Seems like every month or two another iPhone killer is released. First it was the BlackBerry Storm, which turned out to be such a bad device, the only thing it ended up killing was itself. Then there was the Palm Pre, which did not even threaten the iPhone’s throne in the least bit. There are of course many other devices along the way that caused people to throw out the overly used and ridiculous “iPhone Killer” title.
This time it’s Motorola, Google, and Verizon’s turn with the new Motorola Droid device. Now don’t get me wrong, this is one amazing mobile phone. It is thinner, faster, and sexier than most of its competitors, with a 13.7 mm body, a 3.7” multi touch capacitive touch screen. It boasts all the goodies you can possibly imagine given the available technologies of today’s mobile industry. That includes an accelerometer, a full QWERTY keyboard, blazing fast HSUPA, Wifi, Google GPS (more about this later), Stereo Bluetooth, a 5MP camera, Android 2.0, and 16GB of on onboard memory plus a MicroSD slot.
Seems pretty perfect, doesn’t it? Well it is pretty darn close, and the Droid is on the way to huge success in my opinion, but it, along with its predecessors, will not kill the iPhone. Here are five reasons why the Droid might cause a small dent in iPhone sales, but will not bring it down:
- Apps: This is the first and most blatant reason the iPhone will stay on top for some time. The App Store, as of a few days ago, has 100,000 apps for the iPhone. That number, according to experts, will stand on approximately 250,000 by the end of 2010. Now, I am not belittling the Android App Market with its 10,000 apps, but I kinda am…10,000 apps is an amazing number considering how young the Android App Market is, but for them to catch up to Apple’s numbers, it is going to take time, and from what I can tell Apple is not standing around waiting for Android to catch up. According to the App Store project manager at Apple, they approve hundreds of new apps daily.So when we are talking about phones at the level of the iPhone 3Gs and Droid, the kind of people using these phones are going to want apps, and a lot of them. I am thinking they will see beyond the Droid’s impressive specs, and look to Apple’s App Store to meet their software needs.
- OS: I am a big fan of Android, I really am. I have used the HTC Magic and the Samsung Galaxy, both very impressive devices. However, as nice as it is to have an open OS, and deep Google integration, at the end of the day, most mobile users want their phone’s OS to be as easy to use as possible.The iPhone has been around for a few years now, and somehow its OS never gets old. Not a day goes by when I don’t see someone showing off the iPhone’s UI to someone else. They might be showing off a cool app and how smoothly it runs on the iPhone or how impressive the photo viewing capabilities are on the iPhone, but somehow the iPhone’s interface stayed on top and I do not see that changing anytime soon.If Apple is known to release products only when they reach a level of perfection, Google, for better or worse, have been known to release their services at a very early stage when they are full of bugs and imperfections. I am not saying this is good or bad, there is something to be said for releasing a product in order to hear customer feedback about features people want to see, but Android is far from perfect. In my opinion, Android will catch up with the iPhone OS, and it won’t take long, especially with the release of Android 2.0 for Droid, but it aint there yet, iPhone OS is still the best.
- Text Input: At this level of mobile phones, iPhone and Droid users are utilizing their devices to do so much more than make calls. Whether it is email, Google Wave, Twitter, Facebook, or IM, people want to be able to type fast. Now, I know there is a heated debate about the iPhone’s keyboard, but from my experiences, it is by far the most superior keyboard on the virtual keyboard market. In fact, I use a BlackBerry Bold as my primary mobile device, and it is recognized by most to have the industry’s best keyboard, but the truth be told, I sometimes miss the correction software and sensitivity of the iPhone’s keyboard.The Droid is brand new, so there are not many in depth reviews of the device and its input methods, but the few I have read suggest it is more of a BlackBerry Storm (the first generation) competitor than an iPhone killer, at least when it comes to typing.
- GPS: Now this is a tricky one… The new Google GPS turn by turn app has certainly caused its share of hype over the last few days. GPS companies like Garmin or TomTom are feeling the results of that hype with their shares absolutely plummeting since Google’s announcement. However, and this is the name of the game, will iPhone users abandon their iPhone just because Google now offers their GPS app on the Droid? As sure as I was that the first Storm would not kill the iPhone, I am sure that the answer is no. There are enough GPS apps on the iPhone that offer perfectly strong alternatives to Google’s app, that if someone had already decided to get a Droid, the GPS might make them smile, but iPhoners are not going anywhere because of it.You want to pull the free card? OK, Google’s GPS app is free, I agree that is a huge advantage over iPhone apps like TomTom that costs users hundreds of dollars over time, but if we are talking free alternatives, there is Waze on the iPhone, which is not only free, but it adds a social layer to its turn by turn navigation. The maps, route, and directions are all user generated, and the app has widespread exposure, so you can be sure, you are receiving updated information.Just to emphasize, I am not saying the Google app is not awesome or that it is not a huge development in the location space, because it is, but this is not what will bury the iPhone, which is at its prime right now, the iPhone, even with the new Droid GPS, is gonna live a very long life.
- Uniformity: This might get a little philosophical, but I am under the impression that people like things simple, and the iPhone is simple. I am not referring to its user experience, but rather the fact that it is one device against the growing sea of Android devices out there. With iPhone, consumers know what they are getting, and developers know how they are developing. When it comes to Android, and this is a general debate when it comes to consumer products, there are so many Android devices from which to choose, consumers might feel overwhelmed and confused, which will lead them to make the simple choice and go with an iPhone.When it comes to development, it is true that Andoid’s API is open and Apple’s is closed, and it is true that the approval process of getting into the App Store is long and painful compared to that of the App Market, but at least developers know what device they are developing for. With Android development, not only must developers customize their app for different devices with a variety of screen sizes and specifications, no one knows what tomorrow will bring in the world of Android devices. iPhone is iPhone, both for consumers and developers.
Those are five reasons the Droid or any other Android device are not putting Apple out of business any time soon. In fact, when thinking about these five points, I am pretty convinced especially by the last one, that before Android dents Apple’s profits, they might very well be causing damage to their own with so many new devices from which to choose. Like MG Siegler of TechCrunch said, the iPhone killers we have heard so much about are indeed going to do some killing, but it is Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Nokia that should be worried, not Apple.
Would love to hear your thoughts, will Droid take a bite out of Apple’s market dominance? Let me know in the comments or tweet me here.
-Hillel
There’s only 1 reason the iPhone won’t die: iTunes. Eventually open source hardware & software will clobber any other competitor on the features/functions front. However, I don’t see any way open source can replicate the selection and ease-of-use of iTunes. There will always be a large user base who will use iPhones just so they can get their tunes. The fact that it’s also a phone is just gravy.
It isn’t about killing the iPhone. It is about other options for those that don’t want an iPhone or the At&t network. The iPhone has one drawback. There is only ONE hardware device that you can get. With that constrictive idea of “one fits all”, not everyone can be truly happy with it. The Moto Droid isn’t a killer but the platform it something to be afraid of. The idea is having 2, 4, or 10 different hardware configurations on different networks to choose from. With an Android device I have choices that iPhone just can’t compete with. Even when the iPhone/At&T contract ends and other networks start carrying it there is still a hole in the iPhone market for people like me.
Maybe it is the best thing to ever happen to Verizon but it sure is no threat to iPhone. Apps is the reason iPhone is still a rage and so far I haven’t seen any rush from programmers to make apps for android… correct me if I am wrong.
Your “biggest reason” is specious: any app developer worth his/her salt is cross-platform minded, and if they aren’t yet, they will be. The 10,000 apps Google developed were the BEST 10,000 apps, as people will soon learn. No: it’s a contest between Google and Apple is what it is, and Google’s pretty much the only Internet corporation with the power to beat the crap out of Apple in the short run and the long run.
You’ll see.
As for iTunes, same solution: Google’s new music service will suddenly offer all the music and functionality iTunes does. No: it will eventually come down to which platform is BETTER; it will be quality rather than quantity.
The Droid does not have “16GB of onboard memory plus a MicroSD slot” It has a 16GB SD card included with the phone.
It only has 512mb of onboard memory, of which only ~256mb can be used for apps!! Google Android does not allow apps to be loaded onto the SD card. This is Google’s (flawed) way of preventing pirating. You download an app, store it to SD card, share it with friends.
Verizon is falsely advertising this as “on board memory”. This presents two problems:
1) It kills any chances of the Droid running 3D games because they tend to be larger then 500mb. Tiger Woods golf on iPhone is 1.3GB! It also limits what developers can develop…because they have to make their apps so small.
2) This tidbit is not made knows to the general public so Droids will probably be returned in droves by customers saying “I thought I had 16GB on this thing. Why is it saying full when I download an app”.
If you would like to read more intensely about this little Android hickup, head over to AndroidAndMe dot com. They have an article with alot of really mad developers wondering why Google & Motorola dropped the ball on this.
In short, by doing this, Motorola and Google assured that Droid and Android Market could never compete with iPhone.
Love the blog! Keep up the good work!
@Gottoon 1 Device is actually a better stradegy because you avoid the OS from being fragmented. Look at Android. If you’re following twitter updates on Android this week, you will see a bunch of really mad Sprint Hero owners who wonder “when am I getting Android 2.0 update”. Because HTC chose to skin Android 1.5, they now have to go back and re-engineer it to work with Android 1.6 and 2.0. @HTC had to issue a statement to Hero owners that they do plan to update to 2.0 but they need time to re-engineer the Sense UI. Plus add to the fact that Sprint just told the world that they do not have a way to push updates to Android customers yet! Yikes!
So now Google has to deal with multiple devices on multiple networks, running multiple OS versions and their latest store has apps that only run on certain versions. None of the networks have a unified way to upgrade user’s OS’s. Google should have learned a lesson from Windows Mobile who took this same path and failed miserably. Microsoft is now backtracking and partnering with a select few device manufacturers to avoid segmentation with Windows Mobile 7 – when it rears its ugly head.
Now look at Apple. 1 distribution channel – iTunes – completely controlled by the OS and device maker. A new version comes out, fire up iTunes and away you go. Simple! It puts all the power in one companies hands, yes. But it lends itself to stupidly simple customer usability.
It’s all about NOT having to use ATT in my opinion. Their network is soo terrible I have never considered switching from VZW. Having said that, I’m a MAC user and would LOVE to have an iPhone or other mac os device, but android 2.0 is absolutely sick. really…I have played with this thing and I am truly pumped to see what VZ and GOOG can do as far as numbers. 256mb of space for data DOES ABSOLUTELY BLOW, but I will get over it. virtually everything else about this phone is a SLAM DUNK.
—keep up the good work on the blog
-Mikel
Android 2.0 will “kill” WinMo 6.5 immediately. that is the real story.
the iPhone is in its own zone, with its premium priced “elegance” and encompassing hardware/software Apple ecosystem. the addition of the iTab early next year will reinforce its popularity even more.
Apple only needs to hold about 20% of the smartphone market to be #1 in the most important terms of revenue and profit. Android products will likely sell more, but that pie is being cut up so many ways and the competition between them will be so cutthroat that bottom line profits will total much less.
I’m bummed. The BEST solution was for Verizon to carry the iPhone, not for them to compete against them. So let the battle begin…best network with a secondary device or a real iPhone on the worst network. Personally, I want iTunes, internet access, video capability, apps, and a phone. I could care less about GPS. Yup…”it’s just as good as a Xerox”….
This is the beginning of the end of the iPhone dominance IMHO. As much as I LOVE my iPhone, Apple once again is repeating their mistakes from the past but this time it’s Google instead of Microsoft and they’re doing the exact same thing!! They developed a relationship with Apple, worked along side them on their mobile product, learned about the business, developed products for it that made Google even more popular, now are going for that same market.
From what I see in Droid so far, it’s the first decent attempt at a phone to compete with the iPhone and finally tips the scale in their favor. Sure the platform isn’t as great as the iPhone yet, but that will change overnight. So far, the improvements made on this phone, ie 5MP camera with flash, keyboard, screen, ect. are very significant improvements over the iPhone. But on top of that, you get to be on the fverizon network, which is HUGE. Those reasons alone would be enough for most people, but now lets look at what Google’s services bring to the table. There is no company that can possible build a GPS like the one they have, it’s amazing. This is the first really killer, game changing service they’ve brought to the phone, and it’s the first of many. They are next going into music and will probably go head to head with iTunes.
I’m really hopeful for apple. I’m a big time fan and a major iPhone developer, but if I was them I’d be freaking out right now. They really need to step it up to stay ahead of Google. I don’t know if they realize what they’re really up against and the parasitic relationship with them all these years that is now going to bite them in the a$$.
Good article, I also loved the comments posted to it by different people. The bigger difference between Droid and iPhone is that ‘we grew up’. iPhone was able, don’t know how, to not draw so many questions that were SO needed 3 years ago, and then last year and then with iPhone S 3.0.
How did we miss the fact that moving the fingers ‘that’ way to zoom is NOT intuitive? How could we be so happy with no video cam, medium video quality, no flash phone? What made us keep in quiet the fact that this is a one application at a time phone (just like my Commodore 64).
Where did all the open source supporters went when iTunes was known to be the only option? Can we wait ANOTHER 3 years to get copy/paste? to search? Are we OK visiting the store each time we want to replace a battery?
No, ‘we’ got smarter, we wouldn’t let ‘that’ happen again(clue: don’t buy apple stocks now).
Would it kill iPhone? no – but it will bring a reasonable (at last) option for those who bought iPhone without knowing its limitation.
The market is growing so there is a place for iPhone AND others.
It was interesting to read Droid’s review in the Post and see how they gave a ‘so-so’ rank to things that iPhone was always missing, year after year after year but yet iPhone never got that review.
BB Storm? 1st attempt at consumers by RIM, not perfect but some serious multi tasking – very very strong capabilities, flash, video, better graphic, sound and Verizon network. Who remembers Apple 1st phone attempt? :-> get ready to Storm 2.
So lets define what is an iPhone-killer…
My daughter would prefer the Droid over the iPhone – my IT Boss would do the
same. This can be painful to Apple, but would people change network from att to Verizon because of that? would people get out of their contract? not that fast.
I’d have to disagree on a couple points. One being the apps. Granted Apple’s app store is about 10 times larger, but it’s been around for longer and had a larger user base longer, but Android uses java as a base which will make it much more familiar for programmers and developers than programming for the iphone is.
Plus so many good apps get rejected or have a long hard time getting into apples app store (i’m still waiting for them to approve keepass so i can carry my password database with my ipod) and I assume the process will be a bit easier to get into Androids store and you wont for example get rejected for ‘duplicating’ functions for users who ‘want another option’.
And the 2nd point kind of can go with the first, but mainly is focused at OS. Granted apple has a good stable OS that many know, but it’s by apple and very locked down. What you can do with it is very restricted by apple (hence so many people wanting to jailbreak) and the biggest problems of which is apples refusal to allow Flash and Java on their iphone/itouch. You lose out on a lot of web features just by eliminating those two major technologies. The only reason apple gets away with it is because they are mobile devices in a relatively new market. If they were to start selling computers with those features locked out, sales would drop instantly.
I have a feeling that the Android is being underestimated and so is open source. now that all the major wireless providers have Android based phones, AT&T is likely to see a large drop in sales (especially with so many people not getting as good of coverage on AT&T) and Droid likely will be a game changer. All it will take is the right marketing. Just unfortunate that it’s coming out during an economic downturn, but that hits Apple/AT&T as well.
The argument against android about developers having to customize the apps for different phones has been proved wrong many times already. Get over it.
You can optionally optimize your app to work on the 3 different screen sizes, and it’s not like you have to rewrite the whole app, it’s very easy to do. I would recommend this article to those still with doubts. http://phandroid.com/2009/10/20/fake-steve-the-issue-with-android-rebuttal/
There will not be an iPhone killer unless that killer is Apple. The smartphone market has been big enough to support and handful of companies and a truckload of phones for quite some time. This will continue to be the case. Apple’s being on one network ensures they will never take over the market, and it isn’t compelling enough of a phone for most people to jump ship. The iPhone is a good phone. Blackberry makes some good phones. Now Google is helping some other people make good phones too. This is a good thing for everybody.
Guys, thanks so much for your feedback, appreciate it, always love to hear differing opinions. Glad most of you enjoy the blog, keep reading and feel free to connect with me on http://twitter.com/hilzfuld
ATT is not as bad as the press makes it out to be. Yes, it has some problems in some areas, but overall it performs adequately and they are continuing to build up the network.
No question, the new Android phone seems nice. We’ll see how it performs in the real world in terms of battery life, dropped calls, GPS accuracy and overall reliability.
Probably the biggest reason this is not an iPhone killer is Apple. They are not about to sit still and lose share. You have to believe they have a couple dozen ideas for modifications tested and waiting in the wings. Moreover, some of those things will be related to the Apple ecosystem, that is, they will make the iPhone a more interesting part of the Apple family of products. This is hard to compete against.
As to the 5MP camera, the built in flash and so on, these are just not that important. This is important to techno geeks who follow this stuff, but most people don’t live in that world. I don’t pretend to know what the ideal product mix is in a smart phone (probably a moving target anyway), but my experience in marketing tells me that this can be very difficult to suss out and the market probably won’t simply go for the product with the most check marks on its data sheet. Retail presence (over 200 Apple store), reliability, reputation, customer satisfaction, usability of the product and many more all come into play.
Big Problem: Verizon’s antiquated CDMA network does not allow multi-tasking or simultaneous voice and date
You are an apple buddy boy, just realize that that when Google puts money into something whoever their competition is better watch the F*** out because they have not only the cash but also the talent to dominate any other company when it comes to technology. Also, all the people who think Apple is killing Microsoft, please get over yourself, check the market share and also the high margin corporate accounts. Just because you like to overpay for you screen cracking iphone does not mean its the best. Rimm and Verizon just released the new OS for the Storm and Storm 2 and it has fixed the glitches that the original device had.
It’s the network. I think there’s an ENORMOUS pent up market of Verizon users that will not, under any circumstances, switch to AT & T. As soon as I confirm that the Droid will play my itunes, I’m there.
Apps are amusing, but what’s a difference of a few hundred thousand toys? I only need about 10 key functions, not 10,000 anyway.
So you haven’t TOUCHED a droid.. but you can somehow predict the keyboard and OS (which is 2.0, not on any of those devices you have used) are going to be subpar?
gg… l2researchbeforewritingbullshitarticle
Great article hilzfuld. Keep in mind, the iPhone is one device and the power of Droid is not the device, it’s the OS and Verizon. There’ll be a dozen Android phones, with different styles, sizes and functionality all running on Android and Verizon with similar features.
The Droid isn’t what’s going to “kill” iPhone’s share, it’s going to be Android itself.
There’s good reasons that thousands of developers create mashups and extensions on top of Google’s powerufl APIs. Google’s services are excellent and innovative. Integrating all that power and functionality into an “open” OS is something Apple just can’t compete with.
The Droid may not have a better touch keyboard, a slicker appearance or 100,000 apps . But all that stuff can change in a matter of months.
Google has a bigger picture of things, the most powerful search on the planet with a huge revenue from advertising, online office suite, the best webmail, calendar, feed reader in the market, the most popular video sharing site in the world, the most used analytics program, an innovative calling service (and soon to be Voip integration), Wave, IM, Picasa, Chrome and whole bunch others.
There’s power in integration, and Android will have a hell of a lot of it. There’ll always be Apple users, but iPhone is no longer the only option for an awesome mobile. Android is going to be huge. I love my Droid because of how well it works with my Google services.
@Bob: You’re right about no multi-tasking voice and data. BUT, if you’re in a wifi hotspot you can transfer data over Wifi. Also if you talking over VOIP with Google Voice/Gizmo5, you can use data.
Google just purchased Gizmo5 earlier this week, so expect VOIP through Google Voice very soon.
Nothing will beat the iPhone! Yes AT&T is not the best but when the
contract is up and apple will sell to other carriers what do you think people are going to buy. Yes the iPhone to me is king! And I’m more impressed by the AT&T customer service compared to verizon.
It amazes me that with verizon problems you wait in there line for a bit just to be phoneless for a couple hours. With the iPhone you make a appointment and let people that specialize in fixing your problems do there job.
Oooooooh google? Really they tried alot of times to even tie
apple and have failed everytime and same goes for ms based phones. I can’t stress that when a phone will come out close to the iPhone apple will come out with another major upgrade for the iPhone and fly past the rest of the compotition. So wish everyone luck with the droid but moto a horrible phone manufacturer and I’m sure that they will end up being like the storm!!
Fyi only the executables are stored internally. Most are 1 meg. this phone is excellent. Tune out the fanboys. Can do everything iphone can plus a lot more. For example removable sd and battery, keyboard, runs snes roms w/ transparency effects at full speed, lots more. Oh yeah and I have full bars 3g everywhere even in elevators…lightning fast I don’t even need wifi. Ridiculous phone get one you’ll see.
Droid: multiple apps at the same time
i-phone: 1 app at a time
Winner: Droid
Droid: move through pictures with a arrow button and double tap to zoom / unzoom.
i-phone: Swipe finger to move from pic to pic and cool “squeeze” or “expand” motion to unzoom/ zoom.
Winner: iphone
Music: both the same
Droid: internet search via voice command, navigation search via voice command, Dial Contacts via voice command.
i-phone: Dial contacts via voice
Winner: Droid
Droid is pretty pimp, the voice search function is way cool. You can say “Starbucks” and it will find the closest Startbucks to your current location and then give you turn by turn directions, or it will give you options to pick another one near by.
Overall it’s pretty dialed in…
A few more Android OS updates and it will easily surpass the i-phone.
Oh yeah, Droid: removable battery.
i-phone: uhhh, have to send it back to somewhere to have the battery replaced.
Winner: Droid.
all other cell phones not running android: Have ability to auto answer when using Bluetooth in an automobile.
Droid: NOT!
LOSER: DROID
Ability to get you a ticket for using a hands-free device while driving: ANDROID PHONES
Google dropped the ball on this one! It goes back tomorrow!
The author of this article is obviously an iPhone user, and does not seem to know much about the droid or android 2.0, but I am typing this comment on a motorola droid. This phone is amazing. Quantity of apps does not matter, but quality is what counts. The quality of the google apps and other apps in the android market are very solid. I have messed with the iphone countless times, and at no point had I ever wanted to own an iphone. Then you mention simplicity? Sorry your too stupid to use a complex phone. The way I see it is; the more complex,the more advanced it is. Deal with it. Finally, the droid offers an on screen keyboard that is much more superior than the iphones, and includes physical keyboard, something the iphone doesn’t even have. These phones aren’t even comparable, as the droid is far more superior than the iphone. That’s just my two cents, spend it how you’d like.
This article suffers many flaws. I’ll have to break up my critique into sections to come under the character limit on comments:
Apps: The sheer quantity of apps doesn’t matter. I’d guess that <5% of iPhone apps actually matter, and most of this critical set of apps is available or will soon be available for Android. When Android came out last year there was a risk that the lack of adoption would dissuade developers from writing apps, but that risk is gone now that Android has infiltrated the market so pervasively.
OS: This article takes a very narrow view of the OS. I think what the author really meant to call this section is “User Interface”. Apple is clearly great at designing slick and intuitive user interfaces–no argument there. But an OS is more than that. For instance, Android can multitask. That’s huge for apps developers.
Text input: The author is speculating on a keyboard that he has never used, which invalidates anything he has to say on the matter. Firsthand, as I write this on my Droid, I have been pretty happy with the virtual and physical keyboards and auto-correction. He also overlooks the fact that text input is generally much faster on a physical keyboard, which the iPhone lacks.
GPS: I’ve never tried Waze, but I will say that the navigation in Google Maps on Android 2.0 is amazing. As a user, I trust Google Maps way more than some obscure third-party developer, and I doubt I’m alone.
Uniformity: This is perhaps the author’s only meaningful contribution to the discourse, but it’s nothing particularly novel. We’ve known for years that Apple prefers to build and control the whole stack–hardware and software–and in doing so, they can create more coherent user experiences. The flip side of this is that a lot of users want more control and freedom with their devices and software. The analogy a previous commenter posted of Google:Phones :: Microsoft:PCs is dead on–it’s clearly a strategy that has worked in the past.
Unlike most other commenters, I actually do think that the Droid is an iPhone killer. I should be clear about what I mean: the iPhone has a huge head start, so I don’t think that Droid sales will dwarf iPhone sales anytime soon. But I do think that the Droid as a package of device, software, and network is compelling enough to cause a mass exodus from AT&T to Verizon, and we’ll see some bends in the user adoption curves for AT&T and Verizon.
RIP WinMobile. MS loses. Android will eat their market-share and possibly RIMs and Nokia is fading. Apple is making big $$$ off the own eco-system, so, even if they never get beyond 20% share they will do just fine. Just look at poor Dell, Apple makes way more than them with smaller market-share.
Name of the business is to make $$$.
Actually, I’m almost entirely sure that this is the iPhone killer to end all of them. Why? In response to your points…
Apps: Who cares how many apps you have if the apps you have aren’t useful? I struggled to find the apps I did on the iPhone that were useful. In the end, the vast majority of them were useLESS, but had some entertainment value to keep me occupied in the line at the store. Meanwhile, most of the DROID apps I’ve found have been insanely useful. But this is pretty much subjective, as different people find different things useful/useless.
OS: The iPhone 3G I had was beautiful. For the first month. Beyond that, it kept crashing, and I’d constantly need to do a firmware reset on it. And for whatever reason, I had to reload every single app each time. And do you understand just how agitating it is to confirm that yes, you have already had this installed, and yes, you would like to install it again? Very much so.
Text Input: lawl, okay. You have an identical OSK, as well as the actual physical keyboard. You’re right, the DROID fails here. Oh wait, no… it doesn’t.
GPS: Yep. Hands down, this navigation is better than the iPhone. It’s better than my dedicated Garmin. Period.
Uniformity: Yeah, you’re right: there have been a myriad of Android devices being released. But you know what? Look at the iPhones. The exact same model released with an agonizing mixture of minor and major revisions each release. Mere months after I’d gotten the 3G, the 3GS was released. Do you realize what a kick in the balls that was? And Apple does it almost every. Single. Year.
The DROID has done in a single release what it’s taken Apple years to perfect.
Down with Apple.
Love the blog. Awesome battle. My 2 cents. Windows Mobile is still alive, struggling but still alive. Iphone is a fad. Blackberry is crackberry. Everyone wants to PIM instead of calling now. When do you guys realize the operative word is PHONE! How good a phone is it depends on the manufacturer and in this case I give it to Android and WM for two reasons 1) many options on phones and 2) application limitlessness….(made that up). The new kid on the block is awesome… I hate the lies told about the memory, I hate the limits placed on programmers but I love the raw power of the Robot. Bye ATT – You suck! Apple hang in there – watch terminator….you get to see into your future.
I meant to say at the end of that — the robots are going to make life ruff for you Apple – but if you are lucky you may win in the end….
LOL!!!! in a Vincent Price kind of LOL!!!!
I agree with everything here; great article, debating if I should get a blackberry or droid – i WOULD 100% get an iPhone but I am loyal to Verizon and do not like AT&T, that is the only reason I won’t get an iPhone, i love verizon too much!!!
I bought the Droid about 3 weeks ago and I have to tell you, this phone is awesome. I have played around with the iPhone and as far as I am concerned, the Droid comes out on top. Verizon has customer service that is 2nd to none and their 3G network is much more reliable than AT&T. I have friends who switched to AT&T just to have the iPhone and they are now kickng themselves for leaving Verizon. My Droid rocks and I am so very pleased with this phone.
Wow, now that’s a stretch to find full 5 reasons… btw typin this on my DROID while listenin to pandora and checkin new tweets
I have apple and have an Iphone that broke. Instead of buying a new iphone 3gs I will be purchasing a droid. I believe for anyone with sense it is an Iphone killer. The iphone did a lot of things that most phones couldnt at the time but as mentioned they have a certain limitation. I personally would prefer to be able to get decent service in my house (yes with at&t I don’t get ANY service any my house and I live in Atlanta for christ sake) than to have 100,000 apps just because apple has 10 companies with they’re own remedial version of the same app. I am not looking for a psp, I want a phone that can take good pictures and video, do whatever I want on the internet in a reasonable amount of time, store music and can do it all with constant service and coverage. Those are my reasons the Iphone has been killed for me.
I just got the Droid from Verizon. I have to say I’m pretty impressed but then I never had an Iphone. I really didn’t understand what all the “buzz” was about the Iphone I just know that marketers use it for their social media marketing.
When I looked at the droid I made sure that I could use twitter and facebook. Now I just have to get it all configured but it’s pretty darn cool and I see there aren’t as many apps YET, notice I said yet.
With google teaming up with this product I have no doubt it will get more attention with time especially with Google wave on the horizon.
So if it’s a matter of apps, not really a big deal, create your own app besides who can use 250,000 apps anyway, I’m sure at most people use are 15-25 at any given time.
I’m just glad I didn’t have to make the switch to AT&T, I’m very happy with my Verizon service so for now I’m staying with them, so glad the Droid came out.
Pj
MegaWire Marketing
I have a iphone and also just got a droid because my cordless phone has a better signal than att I think the droid is better than the iphone by far don’t knock it till u try it if my work didn’t use att I would shut my iphone off yesterday just look at the map lol verizon is on to something this time
Lol dude. Waze is also on Android.
All the big “look at me apps” that iPhone has are making their ways to other markets. I remember iPhone users were so egotistical about their Shazam and that made its way to other devices quickly.
Apple succeeds because of their marketing. Everyone wants to be the cock in the add dancing around. It’s a generic faceless fashion accessory, and the applications are all it has going for it. It might be thin, but it’s bulky in width and height, it’s hardware is falling behind competing devices, and still it has no multitasking. Opening and closing apps to do the simplest of tasks would drive me nuts, especially coming from the Hero, when I have 7 pages of gorgeous widgets giving me everything I need to communicate at my fingertips. And that’s before I even have to open an app.
In the end, after your apps are downloaded (and there are comparable apps between Android Market and the App store anyway), your phone’s a phone. And at that simple point, the iPhone is behind its competitors. It couldn’t even get MMS right until the recent OS. It’s simply an iPod with a phone tacked on.
Apple will keep repackaging and releasing the same device over and over again, requiring the same software to interface it with anything non-mac, the same poor non-user replaceable battery, with the only thing changing being your propriety cable connector, when they want you to re-buy all your accessories again. And the funny thing is — iPhone users will still buy it.
And that’s the problem with iPhone users — they’re so egotistic, that they neglect to notice the alternatives. And they are growing. The HTC Hero gave the iPhone a run for its money in features, and the Nexus One already kills iPhone’s hardware. One day iPhone users will wake up and realise that their personal fingerprint magnet is buried in a sea of viable alternatives, which are nicer.
You can sit there and blend in with your stock phone that has little to no customisation that looks the same as your friends phone, not to mention the same as everyone on the street’s phone, and your pay-for-everything closed app store, while everyone surpasses you with their highly customisable user experience, and brilliant applications which can take a chance and try something different, because they’re not over-policed by a burdensome glamour computer company called Apple…
Have to disagree with some points.. I like the droids touch screen and qwerty keyboard. To me having an optional qwerty keyboard in a plus for the texting/emailing point. Opperating system on droid is great. It’s verizon network. And google apps beat “strong alternatives”, how is that even a point on there. It’s all just opinion and my opinion is… droid beats iphone in any aspect.
I’ve now used oth devices for a considerable amount of time and hate to tell you, droid does in fact beat iphone in pretty much all aspects. the hardware is far superior (better camera, better graphics, hardware keyboard when need to type and have FULL screen visable, like when using remote desktop apps). itunes not even on my radar.. as far as i am concerned, itunes is for noobs who don’t know how to manage a phone-to-pc/mac usb cable. itunes is a total pain to use for anyone who has been using mp3s since their inception. the turn-by-tuen gps is free and the 3rd party apps that use it beat the stuffing out of the iphone maps. i now have google voice onmy droid and can make FREE calls (and sms) over wifi and 3g without rooting my phone. I can even drop my cellular contract and keep only the $30/month 3G plan now. almost every app I’ve wanted has a free/lite version (so far, I have paid for only one app.. many of the same apps on iphone are pay-only). also, you can use apps NOT affiliated with the android/google market. speakers are better than the iphone. now using swype, virtual keyboard is better than iphone (unless you too are using swype). the droid also packs an impressive amount of sensors, inclusing one for magnetic fields. I can literally use this as a metal detector. I’m not kidding. I can use verizon’sfar superior 3g network too. flash is being released this quarter too. that is somethign apple NEVER wanted to release. quite frankly, I think this droid puts the iphone to shame on so many levels, I don’t think they are ven in the same league. Best of all, I don’t feel like a communist every time i use my phone. mac users are just plain creepy.
The Nexus one is the best , it just needs to hurry up and get off of tmobile and head on over to verizon(FTW) ! And btw most android running phones are directionally sensitive (I don’t mean the accellorometer I mean like compass status NSEW iPhone 3gs haz that but all other I phone before FAIL! not sayin that I don’t like teh iPhone ( infact I love it ) but I’m jussayin jussayin that it better watch out for them up comming android os’s Iphone,s Crapfari will never have a flash player . Maybe live back grounds in the future thoough , that would be awesome!
I smoke the iphone are you crazy!
I have a HTC Hero and freakin Love it and wouldn’t trade it for an iPhone any day of the week. Hero rules and haven’t had a problem with it yet typing is smart and very fast. Got it on Christmas and it May 1st and still play with it like its December 25 th. From HTC hero. Love it.
Hi there,
In my opinion for the last point of Uniformity it’s probably going to be exactly opposite.
People always like as many choices to select from as everyone out there has really got a different taste.
And this probably is the biggest issue with iPhone, I believe many people buy iPhone for their awesome OS but they have to compromise on the hardware as only the iPhone is available for IPhone OS.
Where as Android has opened whole new opportunities for the hardware manufacturers to bring in awesome machines and people who like Android can happily select the device as their preferable choice, maybe a slider, qwerty, touch-screen or really anything they want… which is not possible in iPhone OS.
I think it’s just like those who really live on Windows or Linux really like to explore with the machine providers of IBM, DELL, HP or so… it’s just same as for selecting a laptop machine based on personal preference of it’s dimensions and look n feel etc.
Dude droid is better I’m almost every way. Hardwarewise droid is a go of course. The huge gap iPhone is missing that droid has that is the flash system. With the droid x HDMI compatibliy and 8 mega pixels camera, iPhone 4 is shit. Even though iPhone has retina display, droid still wins. But in market, iPhone will remain top until self realization and better droid things or another cellphone that hits the roof