So odd, that you don't even mention Windows Mobile... Their app store was around for several years before iPhone, and has a number of advantages, one being that you can deploy immediately instead of waiting/hoping for Apple approval. Are we to take that omission as a sign that you just have no regard for Windows Mobile? Very, *very* powerful platform...
Also, you must consider that the Android platform in its current incarnation as well as the iPhone are primarily aiming for the consumer market, where Windows Mobile simply cannot compete with its current offering. When was the last time you heard a 15 year-old girl ask her parents for a Windows Mobile or a Blackberry (since they're also in the same basket) for Christmas?
Cheers mate.
Alan Glanz
· 7 months ago
I respect your opinions, but no my message wasn't a joke at all. It seemed very odd to me that this article mentioned so many platforms, but not Windows Mobile. I'm not sure about dominance or not. There are plenty of people who use Windows Mobile for home use. Perhaps not a dominant share, but it (I thought anyway) deserved a mention in this article. Something to think about perhaps for the author: that now that social media is advancing into the enterprise, he may at his discretion want to consider that his audience is not just consumers anymore.
It remains, to me anyway, a huge mystery that Microsoft has not at all marketed on TV their app store for Windows Mobile... They could easily have just as clever ads as Apple does. This is *so* odd to me... There are millions of apps for Windows Mobile. Even plenty of apps written to make a Windows Mobile device look like an iPhone, for those who want the aesthetics of the iPhone but not the bad call quality or other problems of the iPhone that I mentioned in the previous post.
Thanks for your message.
Ashley
· 7 months ago
Hello. Respectfully, you say that the article mentioned "So many platforms", when in reality, it only mentioned iPhone and Android. I think the reason Windows Mobile wasn't mentioned here is because, in many ways, it is a dying platform. While right now, Android is only available in the US on T-Mobile, it's coming to many more phones this and next year. Motorola has just announced that it's shifting focus to Android. iPhone took the phone world by storm and for the first time really offered consumers the ability to have a smartphone that was intuitive, easy to use, and all-in-all, sexy. Windows Mobile phones have been anything but sexy. I've used quite a few of them myself, and in the end, I got rid of them because they were just a hassle. I've used both the G1 and the iPhone, and both compare much more closely than any other two smartphones that I've personally used. It's going to be a lot like Mac vs PC of the 80's and 90's. iPhone OS is only available on Apples hardware. There are advantages to this. Apple knows exactly what's in every single phone and can tweak it's OS to optimize it. Android, eventually, we be available on a suite of phones, and probably eventually will come way down in price due to the amount of phones that will be offered with it. With all of the hardware Android will be available on comes the problem of needing to be able to adapt the OS to all of the different phones. Battery optimization, etc. won't be as easy a feat when the specs change. I loved my G1, but got rid of it because I just couldn't handle the poor battery life that came along with so many background processes. With pretty minimal use, I found myself always recharging halfway through the day. This will be remedied on future phones, I'm sure, but for now my iPhone does me good. Plus it's an iPod. Windows Mobile will most likely be phased out on phones unless there is a dramatic rework. Perhaps Microsoft will be better off focusing all of there efforts on Windows 7 rather than putting their hand in the mobile market. We all saw what happened with the Zune. Another problem with Microsoft is that their advertisement never has a real cohesive feel. It's only lately that the "I'm A PC" ads have really conveyed a consistent message. Apple ads are always obvious. From the second they come on, they scream Apple. If Microsoft can bring themselves back from the "unhip" image that Apple has pasted them with, they may still have a chance. They still have an overwhelming stronghold on the computing market, but with Apple gaining ground every month and the fact that Android is coming to netbooks soon they need to be worried. For years people have talked about the stability of Linux and it's superiority over Windows, but it always had to much of a learning curve and too many available builds for the casual consumer. Android with it's Google face may just be the thing to bring it to the mainstream. I realize I've gone on a lot of tangents here, but I think I made my point. Lol.
chris Tucker
· 7 months ago
What is windows mobile ? ROFLMAO - oh yea that is the program for mobile devices that works as poorly as their non mobile efforts do
Wayne
· 7 months ago
Too bad that Android phones are only available on T-Mobile. Might be interesting but since I am already with AT&T and have been with them for 5 years, well Cingular before the merger, I'll stay with them. I know I can take my numbers with me but its just not worth the hassle of changing companies, writing new contracts and dealing with a new provider. Every upgrade, you already have to deal with the hassle of configuring your phone and setting up email, contact lists as the included tools never get it right. Just not worth it to add to headache of switching to a second-tier provider like T-Mobile.
I'll either stick with Blackberry or switch to the iPhone with my current provider. The others are also rans but not intriguing enough to be worth my money.
androidandme
· 7 months ago
Wait till Android comes to Sprint later this year. I would expect another 1mil devices sold after that.
miberry
· 7 months ago
Android has bright future. Windows Mobile is old. BlackBerry is star.
Dual
· 7 months ago
I also find it the best Windows Mobile platform exists today
SuperCars
· 7 months ago
iphone really catches me. i love it.
trinest
· 7 months ago
I'm surpised Android hasn't failed - seriously with Googles bully tatics when it comes to the platform to developers and producers- expecially if they are not in their "alliance" for example the Kogan phone which disapeared of the face of the planet because google was like "compadibility issues lol" and then how its been 1 year and still people are unsure/hardly any other devices in the line up. We are only just seeing the second device.
gslondon
· 7 months ago
Quite a range of comments from not moving supplier because of the hassle to Google are evil and control freaks it will never work.
My office has several iPhone owners and within this month alone 3 Google G1 owners. The mac mobile owners are pretty diehard and claim their device is better.
The android owners are all technical and realise this operating system will be the iPhone killer.
The open source code means that whilst Mac has a large developer presence, android developers have less hassle from the platform owners, better tools using familiar development environments like Eclipse. And a great market place to flog their efforts and the phone / software at this point in time is superior even if you look at the facility of having background processing alone.
Notebooks, laptops and I read somewhere today, set-top boxes and PVR's are all being kitted out with android O/s's. Not heard of any iPhone driven devices other than the phones themselves. This illustrates this late starter to the market has the potential to be 'the' iPhone killer.
They have released version1.5 of the SDK named Cupcake in beta, which seems on examination, to sure up the O/S with all the bits that were missed and even better lighter features and functions.
So what do we have here,
iPhone, started the trend but the platform is limited - will always have its die hard affectionados. Looks the best but technically stunted. Will have to reinvent itself soon else end up as the new 'Windows Mobile '
Google Android, Growing daily, good product, lot of potential to be the king of phones. Very strong base using Linux and proprietary Java code. Extendable using existing libraries. Nice abstraction of code making it easy for developers to get to grips with the powerful features. Looks good but not as good as the iPhone.
Windows Mobile, sadly left behind on the highway service station of mobile progression. Still clinging to making the interface look like a desktop at all costs, and cost it will. Incidentally I was looking at the latest flagship phone from our friends at HTC. Windows mobile is such a poor platform they have taken to creating applications that sit on top of the operating system which means you never have to see or use the tiny start bar and piddly icons / poor interface. A sad statement of how the market leader of off-piste.
Symbian, too closed very niche, bedroom programming adventure platform but shouldn't be written off. One day they may fully exploit that technology to do more.
Blackberry, Attempting to move across from the enterprise market. They will now have realised to keep up with the rest you need more of a gimmick than push technology as the others have it to and worse, can use it with most email accounts users already have. They have a good record for adapting to change and expect good things as they come to grips with fast scrolling pretty interfaces and always on as much as you can eat mobile internet
Google Android is an Alien that is guaranteed to shake up the mobile world and, in my opinion, will eventually be the 'must have' device, up and above the iPhone.
I do not work for Google or Android (but would love a job)
KenC
· 7 months ago
You said, "android owners are all technical", so you mean, the G1 is a Geekphone?
You said, "The open source code means that whilst Mac has a large developer presence, android developers have less hassle from the platform owners, better tools using familiar development environments like Eclipse. And a great market place to flog their efforts and the phone / software at this point in time is superior even if you look at the facility of having background processing alone."
You mean, the same way Linux has killed the Mac OS X? And, you don't realize the "hassle" is coming not from the handset makers but from the network owners. Do you really think Verizon wants an Android handset that will circumvent its strategy of being the gatekeeper to all the little add-ons it can charge for? Don't you know why they refused the iPhone? Do you realize why it was the smallest carrier of the 4 majors in the US that is carrying the one and only Android handset?
You said, "Notebooks, laptops and I read somewhere today, set-top boxes and PVR's are all being kitted out with android O/s's. Not heard of any iPhone driven devices other than the phones themselves. This illustrates this late starter to the market has the potential to be 'the' iPhone killer."
Yes, and Android is going to displace WinMo and all those other MS products. The iPhone OS is a slimmed down version of OS X. If you've heard of the Mac, well you've heard of OS X.
The fact is, Android is not meant to be an iPhone killer. It's a WinMo killer. Google and Apple are on the same page. They are both promoting industry standards, against MS. That's why Google will re-encode the YouTube library for Apple.
You said, "technically stunted."
Are you nuts? The iPhone's OS is a subset of a desktop-class OS. It's the most capable OS of the lot. It's the most scalable.
You're not going to write off Symbian? That's a technological dead-end.
I am a big supporter of Google, but your premise is that of a zero-sum game. It's not. Google is going to be a winner, mostly by pushing out WinMo, but it's not going to be the only winner.
miberry
· 7 months ago
Agree, Android will be a top top OS. I just needs time now. I rather in Android's side than the IPhone.
ZacharyTG
· 7 months ago
I find that it is quite odd that Windows Mobile has not been menioned in this article, though I can see why. Windows Mobile cannot compare to these two advance OSs, Google Android, and Apple Mac OS X Mobile. I find that Windows Mobile is just their so Microsoft can say, but we have a mobile OS. Microsoft just wants to be in the game, it doesn't mean that they actually want to win the game. Honestly Microsoft has no pourpose in haveing a mobile OS, if it sucks. The world of technology doesn;t need another contender in the Mobile world, so let's kick out and remove Microsoft.
JS
· 7 months ago
Who exactly wants Android to die? Do I see a straw man argument here?
"The iPhone has dominated the application space with an iron fist"
What the hell are you talking about?
Sven Markert
· 7 months ago
While the iPhone is slick and has a lion's share of the marketplace, I opted for the G1 because of Google's software expertise and seach engine functionality. It integrates B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L-L-Y with Gmail (I get mail on my G1 long before it registers on desktop's inbox). PLUS, checking in on any of Google's sites / apps is a breeze. Also love the fact that being tied to Tmobile won't kill you when you cross borders outside the country.
On the downside, I have noticed that my battery drains much more quickly than my old MDA ever did. BUT, the G1 runs circles around the MDA and the GPS and map function is the best thing going.
Love the G1. Would buy it again. Congrats on reaching 1 million sold!!!
Derek Neighbors
· 7 months ago
It is hard to find developers that are actively developing on this platform. Most serious developers have abandoned and all that is left are hobbyists. iPhone started as the "it" platform for consumers, but android had high hopes of being the "it" platform for developers. That seems to have not panned out. Market share, ability to monetize applications and solid development environment seem be overcoming NDA's, DRM and other drawbacks of the iPhone SDK.
johnny
· 7 months ago
android isnt yet?? android has just begun!! it will succeed the iphone in less than two years.
J OSX
· 7 months ago
first off I want to say I have nothing against the android OS and think it is a great OS on paper. Yes it does have better integration of google search and gmail, than the iPhone(which I mean as the device and OS, both are inseperrable and one entity so I'll use iPhone to refer to both) and it has backgrounding capability which is a great function. But it is far from being a superior platform. To be nice I would call it a near equal.
The usability of the platforms and in androids case the devices it is on decides just how great it is. Development and other issues too but mostly usability. The G1 is an easy device to use and android is a user friendly OS, but android still has that "computer" feel to it. The iPhone however is a very intuitive device/OS few real menus as everything is usually a touch away. All settings are in the settings app and that's real easy to navigate as well. This is not to say the g1 is not easy to navigate but the iPhone is just leaps and bounds more intuitive. Hell even the iPhone users manual is a webapp defualted to safaris bookmarks.
There's another thing. The web browser. Although it's a lot easier to create a wholly new webbrowser for android than iPhone safari is just amazing and simply put...fun. It is gentle on the eyes, easy to use uncluttered and works. The g1s works and works well but just doesn't have the overall simplicity and options of safari.
Android is open source and is great and will grow and might how to be a real competitor but many here sound like the iPhone os is stale. It grows constantly. Apple has done a rare thing. They have supplied a model where the firmware is consistenly updated for free by the user. And most updates are feature updates not just bug fixes. With most updates we recieve great new features and with each full version number we receive enhancements that nearly make it a new phone. Sure the iPhone in all it's advanced glory was seriously lacking common features(shame apple) but apple has proven they don't include features until they are ready. And they aren't ready until they bring a new way to look at those features.
If u want to say android will beat ihone OS go ahead. But to beat it android needs to first catch up. iPhone OS on 37 MILLION devices. 20 million are iPhones. So while the G1's 1 million landmark is good. Amazing even and I salute google and HTC for it, it is comprable to deciding where you want to go, not making the first step on a very long and arduous journey. Sure iPhone sales will eventually start to level off but if that happens a new update or new hardware will be released and revitalize it. Look at iPod sales for example. No other mp3 player regardless of superior features or better price can come close. Everyone knows what iPod is but not iriver or zine. And the iPhone has done the same. Everyone knows what iPhone is. But not htc touch or samsung omnia. A lot of folks are familiar with G1 but a lot still aren't.
Android is great but won't beat iPhone anytime soon. Certainly not in 2 years.
cak
· 7 months ago
Windows Mobile can not compete against these new OS (BB, Google, Apple), it was great when all it had to compete against was Palm. It offered a lot more than Palm did, and Palm really dropped the ball. WinMo hasn't changed at all in the last few years, a big update is coming out soon, but Microsoft still don't get it, which is why you see so many companies providing their own interface on top of WinMo. iPhone is the current big leader because it make everything easy, from making calls to sending messages to using complex apps.
Most people still seem to not understand this simple fact.
And BTW, Windows Mobile still don't have an app store out yet, but will soon. Some people here don't seem to understand the difference between an app store and installing applications yourself.
Michael Durwin
· 7 months ago
Is it hype two years after it's launch?
Orchid
· 4 months ago
I am excited about Android. I really want to learn in and make web service based applications e.g with Google maps.
I have Windows platform system... any IDE running on Windows to develop Android application, testing application without i am having Android please guide....
All Comments
Saying that, I'd like to point out that even through WinMobile's obvious dominance in the marketplace, it was so in a very niché marketplace - enterprise, which is where they have shown very little market gain in the last few years.
Also, you must consider that the Android platform in its current incarnation as well as the iPhone are primarily aiming for the consumer market, where Windows Mobile simply cannot compete with its current offering. When was the last time you heard a 15 year-old girl ask her parents for a Windows Mobile or a Blackberry (since they're also in the same basket) for Christmas?
Cheers mate.
It remains, to me anyway, a huge mystery that Microsoft has not at all marketed on TV their app store for Windows Mobile... They could easily have just as clever ads as Apple does. This is *so* odd to me... There are millions of apps for Windows Mobile. Even plenty of apps written to make a Windows Mobile device look like an iPhone, for those who want the aesthetics of the iPhone but not the bad call quality or other problems of the iPhone that I mentioned in the previous post.
Thanks for your message.
I'll either stick with Blackberry or switch to the iPhone with my current provider. The others are also rans but not intriguing enough to be worth my money.
My office has several iPhone owners and within this month alone 3 Google G1 owners. The mac mobile owners are pretty diehard and claim their device is better.
The android owners are all technical and realise this operating system will be the iPhone killer.
The open source code means that whilst Mac has a large developer presence, android developers have less hassle from the platform owners, better tools using familiar development environments like Eclipse. And a great market place to flog their efforts and the phone / software at this point in time is superior even if you look at the facility of having background processing alone.
Notebooks, laptops and I read somewhere today, set-top boxes and PVR's are all being kitted out with android O/s's. Not heard of any iPhone driven devices other than the phones themselves. This illustrates this late starter to the market has the potential to be 'the' iPhone killer.
They have released version1.5 of the SDK named Cupcake in beta, which seems on examination, to sure up the O/S with all the bits that were missed and even better lighter features and functions.
So what do we have here,
iPhone, started the trend but the platform is limited - will always have its die hard affectionados. Looks the best but technically stunted. Will have to reinvent itself soon else end up as the new 'Windows Mobile '
Google Android, Growing daily, good product, lot of potential to be the king of phones. Very strong base using Linux and proprietary Java code. Extendable using existing libraries. Nice abstraction of code making it easy for developers to get to grips with the powerful features. Looks good but not as good as the iPhone.
Windows Mobile, sadly left behind on the highway service station of mobile progression. Still clinging to making the interface look like a desktop at all costs, and cost it will. Incidentally I was looking at the latest flagship phone from our friends at HTC. Windows mobile is such a poor platform they have taken to creating applications that sit on top of the operating system which means you never have to see or use the tiny start bar and piddly icons / poor interface. A sad statement of how the market leader of off-piste.
Symbian, too closed very niche, bedroom programming adventure platform but shouldn't be written off. One day they may fully exploit that technology to do more.
Blackberry, Attempting to move across from the enterprise market. They will now have realised to keep up with the rest you need more of a gimmick than push technology as the others have it to and worse, can use it with most email accounts users already have. They have a good record for adapting to change and expect good things as they come to grips with fast scrolling pretty interfaces and always on as much as you can eat mobile internet
Google Android is an Alien that is guaranteed to shake up the mobile world and, in my opinion, will eventually be the 'must have' device, up and above the iPhone.
I do not work for Google or Android (but would love a job)
You said, "The open source code means that whilst Mac has a large developer presence, android developers have less hassle from the platform owners, better tools using familiar development environments like Eclipse. And a great market place to flog their efforts and the phone / software at this point in time is superior even if you look at the facility of having background processing alone."
You mean, the same way Linux has killed the Mac OS X? And, you don't realize the "hassle" is coming not from the handset makers but from the network owners. Do you really think Verizon wants an Android handset that will circumvent its strategy of being the gatekeeper to all the little add-ons it can charge for? Don't you know why they refused the iPhone? Do you realize why it was the smallest carrier of the 4 majors in the US that is carrying the one and only Android handset?
You said, "Notebooks, laptops and I read somewhere today, set-top boxes and PVR's are all being kitted out with android O/s's. Not heard of any iPhone driven devices other than the phones themselves. This illustrates this late starter to the market has the potential to be 'the' iPhone killer."
Yes, and Android is going to displace WinMo and all those other MS products. The iPhone OS is a slimmed down version of OS X. If you've heard of the Mac, well you've heard of OS X.
The fact is, Android is not meant to be an iPhone killer. It's a WinMo killer. Google and Apple are on the same page. They are both promoting industry standards, against MS. That's why Google will re-encode the YouTube library for Apple.
You said, "technically stunted."
Are you nuts? The iPhone's OS is a subset of a desktop-class OS. It's the most capable OS of the lot. It's the most scalable.
You're not going to write off Symbian? That's a technological dead-end.
I am a big supporter of Google, but your premise is that of a zero-sum game. It's not. Google is going to be a winner, mostly by pushing out WinMo, but it's not going to be the only winner.
"The iPhone has dominated the application space with an iron fist"
What the hell are you talking about?
On the downside, I have noticed that my battery drains much more quickly than my old MDA ever did. BUT, the G1 runs circles around the MDA and the GPS and map function is the best thing going.
Love the G1. Would buy it again. Congrats on reaching 1 million sold!!!
The usability of the platforms and in androids case the devices it is on decides just how great it is. Development and other issues too but mostly usability. The G1 is an easy device to use and android is a user friendly OS, but android still has that "computer" feel to it. The iPhone however is a very intuitive device/OS few real menus as everything is usually a touch away. All settings are in the settings app and that's real easy to navigate as well. This is not to say the g1 is not easy to navigate but the iPhone is just leaps and bounds more intuitive. Hell even the iPhone users manual is a webapp defualted to safaris bookmarks.
There's another thing. The web browser. Although it's a lot easier to create a wholly new webbrowser for android than iPhone safari is just amazing and simply put...fun. It is gentle on the eyes, easy to use uncluttered and works. The g1s works and works well but just doesn't have the overall simplicity and options of safari.
Android is open source and is great and will grow and might how to be a real competitor but many here sound like the iPhone os is stale. It grows constantly. Apple has done a rare thing. They have supplied a model where the firmware is consistenly updated for free by the user. And most updates are feature updates not just bug fixes. With most updates we recieve great new features and with each full version number we receive enhancements that nearly make it a new phone. Sure the iPhone in all it's advanced glory was seriously lacking common features(shame apple) but apple has proven they don't include features until they are ready. And they aren't ready until they bring a new way to look at those features.
If u want to say android will beat ihone OS go ahead. But to beat it android needs to first catch up. iPhone OS on 37 MILLION devices. 20 million are iPhones. So while the G1's 1 million landmark is good. Amazing even and I salute google and HTC for it, it is comprable to deciding where you want to go, not making the first step on a very long and arduous journey.
Sure iPhone sales will eventually start to level off but if that happens a new update or new hardware will be released and revitalize it. Look at iPod sales for example. No other mp3 player regardless of superior features or better price can come close. Everyone knows what iPod is but not iriver or zine. And the iPhone has done the same. Everyone knows what iPhone is. But not htc touch or samsung omnia. A lot of folks are familiar with G1 but a lot still aren't.
Android is great but won't beat iPhone anytime soon. Certainly not in 2 years.
Most people still seem to not understand this simple fact.
And BTW, Windows Mobile still don't have an app store out yet, but will soon. Some people here don't seem to understand the difference between an app store and installing applications yourself.
I have Windows platform system... any IDE running on Windows to develop Android application, testing application without i am having Android please guide....