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 8:50 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: WWDC event, was it yesterday? Sure, but little things add up to big changes. Siri gets integrated into predictive text, so she can suggest better options there, like I'm at (suggests input of location into the text)" and stuff like that. Siri is open to developers, so apps can allow Siri to use their functionality from anywhere. Apps can do things within iMessage, like allowing sending of money right from messages. Mac gets Siri, tabs in every multi-window app. People can collaborate with notes. Unlock Mac with Apple watch. Just amazing stuff! Sent from my iPhone On Jun 14, 2016, at 10:43 AM, Kelly Pierce <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: If you can't stream it, download my MP3 of the event and play it on a stand alone device. Apple announced incremental improvements, not breakthrough technology. Even Facebook with its calling feature in the messages app, a Facetime mimmick, offered something new. Some of Apple's innovations will need to be experieinced to be believed. The photos app will now be able to recognize peple and places. Kelly On 6/14/16, 'Sandratomkins' via VIPhone <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi, I was under the impression that the Apple event was yesterday. I cannot stream it, no bandwidth! But, if it was yesterday, how come the silence? Was it so unremarkable? 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