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Comment by untog | Hacker News Reader

I think Google+ is the only one that qualifies as a knee-jerk reaction, as Google realised very suddenly that social is a valuable currency on the internet, and they didn't have any.

Aside from that, there are no kneejerks in your list. Android was bought two years before the iPhone came out. Chrome was not a response to any kind of threat to Google. They created Google Offers after GroupOn refused to be bought. Google Docs was clearly an innovation, not a reaction. I could go on...

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>Android was bought two years before the iPhone came out.

obligatory http://www.technobuffalo.com/companies/google/android/androi...

Not really relevant in this case, though. Clearly, Google was planning to get involved in the mobile space before the iPhone. The physical form of that involvement may have changed, but that doesn't qualify Android as a "knee-jerk reaction".

In any case, since then the iPhone notification tray has clearly copied Android, etc. etc. All to the benefit of the end user, IMO.

>The physical form of that involvement may have changed, but that doesn't qualify Android as a "knee-jerk reaction".

Android copying the iPhone's user interface, touch screen, form factor, ecosystem, etc. is a knee-jerk reaction to iOS.

Considering the relative growth curves of RIM and Android since 2007, I think switching from "Linux/Java Blackberry clone" to "Linux/Java iPhone clone" was a solid decision.

doesn't change the fact that Android is an inferior product.

Largely depends on what you want to do with it, no? Android is rougher around the edges, but lets you do more. It's matter of personal choice.

In a theoretical world you might in principle be able to do more with Android, but given the "iOS First" approach that major developers take, it's hard to argue that it lets regular users "do more" in the real world.

I don't know about that. Can I:

- click a button on my desktop web browser and have the current page appear on my phone

- flash a totally new ROM onto my phone

- give apps root access and let them directly access hardware

etc. etc. I agree that iOS has far more app capability, but Android has far more OS-level capability to take advantage of.

You certainly can do #1 - there are apps for that. (e.g. Handoff - which I use sometimes)

2 and 3 are theoretical ways to let software do more that are no more available to Android end-users than Jailbreaking is available to iOS users.

You've basically confirmed my point. Android's ability to 'do more' is theoretical.

Given that there are lots of things that everyday users want to do that come to Android much later, I just don't see a valid argument here.

"App Capacity" is what lets people do things.

Here's what I can do in Android that I can't do in iOS:

* develop an app on my own machine - you can't develop iOS on anything but AAPL hardware, android dev can be done on the big 3.

* without having to pay anything - how much does dev license in iOS cost? don't need to pay for android SDK and tools

* without having to jump through any loops to distribute it - I can just pack up the .apk and email it to you, provide a dropbox public link (when I used to use k9mail, I got my updates at http://code.google.com/p/k9mail/downloads/list rather than the android app store), or put it up in my own app store for it (look at amazon app store, or http://f-droid.org/, or that adult themed one that came out some time ago).

None of this is in dispute - the point is that so far it hasn't resulted in end users being able to actually do more.

I've had my first Android for the better part of a year now (after two years with an iPhone 3G) and I have to agree with you. I was pretty excited to get into the "open" ecosystem but my ATT-locked Atrix is really not taking advantage of Android's supposed strengths. I'd probably like it more if I were developing mobile apps.

Right now the only thing I'd really miss if I went back to an iPhone is the navigation. The GMail integration is pretty sweet on the Android too, but maybe that's improved on iOS since I jumped ship last year.

apps empower MILLIONS of users.

"OS-level capabilities" empower a handful of developers/hackers/etc..

It may be a knee-jerk reaction, but it was also the best decision. The iPhone represented a gigantic leap in usability on phones, and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. If Google didn't come out with Android, Apple would own even more of the market than they do today.

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