Will android take over iphone? | Hacker News Reader

Will android take over iphone?

5 pointskasunh11 comments

Will Android eventually take over iphone and Blackberry? If you do think so how long do you think it would take for Android to make that happen?

I think Google would be able to make Android as good as the iphone OS and Android been open source and giving more control for developers would be able to close in on the huge number of iphone apps already available. The problem will always be from the side of Device manufacturers. some one from the Open Handset Alliance will have to deliver a product that can match the iphone.

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I wonder if the story Mac vs. PC will be all over again but in different market. We have one company with new, sexy and revolutionary device, we have another company—the market leader—that missed the moment and we have the third company that started by writing software for the sexy device and eventually released their own operating system: definitely not as polished but open so any number of hardware-oriented companies can release their devices with this new OS.

I'm sorry, how is that the story of Mac vs. PC?

IBM as a market leader, that missed the moment, Apple as, well, Apple—company that released cool Macintosh computer—and Microsoft, as a company who started by writing software for Macs (i.e. BASIC version for Mac) but eventually released their own OS.

And Microsoft was the winner at the time.

It won't happen in the near future because there is very little interest in Android even among the early adopters and hackers. Android sales have been dismal.

What makes this round of platform struggles much more interesting is that Apple has learned from its mistakes in the 1980s. Apple listened to its developers and released the iPhone SDK, and lowered the iPhone 3G price to appeal to a wider audience. Sure, there are still many rough patches such as the App Store, and the much touted security vulnerabilities. But the latter are only going further to perpetuate it in the consciousness of the general public. Bad PR is still PR.

On the whole they've been doing a very good job and should remain the benchmark for at least the next 18 months.

No, because Android have a fundemental business model problem. OS supplies by one company, product designed by the manufacturer goes only so far. One size does not fit all.

Apple has demonstrated the value in having top down owneship of a platform quite clearly. You have one product to worry about at any given time and you dedicate all your resources to make it perfect. Google at the same have a distracted focus, they are trying to make Motorla, HTC and what not...

No.

I concur, it seems as simple as that. Android doesn't have the momentum, the sexiness, the tight hold on quality that the iPhone has. All of these contribute to its success, and, well iPhone got there first, that counts for a lot.

I think everyone is missing the point here that Android as devices so far haven't been great. I have a G1 and compared to the iPhone it certainly isn't sexy.

But as a platform, in the next 18 months you'll see an explosion of devices for different handset manufacturers that are all compatible with each other to to some extent - so as a developer you can write once and deploy to a range of devices, most of them phones, but some of them devices like the Zii Egg.

Don't write off Android yet. Weren't people saying the same thing about Apple years ago?

This seems to be the main sticking point for people I know - Android Phones are nice, but thay aren't iPhones. It's the hardware that is holding up Android rather than the OS, as far as I can see.

If there was a phone as well made as the iPhone that runs Android, I'm sure many developers would switch to an open platform rather than continue to jump through obfuscated hoops for Apple.

Until two weeks ago I'd say no but at the current pace Apple is scaring off customers Android may catch up sooner that we'd expect. People tired of Apple will embrace the Android platform so that their critical mass will propel the developer community and thus better interfaces and the large number of apps will convince even more people to use Android phones.

I completely agree. I look forward to my AT&T contract ending with the hope that the Android phones will have caught up with the iPhone's sexiness. If so, I'll definitely consider an Android handset.

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