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MG Siegler writes for TechCrunch, “Obviously, Beach isn’t the first person to bring this idea up. But he brings it up in a way that he’s able to back-up his feelings from a developer’s perspective, while at the same time roping in what isn’t ideal from a consumer perspective about Android as well.”
“This is going to sound like flame bait, and everyone knows that I love the iPhone — but I have to agree with Beach. I’ve used no less than six Android phones for extended periods of time over the past couple of years. I really am trying to like them. But I just can’t,” Siegler reports. “Now, don’t get me wrong, almost all Android phones are a million times better than the phones we had just a few years ago before the iPhone burst onto the scene. And if the iPhone didn’t exist, there is no question that I would use an Android phone and would probably be very happy with it. But the iPhone does exist. I simply can’t bring myself to use an Android phone when I know a superior device is out there. That’s my only requirement for me to use a product: it has to be the best.”
“There are a dozen or more elements that are better about the iPhone. Everything from the big: the App Store versus the Android Market (from the consumer perspective) — to the little: the multi-touch and overall touchscreen responsiveness,” Siegler reports. “The thing some consumers don’t like about the iPhone is that it’s AT&T only (in the U.S., obviously). Even if you live in an area where AT&T doesn’t absolutely suck, having no choice of carriers is a big restriction. People have work plans, family plans, etc, etc, that they just can’t switch. Or they don’t want to.”
Siegler reports, “If the iPhone was on Verizon (VZ) (which is a larger network, remember), is there any question that it would be selling at least double the amount of units it is right now in the U.S.? I don’t think so. What if it was available on all the networks? And what would happen to Android sales if that was the case?”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we’ve been saying since the “Android is a success” meme first began. Research backs it up: Verizon and other non-iPhone carriers’ customers want iPhones; they settle for Android while they wait (see releated articles below).
The other elephant in the room is just how much, if any, does Google’s Android infringe upon Apple’s iPhone patents, Multi-Touch™ and otherwise? And, what are the ramifications if Android does infringe, especially if it does so heavily? We’ll see iPhone on multiple U.S. carriers before the slow-turning wheels of justice come up with answers to those and other questions.
@Saldin
good logic take!
“And if the iPhone didn’t exist, there is no question that I would use an Android phone”
This premise is fundamentally flawed, because if the iPhone didn’t exist, Android phones would not look and work the way they do, because there was no iPhone to copy from in the first place.
quoting Saldin:
And if the iPhone didn’t exist, there is no question that I would use an Android phone”
This premise is fundamentally flawed, because if the iPhone didn’t exist, Android phones would not look and work the way they do, because there was no iPhone to copy from in the first place.
That’s the main point lots of Android people seem to ignore. I never saw anything that looked remotely like the iPhone until after it was released. Now, there are many lookalikes, complete with some form of touch screen, multi-touch, pinch/spread zoom, finger scroll, and many other iPhone iconic identifiers. I’m not sure what Apple patented, since during the buildup to the original iPhone we kept reading all these features they had applied for patents on, especially in hardware/software UI concepts. But I keep seeing other manufacturers building phones using some aspects of these features, and of course Android is a cobbled together imitiation from the get go…
Despite the lookalikes, there is still the issue of how well they work, and so far the iPhone is still the most innovative and polished product — the “original.” Maybe there’s no point in suing anybody, since comparing copies to the real thing is much more likely to sell these devices than in the old days of Windows copying (sort of) MacOS. Now the big factor, affordability, is not an issue, and the iPhone quickly reached iconic status with the general population, even if they don’t have one.
If you, Siegler, call little “the multi-touch and overall touchscreen responsiveness” little your brain is. Now that you idiot have such an innovative multi-touch technology in your hands you call it little. Get smart you peanut brain head.
To be honest, I don’t understand the vitriolic attitude towards Android expressed on MDN. I think Android’s success has clearly come at the expense of Windows Phone 7, not iOS. That’s what people are missing. Yes, Android competes with iOS to some extent. However, the more legitimacy and market share Android gains, the less traction Windows Phone will gain with consumers and manufacturers. And, yes, I would rather Google — for all its flaws — succeed over Microsoft. The latter company’s history of bullying smaller companies, exploiting intellectual property and making mediocre products speaks for itself. Maybe Google will become as arrogant as Microsoft at some point in the future, but they’ve got a long way to go to get there.
The above statement should be revised to state “exploiting the intellectual property of others,” of course…
Worldwide Android sales are now 7 times as high as US iPhone sales. I can figure out for yourself that the success of Android started with Verizon, but is much bigger today.