Android vs iPhone

So the first commercial Android phone is being sold by T-Mobile at a price point that's quite close to that of the iPhone. It has a physical pullout keyboard and its features are less in both impressiveness and number (perhaps). So, can Apple rest on it's laurels? Not really. In fact, not at all.


The iPhone is still not in the full graces of developers —especially with third party apps getting rejected all the time for all sorts of reasons— which may cause the number of available applications for it to lag somewhat. The Android, on the other hand, is as open as it could possible be and is likely to attract a huge developer following, which could lead to more people being attracted to the huge number of applications available.

This is only a partial handicap for the iPhone though. Most iPhone users I know, use mostly the Web most of the time that they are not actually speaking on the phone or texting. The Web might be the iPhone's trump card.

Aha! But there is the whole industry-vs-company thing that almost killed Apple back in the 90s. Android will be supported by several manufacturers who will offer competing designs while Apple's iPhone will remain limited to one design —or at least designs from just one company.

The contest is gearing up to be very interesting. I think it would be advantageous to all that there not be a clear winner. After all, wouldn't it be nice to have a choice between phone types the same way we have a choice between car types? Unlike computers, phones need only be able to call and text other phones; no one expects to be sharing software with their friends....yet.

Even if there is an expectation of software sharing between phones, most people are likely to base their purchase decision on handset features (of which applications are a part) instead of on software sharing capabilities — this trend could, of course, change as a new generation of phone users might start transferring computerlike tasks to their phones and bringing with those tasks similar expectations.

Whatever the outcome, Android and iPhone (mobile OS X) are likely to become the dueling titans in the consumer space with RIM's Blackberry and WIndows Mobile vying for the business space. RIM is a clear leader in the business space, but the consumer world is still up for grabs. Moreover, whoever wins among consumers may very well come into the business phone space and unseat the leader there. It happened with computers when Windows gained ground on Solaris and other flavors of UNIX.