As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
Summary: The bigger headline from today's news event is that Apple is no longer the smartphone that sets the bar. Like others, it's just trying to stay relevant.
It's funny to read all of boo-hooing that's spreading across social networks and the blogosphere now that Apple pretty much disappointed the fan base with its no-real-news event in Cupertino this morning.
No iPhone 5. No big Facebook-related announcement. No cameo appearance of Steve Jobs. Just Apple giving us more of the same - literally the same. Yeah yeah yeah. I know what the fan base is saying: the device is all new inside. It's faster and has a better battery and all that jazz.
Yaaaaawn.
In the meantime, it's hard to not notice the shift in the market trends.
It wasn't that long ago that the iPhone was the must-have smartphone, the standard for how a smartphone should look, feel and operate. That's not necessarily true anymore. Consider the headline on a Forbes report after the non-news event: "Apple iPhone 4S Steps Up Fight Against Android." PC World asks, "Can the Next-Gen iPhone Fend off Android?" And International Business Times offers, ahead of the news event, the "Top 10 Features iPhone 5 Must Have to Defeat Android."
Oops. There was no iPhone 5 this time around. Does that mean that the iPhone can't defeat Android? Is that even the goal of Apple or Google, to "defeat" the other? Probably not. But based on the headlines - and public perception - this is no longer a case of Android trying to catch up to iPhone. That's already happened. Now, it's a matter of Apple having to work even harder to maintain its dominance and beat Android.
Tuesday morning, Apple failed in that effort.
Don't get me wrong. The iPhone is a remarkable device and now that it's moved beyond AT&T in the U.S. - which is why I chose the Android route in the first place - I could easily walk into my Verizon store or now a Sprint store and pick one up. But why should I? I like what Android is doing and I'm happy with each Android device I've owned.
And therein lies the bigger issue. Android continues to grow while Apple, well, doesn't.
That's not to say that iPhone owners aren't happy with their devices and I'm certainly not suggesting that they'd be better off by buying Android. What I am saying is that Apple had one shot at wowing us with something revolutionary and game-changing today - and it failed miserably.
Meanwhile, device makers building on Android continue to deliver new and improved features, designs and more - and they do it without summoning the tech press to a big, over-hyped event. When it comes time to buy a new phone, I get my choice of all types of different devices all offering an Android experience or I can buy an iPhone.
It seems that Apple is content with giving customers what it wants them to have, instead of what the customers actually want - though I'm the first to admit that that's consistently been the Apple way. Case in point: Android devices come with SD cards for expanded storage capabilities. iPhones are still priced on the number of gigabytes they allow you to access - in 2011.
I guess at the end of the day, consumers and businesses have the buying power and will decide which route to take. Just by the online chatter I'm seeing today, the iPhone is no longer the one to beat.
The trend has shifted.
Related coverage:
- ZDNet's iPhone coverage
- Five rumors proven wrong by the iPhone 4S announcement
- Takeaway from iPhone event: Solid phones, end of an era
- Apple CEO Cook lets team, iPhone 4S do the talking
- Photos: Apple reveals iPhone 4S
- iPhone 4S is same on the outside, ‘all new’ on the inside
- iOS 5 will officially land on October 12; more details revealed
- CNET: Apple: Sprint getting the iPhone
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Talkback
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
Android rocks.
http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/question-day-229/topics/apple-google-makes-best-mobile
Apple fan's illusion had 40% of all Android users going over to IOs. This public poll states the contrary.
Place not your faith in web polls
iOS rocks too. This new iPhone 4S, with A5 processor and new radios looks to be a pretty significant bump and not the incremental step indicated in the article. We'll probably know how it's doing after the hands-on reviews are done.
I prefer Android and won't be buying one of these things ever, primarily for the choice-based reasons highlighted in the article. But I'm not crazy enough to think my preferences apply to everybody. This phone will sell very well. The people who've had an unsatisfying Android phone (and they're not ALL wonderful) will continue to try Apple before going anywhere else.
It's the other guys who should be quivering in their boots. This is a brutal pace.
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
That would actually mean something if it had a random sample... but since it doesn't the poll is virtually meaningless.
This game is scored with dollars, not poll numbers.
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
iPhone is still a very solid offering, and they'll sell a ton of them. But today marked the first day of the new era where Apple quit defining the industry, and turned into just a competitor trying to keep up.
The fact that this corresponds right down to the month of Job's departure shouldn't be meaningful (since he was there for the work on this device), but it is awfully ironic.
If I were Cook, I'd have a sign stapled to my forehead: "No More Complacency".
You must hate Android.
After all, Google had to buy that. And it is still >12 billion in the hole profit wise for Google.
With the current A5 simply faster than any other dual core offering (seriously, the Tegra lacks a SIMD Neon engine and has an anemic GPU that barely beats the A4) going in a cell phone.
No on has anything like iCloud going. Trust me on that one. Unless ICS has some major cloud enhancements, Google just took a serious back seat on the entire Cloud thing.
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
But I don't drink the Apple cool-aide. I can actually see that the iPhone is only _just_ getting a stack of things which have been available from the competition for a while, including an integrated notification pull down bar, dual core processor, 8 MP camera, and decent phone reception.
This release from Apple plays catch-up to what's already on the market from the competition. It adds nifty voice control which Apple had to go buy, and yes it's got some cloud storage.
But what Apple used to dominate was doing industrial design and sweeping new UI features. Honestly the stack of square icons is looking very dated against pretty much ALL the competition, and sticking to last year's industrial design leaves the door wide open for the competition to leap ahead - something they never had the ability to do when they were _chasing_ Apple instead of the other way around.
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
Are you Apple fan-boys really so blind that you're sold on the very questionable concept that a 1 GHz A4 which finally arrived in the iPhone is "faster" than the much higher clock rate dual core chips that have been shipping in a variety of competing products for a while now, and that even if you believed in that particular fantasy it would somehow make the latest iPhone a "leader" as it finally gets centralized notifications, still lacks a larger screen, still lacks 4G connectivity, just got to the 8 MP camera party, and may at some point be able to host apps that live in a larger cage than the square icon they've been trapped in for the last 4 years?
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
I also find it funny how some many Apple haters are bring up the fact that nothing changed in the exterior design like that was a major let down. Aren't you guys the ones always trying to claim that people only buy Apple products as fashion statements yet you are the ones complaining about no change?
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
Plus if they gave you everything you wanted in this version what's to entice to upgrade to the next? lol
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
"The iPhone built quality and material is second to none."
Yes, like the Samsung CPU it uses ;-)
2 and 3 year old iPhone can still fetch some descent money on eBay??
If you compare the original purchase price to the selling price, you have lost more $$$ on your Iphone....
Android = more value for your money. It has become a consumer item! Consume and through away when done with it.
"but while you sit at your desk criticizing what Apple does they will sell tens of millions of iPhones to happy customers all over the world."
And Andriod sells even more devices...
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
Android devices drop in price before they even get sold (price drops and BOGO deals) let alone once they are a couple of years old. BTW, value is very subjective.
"User Experience"
"User Experience" is always the fallback flag that iFans wave when there's no tangible evidence to support the things they are saying.
The reality is, it's not a "better" user experience. It's simply "the only one you get", with an iPhone.
With an Android device, I can have a very, very simple, minimalistic experience - no widgets, few desktops, just icons - just like iOS, if that's what I want. And if it's not what I want, I can customize it to my specific needs.
With an iPhone - you are stuck with what you get, which is "no choice but" the simplified version. And a "fan base" who has learned to live within these limitations. Waving it as a flag of superiority, when experience with (or even awareness of the benefit of) the alternative is an empty and transparent gesture.
I can tell you this: we used to use iPhones at work.
Thankfully, that ended in 2011.
With my GSII, I have one desktop that has a widget to display my work agenda, with scrollable/clickable items to open the Exchange event, and manage my day. I put icons on that desktop that pertain to my job - work Email, calendar, a "sync" widget (for manual syncing, as I've got auto-synching turned off during work hours).
I've got one "games" desktops, no widgets, just fun stuff.
I've got one "home" desktop. the usual weather/clock widget for direct access to things that matter on the weekend, and my most commonly used general everyday stuff... texting, phone, flashlight widget, camera, etc.
And I've got an Admin and Web desktop.
The point is - you can't as easily use an iphone for both work and personal use. "The Experience" is far worse.
I'm grateful - because of "The Experience" that I had to deal with, and now have relief from - that we aren't using iPhones any longer.
"The Experience" works, IF (and only if) you happen to fall into the category of people who can "be happy with the one and only way to use your iPhone that Apple provides you with".
It's really not far off from
"You'll do it our way and you'll like it!"
Which isn't a very positive thing to say about an "Experience".
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy
I know... just a bit of sarcasm towards the whole "PC is dead" theory
LOL!
too true.
RE: As iPhone mojo fades, Android continues to grow, satisfy