It looks like soon there will be little to choose between high end Android devices and the latest iPhones, not just in terms of the devices but also the ecosystems that support them. That's a good thing. It's hardly a death knell for Apple though. While Google has been catching up, my entire family has invested heavily in the Apple ecosystem because for the last 6 years it's been the best game in town and has served us well. I think a lot of people are in our position. The opportunity to steal Apple's market from under them has been lost, and Apple's famous customer satisfaction and retention statistics will work in their favour.

For me and I suspect for a lot of people in the iOS user base, parity for Android isn't enough. To switch, it has to be significantly better than what we already have. Yet there are still plenty of people coming into the smartphone and mobile computing world for whom Android will suite them fine. It looks like we're headed for a rare thing in computing - a market in which two platforms with distinct and complementary advantages and disadvantages, become roughly equally viable and pervasive. Imagine a 1990s where Apple had say 40% market share versus Windows, instead of 5%. What a great outcome for customers!