Yes, folders and wallpaper. I have folders on my iPhone, and use them, but I don’t use them on my iPad. They sort of help organize things, but then you need to click one more time to open the folder, etc.  Who cares about wallpaper? I changed it once, and then back to the default because the wet glass looks best anyway. Like I want the Dallas Cowboys or Smashing Pumpkins background more than quality apps or security?

Widgets and whatnot… These were low hanging fruit that Google sharted out so they could give Phandroids some fodder for oneupmanship. Nice, superficial features that are largely meaningless, but easy to throw into a release… Far easier than good security or standardized media streaming and playback. Oh, so I can run a tiny app on a small screen, which they ripped off from Mac OS X anyway? WHOOPEE!!! What about standardized media playback? What about security? What about APIs that foster rich application development? Every time something like Netflix, Skype or Hulu are released on Android, it has to be done one device at a time, because there are no standard media capabilities. Hulu only works on 10 Android devices, and there are hundreds on the market. Most will never have Skype, Netflix or Hulu, and they are killer apps. Oh, but there’s widgets… Yes, that strategy of sprinkling glitter on turd fooled you, eh?

Skype video calling for iOS came out shortly after iOS 4. You have to be stoned to think that was just a little ways back. It was about a year ago — 9 months ago, to be specific. See — you need a front facing camera to do video chat. Few Android devices that people OWN have this. The new ones do, but people need to wait two years, or pay out the nose, to get a new device. Video chat is only useful if the client app is widespread.

FaceTime has been around for years on the Mac, so once it came out for iOS a year ago, users already had plenty of people to talk to. Skype has a large user base, but as of now it only works on 17 devices. FaceTime competes with cisco telepresence, not Skype. FaceTime is the less expensive way for corporations to do quality video conferencing. All the corps around here are starting to give their developers and middle/upper managers MacBooks. That’s why I bought a Mac — hordes of java developers are moving to the Mac.

My friend just bought an HTC Inspire about 4 months ago. It is a widely used Android device, but Netflix and Skype do not support it. Strangely enough, it is one of the few devices that works with Hulu. It’s like one can never really buy a Droid device that works with these major apps. If you are unlucky enough to have made he wrong choice, tough titties… Wait two years or pay through the nose.

Security through the free market (hey, just download anti virus software) doesn’t and hasn’t worked. Just a few months ago 250,000 android users had to have their devices commandeered by Google, and 50 some malware apps had to be removed. Android has the worst security record of any operating system. Also, anti virus software is always behind the times. It is reactive, not proactive. By the time they release a fix for a virus or malware, it’s already infected so many people.

All of the iOS security issues were found by security experts and fixed within a week. They were not discovered by hundreds of thousands of infected users.

I hate the Apple stores. I brought my Mac Pro in there to have a wireless adapter installed, and they refused to do it, even though I bought an official Apple part and offered to pay for the service (it is not a snap in PCI card, but a card that is screwed into the motherboard, and would void the warranty if I did it). Not a huge deal… I returned the part and got a tiny USB wireless adapter. Now I have my Mac pro wired into my router anyway, so it worked out fine. Mac pros don’t come standard with wireless, since they are used in recording, tv and movie studios — moving gigs of data is always done over Ethernet. Consumer wireless can interfere with pro audio and video devices, yadda yadda…

But  it doesn’t change the fact that the Mac is far better than a Windows PC. Let me know when recording studios and movie studios starting bringing in the DELLs to do movie editing. Shit, CinePaint (formerly GIMP for Film) only works on SGI and Macs, not on Windows, and it has been used to edit film frames on major motion pictures. I am not a fanboy. I hate Apple stores. They are full of trophy wives, hipsters, and even a few old geezers trying to buy a new computer. They’re good for people who are not technically inclined. Microsoft tried to copy the Apple store and failed. There are some rumors that Google will create a Google store. Not too surprising, since they copy Apple, and even seem to want to make the hardware now (although the Nexus was their first bad attempt at that).

You are wrong. iTunes is not a security device. The security comes from Apple examining the source code of all submitted apps. The App Store is where apps are downloaded and updated, OTA. iTunes is simply the way, for a few more weeks, to install the once-in-2-months OS updates for the iPhone and iPad. iOS has had OTA updates for Apple TV before Android even existed (other than as a start-up that ripped off the Blackberry). The reason they require iTunes now, is so a backup can be performed prior to the upgrade. In a few weeks, this backup will be done on their servers. All of these precautions have meant fewer returned devices and fewer customer support calls. By far, iOS has the fewest customer problems of any mobile or non mobile software platform. This makes it all the more appealing to carriers, and Sprint is bending over backwards to get the iPhone…

Have you worked at a software company? That’s ok, I don’t think any of the product managers at Google have either. They just went to top schools and got great grades, and are willing to work for peanuts because they have no experience. And it shows!

When a product line is being developed, there is something known as a product roadmap. Usually a program manager will be responsible for this. The product roadmap is the set of features that a product will support through various releases. You can only put so much in each release, or else the quality will turn to shit, like with Android.

That said, it all comes down to finding the right priorities, based on market research. What market research did Google do, that found that people are clamoring for widgets? Or that widgets are more important that the underlying DRM and media streaming standards necessary for app developers? The market research I have read says that smart phone users want security, video chat, and multimedia content (music, movies, tv shows, and games) first and foremost. I have yet to read any market research that says “users want widgets and malware”. Even as a software engineer, I want Netflix more than widgets. I have had Netflix for over a year, but it just came out for a handful of Android devices a couple months ago. It doesn’t even work on the HTC Inspire!

Also, Microsoft has 4 times as many apps for iOS as Android. I was wrong when I mentioned 10 times — I forgot they make bing for Android. But EA does indeed have 10 times as many apps, and much, much, much better offerings. You have to look at the app store. Since you don’t have an iPhone, here’s the offerings from Microsoft:

android: tag reader, bing

iOS: tag reader, bing for iPhone, bing for iPad, one note, live messenger, photosynth, wonder wall, msn onit

Note — the iPad can run iPhone apps, many of which are hybrids which have enhanced UI layouts when run on an iPad. If not, it looks like an iphone app, but it can be zoomed. That said, many professional software developers choose to make a separate iPhone and iPad app.

Ok, so I will admit, I was wrong. 2 android apps vs. 8 iOS apps. Not too far off. But EA, indeed, has 80 iOS games (stuff like mortal combat, transformers, and rock band) and 10 really sucky Android games (scrabble and monopoly). Actually, 81 iOS games… Was rounding up in both cases, but forgot about Bing for Droid.

Yes, you like folders, widgets and customizing your desktop, because that’s all you can do with Android. That, and basic Internet capabilities. Yes, that wonderful Flash plugin that works so well, right? I have tried it. It’s an abomination. Even Ubuntu Linux has their shit together, compared to Android, and Ubuntu is free. Just install it on that old Dell that chugs along with Windoze, and that old laptop isn’t destined for a landfill after all…

I mean, it’s pathetic that a small company like Canonical makes better products than a huge leviathan like Google. Google is synonymous with shit quality.

So for the anal retentive sort that has to fiddle with organizing this and that, maybe Android has something going for it, if the UI wasn’t so inconsistent. You can only see the last 6 recent apps (if you have a certain brand of UI “overlay”), copy/paste is inconsistent and nonexistent in some apps… You open an app, you have to kill it, because the stock multitasking that comes with java on Linux was all they could do… Yadda yada. 

Speaking of multitasking, that is one area where Phandroids are smoking crack. Android multitasking was done the easy way — they just took what comes with java on Linux. iOS did it the hard way, so that customers could save battery life, yet also experience multitasking. Being a Linux user for years, the various flavors of Linux have been trying to persist the state of applications for a long time now, and Apple finally did it well. That is a huge leap forward for operating systems, but only a fanboy would say the “true” (really, it was lazy, low hanging fruit) multitasking in Android is superior. In what way? It is surely better at draining one’s battery, and most Android devices have atrocious battery life… What is so great about having to manually fiddle with the life cycle of apps, so you can preserve battery, memory and minimize the waste of CPU cycles? Android multitasking puts the onus of management on the user. It sucks! It is definitively obtrusive and inelegant.

If you have studied design and know that design should be unobtrusive, Apple is more like that than Android. Android is gaudy and has a bunch of superfluous UI features that took precedence over OS necessities that allow iOS to have rich apps with multimedia and awesome games. Beyond that, iOS has mountains of productivity apps. iOS is the favorite of business and corporate users…

The notion that Android will succeed, because it follows the Windows model, is nothing but naïve. It ignores the fact that Microsoft had a strangle hold on corporate users. Android does not. Corporations don’t want buggy malware platforms. They give people blackberries or iPhones, depending on status, at the large corporation I work at (top 15 of fortune 500). I have not yet heard of any corporation, other than Google and pals, giving employees Android devices.

So you see, there is this fallacy that allowing people to choose from various makers of crappy hardware, creates an “ecosystem” where people have choice, yadda, yadda, which makes for a successful platform. Uh, that’s not how Microsoft became successful… Android won’t become successful. The best they can hope for is a huge Apple fumble, but they are pretty careful about what they release. More likely, the Android fumbles will continue… Missing killer apps, security issues, slow devices, phone makers abandoning the platform because Google lied and decided they would start making devices too, giving their acquired handset maker a huge advantage that others do not want to compete against…

Oh, and then there’s the fact that all Android devices are ugly, cheap, chintzy pieces of bulky crap. Nothing is as well made as the iPhone 4, and it costs maybe $50 more than really poorly made, plastic crap Android devices… Why? Economy of scales. Apple sells millions and millions of iPhones, so they can build a better device for less. Game over, Android!

In fact, there are serious doubts that Android even has 135m users, as Google claims. Most of the device manufacturers do not release sales information. For example, the Motorola Xune was so bad, they didn’t announce sales figures. All’s I can say is they have had the same Xunes sitting at Costco for several months now. Ooops, looks like consumers don’t care about widgets or Flash. Well the Xune didn’t have Flash until 2 month after it was released.

There are serious allegations that the 135m Android activations is counting people who buy new phones to replace existing one (hence no new user, just a new “activation”), people who return Android devices (they are returned twice as often as iOS devices), and people who messed up their device and needed to reinstall.

There are no doubts about the fact that there are over 200m iOS users. Apple’s profits are indicative of this. They release verifiable sales numbers. The proof’s in the pudding — professional software developers make iOS apps.

Good luck with the Googoorola disaster…

You also claim that iPhones have had video calling for years…um, I think you mean a year? And Skype for iOS only just got video calling, too…And what do you mean by lack of apps? If it’s the second biggest app store, how does it lack them? And don’t forget, the google books store is the largest books store in the world, a lot bigger than iBooks.

And if you having seen an iPhone or iPad commercial in months, then you clearly don’t pay attention much. They’re on TV all the time (and this is Britain, remember, I doubt they use as much mass marketing here) and they even post the on youtube and on their website. And let’s not forget the Apple stores, which people only go in because they think they’re cool or hipster. Proof of that is the amount of Apple store videos on youtube, where groups of teenagers go into apple stores and make videos of themselves on macs. The thing is, I actually think iPods are good. Because they have lots of features. But with the iPhone, all it is is the same features of an iPod touch, with an internet connection and phone capabilities. Surely it should be more than that? So no matter what you say, Android isn’t a flop. Shall I tell you what is? OSs like Symbian and Meego.

I have a HTC Wildfire (I’d prefer a HTC HD7 though…), and it works perfectly fine. And remember, that’s an incredibly low end smartphone, with only a 400 mhz processor. 
And you say that they’re lookalikes, can you tell me how the HTC sensation (the second best phone in the world according to techradar, the iPhone 4 is number 5, LOL) looks anything like the iPhone? It doesn’t. In fact, no HTC (the most popular android phone manufacturer) phone looks like the iPhone. So when people buy things like the HTC Sensation, they aren’t looking for cheaper, iPhone lookalikes, because the HTC sensation is actually around the same price as the iPhone, as well as having much better specs, and looks nothing like the iPhone. And, the notification bar doesn’t work better than android. Remember the old notifications that were on all the current 5 iPhones? It took them 6 software updates to get a better notification system, and it’s still intrusive, because it has the white popup thing that comes up from the top, even if you’re in the middle of a game. On android, it just part of the notification on the bar itself. Oh and please don’t say “ha ha ha” again, it’s just annoying.

PS, Microsoft doesn’t make 10 times as many apps for iOS, when I researched that, I thought i’d found out information which actually proved your point, but it turned out to be a comment from you on the dailytech site…The only apps that microsoft makes for iOS are bing, onenote, and MS tag. I really don’t call that ten times more, do you?

You also claim that iPhones have had video calling for years…um, I think you mean a year? And Skype for iOS only just got video calling, too…And what do you mean by lack of apps? If it’s the second biggest app store, how does it lack them? And don’t forget, the google books store is the largest books store in the world, a lot bigger than iBooks.

And if you having seen an iPhone or iPad commercial in months, then you clearly don’t pay attention much. They’re on TV all the time (and this is Britain, remember, I doubt they use as much mass marketing here) and they even post the on youtube and on their website. And let’s not forget the Apple stores, which people only go in because they think they’re cool or hipster. Proof of that is the amount of Apple store videos on youtube, where groups of teenagers go into apple stores and make videos of themselves on macs. The thing is, I actually think iPods are good. Because they have lots of features. But with the iPhone, all it is is the same features of an iPod touch, with an internet connection and phone capabilities. Surely it should be more than that? So no matter what you say, Android isn’t a flop. Shall I tell you what is? OSs like Symbian and Meego.

I have a HTC Wildfire (I’d prefer a HTC HD7 though…), and it works perfectly fine. And remember, that’s an incredibly low end smartphone, with only a 400 mhz processor. 
And you say that they’re lookalikes, can you tell me how the HTC sensation (the second best phone in the world according to techradar, the iPhone 4 is number 5, LOL) looks anything like the iPhone? It doesn’t. In fact, no HTC (the most popular android phone manufacturer) phone looks like the iPhone. So when people buy things like the HTC Sensation, they aren’t looking for cheaper, iPhone lookalikes, because the HTC sensation is actually around the same price as the iPhone, as well as having much better specs, and looks nothing like the iPhone. And, the notification bar doesn’t work better than android. Remember the old notifications that were on all the current 5 iPhones? It took them 6 software updates to get a better notification system, and it’s still intrusive, because it has the white popup thing that comes up from the top, even if you’re in the middle of a game. On android, it just part of the notification on the bar itself. Oh and please don’t say “ha ha ha” again, it’s just annoying.

PS, Microsoft doesn’t make 10 times as many apps for iOS, when I researched that, I thought i’d found out information which actually proved your point, but it turned out to be a comment from you on the dailytech site…The only apps that microsoft makes for iOS are bing, onenote, and MS tag. I really don’t call that ten times more, do you?

So, again, you don your cheerleader outfit and dance around with pom poms as your favorite team fumbles the ball.

Google Talk video chat was just released for Android a few months ago, and it only works on a few devices.

I get it — you like Google so much, and hate Apple so much, that rational decision making, in the economic sense, has escaped you. You are willing to be so irrational, that you would trade off a few bucks for a cheaper device, yet pay all the monthly fees, to own a product that can’t really do video chat. Skype and Google talk don’t work for all Android devices, and most Android devices don’t even have front facing cameras.

Methinks you are having delusional video chats with yourself…

You are irrational and delusional. It was irrational to buy a Mac back in the 90s, unless ou were a graphic designer or audio engineer. It is irrational to buy a Droid device and pay monthly fees to beta test technology and pray for quality apps…

Anyway, have fun shilling for Bachman. You are much like a tea party supporter. Totally irrational and playing with a fraudulent set of facts because they represent your delusional thinking.

So, again, you don your cheerleader outfit and dance around with pom poms as your favorite team fumbles the ball.

Google Talk video chat was just released for Android a few months ago, and it only works on a few devices.

I get it — you like Google so much, and hate Apple so much, that rational decision making, in the economic sense, has escaped you. You are willing to be so irrational, that you would trade off a few bucks for a cheaper device, yet pay all the monthly fees, to own a product that can’t really do video chat. Skype and Google talk don’t work for all Android devices, and most Android devices don’t even have front facing cameras.

Methinks you are having delusional video chats with yourself…

You are irrational and delusional. It was irrational to buy a Mac back in the 90s, unless ou were a graphic designer or audio engineer. It is irrational to buy a Droid device and pay monthly fees to beta test technology and pray for quality apps…

Anyway, have fun shilling for Bachman. You are much like a tea party supporter. Totally irrational and playing with a fraudulent set of facts because they represent your delusional thinking.

It is indeed, you, who humps the brands of Google and pals, based on promises that it will get better, and delusions that this is the dominant technology that everyone uses.

You are delusional, hence someone who actively selected Android.

You are, indeed, the fanboy. Shilling for Android is just like shilling for Apple in the 90s — the true fanboys. You are just the same as an Apple fanboy from the 90s. You shill for an inferior platform which major software makers have chosen to ignore. It is, indeed, you who has brand fetishism. Yes, google made a search engine, after several others had them out for years, and conned the world into thinking it was better. Then they sold a bunch of stock to raise money, so they could continue their business of copying technology that already exists in much better forms, but try to convince people the Google way is better. But what do they release? Beta quality products. Google TV, in particular, is an abortion… Android is a huge security clusterf@$k… 250,000 people had to have their devices commandeered by Google, and basically had to have their diapers changed because they ate some crap off the floor and pooped all over themselves.

Have fun waiting for apps and shilling for Google. Yes, the Android brand has become so much a part of your life that you get upset when people point out the obvious flaws with the platform.

Your brand is a failure. Few professional software makers are willing to make apps for it. Much like the 1990s Mac, you put on a skirt and pick up pom poms to root for your team, even if they fumble the ball at every opportunity.

And what do you do? You get upset and call me a communist. Yes, Apple is the largest corporation in America, and they built themselves back up from nothing. Google is the opposite. They made a lot of cash on their hyped search engine and are spending it like drunk sailors. They get no where near the ROI that Apple does. Google are bad at technology and worse at business.

Stop projecting your mental defects onto me. I am looking at the big picture, and what both Larry and Steve are saying about market share. You are slurping up every bit of biased punditry that fits into your narrow view of technology and markets.

Why don’t you go play Rajiv’s Spice Invaders and STFU?!?

What blinders? You’re the one buying into the Phandroid garbage. Yes, it is the dominant smart phone platform, so where are the apps?!? Oh, software companies are ignoring Android because they know that 200m iOS users who have money and buy stuff is a better market than 135m Droid users, some of whom have devices incapable of running half the apps in the Android market. So really, what software company in their right mind would develop for users who might not be able to use the app, and will probably not buy anything?

The proof is in the pudding. I know Phandroids like to drink the Gartner koolade, but the proof is in the pudding. All major software companies, even Microsoft, overwhelmingly prefer iOS, and ignore Android.

You bought a loser product. Don’t take it out on me… Keep hoping for apps. Maybe someday you will get some decent ones, but Android apps are mostly amateur pieces of crap.

What blinders? You’re the one buying into the Phandroid garbage. Yes, it is the dominant smart phone platform, so where are the apps?!? Oh, software companies are ignoring Android because they know that 200m iOS users who have money and buy stuff is a better market than 135m Droid users, some of whom have devices incapable of running half the apps in the Android market. So really, what software company in their right mind would develop for users who might not be able to use the app, and will probably not buy anything?

The proof is in the pudding. I know Phandroids like to drink the Gartner koolade, but the proof is in the pudding. All major software companies, even Microsoft, overwhelmingly prefer iOS, and ignore Android.

You bought a loser product. Don’t take it out on me… Keep hoping for apps. Maybe someday you will get some decent ones, but Android apps are mostly amateur pieces of crap.

What blinders? You’re the one buying into the Phandroid garbage. Yes, it is the dominant smart phone platform, so where are the apps?!? Oh, software companies are ignoring Android because they know that 200m iOS users who have money and buy stuff is a better market than 135m Droid users, some of whom have devices incapable of running half the apps in the Android market. So really, what software company in their right mind would develop for users who might not be able to use the app, and will probably not buy anything?

The proof is in the pudding. I know Phandroids like to drink the Gartner koolade, but the proof is in the pudding. All major software companies, even Microsoft, overwhelmingly prefer iOS, and ignore Android.

You bought a loser product. Don’t take it out on me… Keep hoping for apps. Maybe someday you will get some decent ones, but Android apps are mostly amateur pieces of crap.

Actually, you are paying almost $1000 a year for a voice and data plan, yet your “smart” phone has no apps. Microsoft, EA, even my bank only make iOS apps. Microsoft makes 1 android app, and EA makes 10 crappy games for Android — stuff like scrabble and monopoly.

Indeed, it is you who pay a subscription and have access to nothing but amateur apps. There’s a few good Google apps for Android, but the major software developers have largely ignored Android — not enough users and the users are too cheap to pay for decent apps. So you get Rajiv’s Spice Invaders instead of Namco/Bandai’s Galaga. Nothing is more funny than looking at the crap they have at the Android market. It’s like a high school cafeteria… What is that green crap?

Actually, you are paying almost $1000 a year for a voice and data plan, yet your “smart” phone has no apps. Microsoft, EA, even my bank only make iOS apps. Microsoft makes 1 android app, and EA makes 10 crappy games for Android — stuff like scrabble and monopoly.

Indeed, it is you who pay a subscription and have access to nothing but amateur apps. There’s a few good Google apps for Android, but the major software developers have largely ignored Android — not enough users and the users are too cheap to pay for decent apps. So you get Rajiv’s Spice Invaders instead of Namco/Bandai’s Galaga. Nothing is more funny than looking at the crap they have at the Android market. It’s like a high school cafeteria… What is that green crap?

The paper notes that its conclusions challenge some assumptions from
previous literature on brand connections. It had been assumed that
brands are treated more like an interpersonal relationship and that
brand loyalty is indicative of relationship strength. Instead, the
Illinois researchers believe people treat brands as they treat
themselves, leading users to feel more affected by brand failure instead
of less.

“Because the brand is seen as a part of the self by virtue of being
intimately tied to the self, failure on the part of the brand is
experienced as a personal failure,” reads the paper. “Therefore, in an
effort to maintain a positive self-view, high SBC individuals react
defensively to brand failure by evaluating the brand favorably despite
its poor performance.

their talking about you dirk :)

Android is like a scooter. Much like a scooter is a poor excuse for transportation, Android is a poor excuse for a mobile OS. Like all fads, it will die out, and people will go back to their iPhones or iPads (or in the case of my previous analogy, their car, bike, skateboard, or feet).

Fads cannot be sustained. For a product to have sustained use, it must be good.

When Android users find out that their hopes for apps and stability never pan out, they will ditch the Droid for the iPhone.

I’m not a fan of how Nielsen does surveys, as they do tend to have a sampling bias for people with lower incomes and lots of free time. But Nielsen claims that half of existing Android users want to switch to an iPhone, whereas only 10% of iPhone users want to switch to Android.

I know plenty of people who hate their Droid phone, or at best put up with it and say “I don’t need video chat or quality action video games or quality media” and before Netflix came out for Droid, they laughed at the notion of watching a movie on a smart phone. Now they say “wow, Netflix on Android is so awesome” (for the few devices it works on…)

Android culture is one of making excuses for Google and saying “that’s not useful” for every iOS app your missing, until it comes out on Android. It’s really a pathetic bunch of wanna be geeks (mostly fiddlers, not engineers) who rely on tech punditry, courtesy of the blogosphere, to convince themselves that they didn’t sign on for 2 years with a crap technology.

Grow up, Embrace competition.

Eye candy? No… Apps. Security. Video chat. Media. Excellent multitasking. Excellent workflow. Genius design. Even Dieter Rams says Apple is the best at design. Not just the device design, but UI, etc… You know, the stuff that Android crudely ripped off from Apple. Android basically aped the iPhone.

Netflix, Hulu, Skype and others have been stymied by Android’s lack of standardized media capabilities, something that is basic and essential to any modern OS. Android even makes Windows look good… So the “superior” OS has no standardized media play back or decent security… But it has WIDGETS!!! WHOOPEE!!!

So, based on Notifications, you claim that Android is better? Or widgets and animated wallpaper? They didn’t even have notifications until they took the concept from the iPhone. I’m amazed that Android made some slight innovation. iOS does them better than Android, as you can swipe notifications from your lock screen and launch the notifying app. Does the Android keyboard pop up from the top of the screen? No, they ripped that off from Apple. They ripped off 80% of Android’s look and feel and use cases from Apple, but Android still looks ugly and is buggy as sin. Sluggish performance too. They can put quad core processors in those huge, blocky phones, and they will still be slow as can be. Bad design. Not talking about visual design, but the idea of running smart phone platform on a java virtual machine means Android will always need beefier hardware a well as more memory and storage space for bloated java apps. Java is a great server side technology, but has had minimal impact on the client side for good reason. Google went with java because they could piggy back on Sun’s (now owned by Oracle) IP and presumably because java is RAD, so long as the APIs are good… With Android, they’re not. People who develop for iOS and Droid tend to overwhelmingly prefer iOS. They have much better tools for making impressive apps… Droid? You have to roll your own… Amazing how they made java less productive!

Android started in 2003 as a Blackberry rip off. Then Google bought them in 2005 and they were still a Blackberry rip off. Then the iPhone came out, and they ripped that off. Despite the head start that Android had, they have no original ideas. Google has no original ideas. Their development process involves taking something that exists, modifying it, and hyping up blogosphere geeks to claim it is better. Then they release beta quality software that is unapologetically in this state for years…

The Android OS is not advanced. It can’t protect users from malware. It can’t do video chat unless you have one of the few handsets that can finally do Skype video chat. That just came out last week! iOS users have had video chat for YEARS! We have had Netflix and Hulu plus for years. We have PBS, which is not yet on Android. Sorry, Phandroids have to use their site and your crappy Flash player, with a virtual trackpad so you can use the controls. D’oh! I can AirPlay shows from my iOS devices onto my TV. The DoubleTwist attempt to copy AirPlay is buggy and has so many limitations — doesn’t work with Flash which is the crappy way Android users are supposed to consume media. 

Next to security, video chat is the number one feature that customers want. Google wouldn’t know that, because they do not listen to customers. They are geeks that shart out code and claim that flaws are really advantages. They are riding the success of a search engine, but not seeing anywhere near the ROI that Apple is… Google is bad at technology and business.

The dirth of quality apps on Android is directly attributable to the lack of quality APIs and frameworks for developing rich, media-centric apps. That is not advanced. You put the two operating systems on a scale, and then place your finger down on the Android side, because you value widgets and animated wallpaper more than security, quality apps, media content, and advanced multitasking that preserves battery life and improves work flow… Tap for tap, you get more done on an iOS device with less effort. You should perhaps look up Dieter Rams and the basic principles of design… Good design is unobtrusive. Android is poorly designed, from the UI to the guts. Drilling down 8 levels in the UI to turn off email notification sounds is the Android UX… Pure crap!

The people have made their choice. They would rather spend more money and get something that works, than save a few bucks and fiddle with some beta quality technology. 135m Android “activiations” vs over 200m iOS USERS! The people have spoken, and they have gone with Apple.

Marketing? I haven’t seen an iPhone or iPad commercial in months. I do see the pathetic Sprint Evo commercials. Yes, you can video chat on their 4G network, but not at peak hours, and not over Skype or any chat technology that people use… D’oh! I guess now a few Droid handsets finally have video chat over Skype, which is crap compared to FaceTime. In your face! Ha ha ha…

Some claim that this is Windows all over again, and the number of players in the Android microcosm will yield success, much like Windows. This ignores the fact that Windows had a strangle hold on corporate users, which is an area where Android is deficient (due to horrible security and the lack of apps — even Microsoft makes 10 times as many apps for iOS as Android).

This is more like the iPod. When the iPod came out, it had limitations… It only worked on a Mac with FireWire. Then you had a proliferation of copy cat devices, made by Creative Labs and others. At first, people were buying the copy cat devices. To be fair, the iPod was not the first portable digital music player, but its predecessors were ridiculous. Then they made it work with Windows and USB. Then they provided content via iTunes. Sure, there are still super cheap, low end media players — Sansa and the like. But the iPod is a success and is the household word for portable digital media player. The iPhone and iPad will do the same… OTA updates mean that anyone can get an iPhone or iPad, even people without computers (by the way, iOS has had OTA updates for Apple TV before Android even existed, so let’s not put forth the b.s. that Apple copied OTA system updates from Android. Apple did tethered updates so people could backup, and now they will do the backup OTA). In fact unlike the iPod, the iPhone and iPad have already been tremendously successful, and they have only had one carrier for the majority of their product lifespan… Verizon was a huge bump. When Sprint and other carriers are added to the fold, along with cheaper iPhones, the lead that iOS already has will make Android suffer the same fate as iPod wannabes… Ha ha ha… Droid will exist, but it will be on super cheap devices… Much like all non-iPod portable music players are ridiculously cheap, ersatz pieces of crap.

Android is a flop. People buy it because it is cheap and looks like an iPhone. Even before the IP lawsuits, it bothered me that Android vendors were not showing off the “great” widgets, but instead copying the iPhone down to the app dock with 4 icons… Even a green phone phone icon.

Yes, iOS 5 has pull down notifications, and from there it works much better than Android… Even putting the widgets (which Android ripped off from Mac OS X) in a much more sensible and appropriate place. But if you don’t have any good apps, like Android, then you have plenty of space for widgets on your home screen… But the device makers won’t show them. Most stock Android phones are iPhone clones. The level of copy cat behavior is staggering. It surprises me Apple took so long to sue, but lawsuits take some time to put together…

Are you the sucker who bought the hype? Don’t be mad how apple keeps parting you from your money… you sound complacent about overpaying.

There’s no arguing a fan-boy with the blinders on. What I dont get is what about competition these commie fan boys hate so much.

Have fun with scrabble and monopoly… Really crap options in terms of apps. Yes, if only product managers would drink the Gartner koolade.

The thing is, even if Android ever achieves market hegemony, the apps won’t come. Droid users are cheap pirates. They don’t buy apps, and want free crap. Droid is the platform of lots of free crap…

It’s even worse than I thought… A few Droid handsets JUST got video chat with Skype?!? You have to really hate Apple to use this Droid crap.

I’m not a fanboy. I use the best product for the job. I use Linux for hosting java ee applications, not OS X server. Phandroids are all about buying into some mythical product that may have potential some day, but you will need to get a new handset to upgrade to that future release where everything works and software makers will start making apps… Someday!

The first rule of technology acquisition is — buy what’s good now. Whores and drug dealers are more honest than companies like Google. Yeah, give them the money now, and they will get you your goods in future releases. That is how Droid is sold, particularly Google TV. It’s a completely crap product, with blocked content and a crappy Flash based media experience, but Logitech slashed the price 66% and Google promises to deliver a TV system that works this summer! But please buy the one that doesn’t work now. Oh boy! That’s about as believable as the guy at the gas station asking for $10 so he can get home to visit his son!

Google is like Whimpy from Popeye. “I will gladly give you a working OS on Tuesday (2015) if you buy an Android device today!”

Ha ha ha!

Gartner also ignores the iPad.

In the end, wheyou wonder why iOS has the apps and Android doesn’t, even with this great market share that Gartener misleads people to believe… The reason is that users by applications, not devices in landfills or returned to the vendors’ warehouse (for refurbishment). Ignoring the iPad is a huge flaw.

Do I really need to point out that iOS has more apps and better apps? Why is that, if you so strongly believe what Gartner claims about market share? Oh, it’s statistics that have been manipulated to create an illusion of market share…

You know why product managers continue to favor iOS over android? Because they see through this Gartner crap. That’s why companies like Microsoft and EA make ten times as many iOS apps as Android. There are simply more iOS users.

Now, if you filter out the iPad, there are still more iPhone users, but then Android is close, as long as you don’t count returned devices and people who upgraded from one Android device to another. Android devices are returned more than iOS devices. Android users need to purchase new devices more frequently than iOS users, because their carriers stop providing OS updates after a while. It’s that wonderful Microsoft Windows formula for success, without the stranglehold on corporate users that Microsoft had. People tend to forget that when they try to predict the success of Android.

PS: You may want to read up what market share means, before ranting against it.

PS: You may want to read up what market share means, before ranting against it.

PS: You may want to read up what market share means, before ranting against it.

If you look at any of the large scale Internet statistic aggregators, they show a much different picture. iOS is still the most used mobile platform. In terms of operating systems in general, iOS is third, next to Windows and Mac OS X. Android finishes up in 6th place, after Linux and Java ME.

Gartner is doing what they always do — shilling for companies that pay them and providing misinformation. Gartner’s predictions are always wrong. Worthless data. No wonder only some tech punditry site like slash gear would buy into it. And of course, it is the top story in tech on Google news…

If you look at any of the large scale Internet statistic aggregators, they show a much different picture. iOS is still the most used mobile platform. In terms of operating systems in general, iOS is third, next to Windows and Mac OS X. Android finishes up in 6th place, after Linux and Java ME.

Gartner is doing what they always do — shilling for companies that pay them and providing misinformation. Gartner’s predictions are always wrong. Worthless data. No wonder only some tech punditry site like slash gear would buy into it. And of course, it is the top story in tech on Google news…

If you look at any of the large scale Internet statistic aggregators, they show a much different picture. iOS is still the most used mobile platform. In terms of operating systems in general, iOS is third, next to Windows and Mac OS X. Android finishes up in 6th place, after Linux and Java ME.

Gartner is doing what they always do — shilling for companies that pay them and providing misinformation. Gartner’s predictions are always wrong. Worthless data. No wonder only some tech punditry site like slash gear would buy into it. And of course, it is the top story in tech on Google news…