Inside Google's Android and Apple's iPhone OS as business models

[AppleInsider]

Google's Android offers a free software alternative to smartphone makers hoping to catch up to the iPhone. This article is the second in a series examining how Android stacks up in comparison to the iPhone as a smartphone software platform, looking particularly at the business model of each and how this affects users.

Articles in this series:
Inside Google's Android and Apple's iPhone OS as core platforms
Inside Google's Android and Apple's iPhone OS as business models
Inside Google's Android and Apple's iPhone OS as advancing technology
Inside Google's Android and Apple's iPhone OS as software markets

[caliminius]

Gee, a Dilger article that should be entitled "Why Product X Sucks and Apple's Product Y Rocks".

Color me (un) surprised by this sudden turn of events.

[Quadra 610]

iPhone's is proven, Android's has yet to be proven.

Simple as that.

[moo-shu cereal]

There's absolutely no passing the buck on user troubleshooting, hardware problems, or software issues like security flaws or poor performance. If there's a problem with the iPhone, it's squarely Apple's fault.

Nope. When OS 3.0 was having issues keeping connections to AT&T's 3G network, I had an Apple store employee tell me the issues were with AT&T and I needed to contact them. I was told the same thing from the Apple phone support.

The problem was subsequently fixed when 3.0.1 was released, so the problem was indeed not with AT&T (at least not soley)

To Apple's credit, this was after a replacement phone was issued and the problem still existed, but to say that Apple takes full responsibility for iPhone issues is disingenuous at best.

[Hattig]

Originally Posted by caliminius

Gee, a Dilger article that should be entitled "Why Product X Sucks and Apple's Product Y Rocks".

Color me (un) surprised by this sudden turn of events.

I thought that too.

I looked at the picture and thought "multiple options gives me choice" rather than what that image's title was. I also thought the iPhone OS interface looked a bit tired in comparison.

[geekdad]

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

iPhone's is proven, Android's has yet to be proven.

Simple as that.

You are so correct. Froma consumer level Apple has the race won and just needs to keep updating the iPhone every so often as they have been and no one with come close to their market share.
What I would like to see and purley from a business corporate level is Apple along with AT&T produce a application interface that would let corpoations have limited control over the the platform. To be able to do what can be done with a BB. To be able to remotely manage the iPhone in a simple stand alone solution. That would include being able to handle encryption, changing the PIN, activation, remote wipe. If they did this they sky would be the limit in the Corp environment.
But then things are going pretty well right now!!! :-)

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by moo-shu cereal

Nope. When OS 3.0 was having issues keeping connections to AT&T's 3G network, I had an Apple store employee tell me the issues were with AT&T and I needed to contact them. I was told the same thing from the Apple phone support.

The problem was subsequently fixed when 3.0.1 was released, so the problem was indeed not with AT&T (at least not soley)

To Apple's credit, this was after a replacement phone was issued and the problem still existed, but to say that Apple takes full responsibility for iPhone issues is disingenuous at best.

On whose part? Apple's? AT&T's? Or the author's?

Taking the full context of the statement, there is nothing disingenuous stated here:

AppleInsider:
Apple also maintains rigid control over where the iPhone is sold, and manages nearly all support issues itself. There's absolutely no passing the buck on user troubleshooting, hardware problems, or software issues like security flaws or poor performance. If there's a problem with the iPhone, it's squarely Apple's fault.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by geekdad

You are so correct. Froma consumer level Apple has the race won and just needs to keep updating the iPhone every so often as they have been and no one with come close to their market share.

What I would like to see and purley from a business corporate level is Apple along with AT&T produce a application interface that would let corpoations have limited control over the the platform. To be able to do what can be done with a BB. To be able to remotely manage the iPhone in a simple stand alone solution. That would include being able to handle encryption, changing the PIN, activation, remote wipe. If they did this they sky would be the limit in the Corp environment.
But then things are going pretty well right now!!! :-)

It is already available. http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/

[melgross]

Originally Posted by caliminius

Gee, a Dilger article that should be entitled "Why Product X Sucks and Apple's Product Y Rocks".

Color me (un) surprised by this sudden turn of events.

Did you actually read this? Did you even bother to read who wrote it?

No, you did not.

[melgross]

I agree with this article. It's what I've been stating in the other thread, and for some time now.

[teckstud]

I want an in depth side by side comparison between Droid and iPhone- hardware. Everyone knows Apple OS rocks and other's don't, but I want to see the physical limitations of one versus the other. Speed, power, and so on.

[geekdad]

Originally Posted by Abster2core

It is already available. http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/

Not really......it is so hard to use. Also there is no over the air support. It would be nice to have everything done over the air without having to sync with itunes.
We are testing the iphone at my work with 100 to start the project. The admin guys are saying that the business intergration that Apple defines leaves allot to be disired. It is just so much easier with the Blackberry Enterprise Server(BES) solution.
Now this is not a knock on Apple just that they have some work to do to catch up to the BB for business. They are making strides though......

[Gwydion]

Originally Posted by melgross

Did you actually read this? Did you even bother to read who wrote it?

No, you did not.

Yes, I did and he is right. But is Daniel, you can't expect anything else.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by geekdad

Now this is not a knock on Apple just that they have some work to do to catch up to the BB for business. They are making strides though......

Face it - they'll never catch up as long as they're perceived as a toy (read App store, iPod, games) and have the AT&T ball & chain around their neck.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Gwydion

Yes, I did and he is right. But is Daniel, you can't expect anything else.

Go back and look at who actually wrote the article before posting again.

[Glockpop]

Originally Posted by caliminius

Gee, a Dilger article that should be entitled "Why Product X Sucks and Apple's Product Y Rocks".

Color me (un) surprised by this sudden turn of events.

You've been delivering regular personal attacks against Prince Dan, but I have yet to see any cogent explanation of why you think his articles are bad. I'd rather see you voice your own opinion that to denigrate the author's. Or even point out what you think is inaccurate or misguided. This article seems pretty spot on.

If you can't argue your own position, you might as well put on blinders and wave cardboard signs about Socialism and pictures of the president with The Mustache. I think the guys who hate Prince Dan are just upset that he's been right over and over again, from PFS to the Zune to the iPhone. He seems to be the only writer pointing out that there's some serious potential downsides to Android. Are you afraid he's right and don't want to be proven wrong next year, or can you just not put up a convincing argument about why this is all somehow off base?

[serkol]

Oh man, I was going to port my iPhone app to Android...

Just kidding :-) I will port it anyway. The Blackberry port is already 50% done.

What I want to say by this - I hope that all 3 (iPhone, Android and Blackberry) do well. This will make all of them much better. If there is no competition to iPhone, it will stall and start stinking, I have no doubt about that. I myself programmed for both iPhone and Android, I like both these platforms (I like iPhone a little more). Google is doing a lot to improve Android. I hope they don't drop the ball.

Maybe we need to think how we can support Android a little bit, to make iPhone even better? :-)

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Face it - they'll never catch up as long as they're perceived as a toy (read App store, iPod, games) and have the AT&T ball & chain around their neck.

Except that Apple is making big strides in both business and government. Plus, the iPhone gets far better satisfaction ratings from business users than does RIM.

I had a good link, but as happens so often, this is what's left:

http://www.businessinsider.com/smart...lients-2009-10

Here's another:

http://www.jdpower.com/electronics/a...olume-2/page-3

Obviously, Apple is doing it right.

[Quadra 610]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Face it - they'll never catch up as long as they're perceived as a toy (read App store, iPod, games) and have the AT&T ball & chain around their neck. Most businesses, in NYC at least, opt for Verizon.

The iPhone, on a single carrier, with one model, has already narrowed that gap with RIM to the extent that it is within 10% of RIM and counting, in only two years. While RIM, with numerous devices, on nearly every carrier, is only at 40% and in decline.

iPhone a toy? Why, because some generic carrier, desperate for this "toy", tells you??

The iPhone is making inroads into the enterprise. And people WANT this "toy" in business, just as much as the demand for it in the consumer sphere increases quarter by quarter.

The Blackberry is a one-trick pony that is in a downward slide. The question is not *if* the iPhone will overtake RIM, but *when.* And it looks like it won't take very long.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I want an in depth side by side comparison between Droid and iPhone- hardware. Everyone knows Apple OS rocks and other's don't, but I want to see the physical limitations of one versus the other. Speed, power, and so on.

Why don't you type it into Google?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by serkol

Oh man, I was going to port my iPhone app to Android...

Just kidding :-) I will port it anyway. The Blackberry port is already 50% done.

What I want to say by this - I hope that all 3 (iPhone, Android and Blackberry) do well. This will make all of them much better. If there is no competition to iPhone, it will stall and start stinking, I have no doubt about that. I myself programmed for both iPhone and Android, I like both these platforms (I like iPhone a little more). Google is doing a lot to improve Android. I hope they don't drop the ball.

Maybe we need to think how we can support Android a little bit, to make iPhone even better? :-)

Since you're a developer. give us your view.

How do you plan to accommodate the differing hardware and OS features of Android?

As the OS becomes more differentiated, with different GUI's, different hardware, and little compatibility between them, what will you do?

[Robodude]

Originally Posted by Glockpop

You've been delivering regular personal attacks against Prince Dan...

Are you trying to say Prince and Dan are the same person?

Google isn't branding their product to consumers, they're doing it to the manufacturers. I don't think it's part of the strategy. Google is going after the rest of the market, not the iPhone. Soon, plenty of available handsets will have Google Maps, search and who knows what else built in. Rather unsettling...

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

Why don't you type it into Google?

I would if I had the time.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

Except that Apple is making big strides in both business and government. Plus, the iPhone gets far better satisfaction ratings from business users than does RIM.

I had a good link, but as happens so often, this is what's left:

http://www.businessinsider.com/smart...lients-2009-10

Here's another:

http://www.jdpower.com/electronics/a...olume-2/page-3

Obviously, Apple is doing it right.

Thanks for the links. I'll be glad if the iPhone takes it all. It deserves to. I still think there needs to be more of a business oriented OS or app store business for it to really roll it over. But then you still have AT&T. I just don't see enterprises switching as easily as the general public. Verizon will fight to keep those contracts.

[Robodude]

Originally Posted by Quadra 610

The Blackberry is a one-trick pony that is in a downward slide.

And it was all going so well! If I recall, RIM are still gaining marketshare.

[Abster2core]

Originally Posted by melgross

Except that Apple is making big strides in both business and government. Plus, the iPhone gets far better satisfaction ratings from business users than does RIM.

I had a good link, but as happens so often, this is what's left:

http://www.businessinsider.com/smart...lients-2009-10

Here's another:

http://www.jdpower.com/electronics/a...olume-2/page-3

Obviously, Apple is doing it right.

And another;

Apple Q4 2009 Conference Call
"Asked by Shaw Wu of Kaufman Brothers about Apple's sales to businesses, Cook answered, "Employee demand for iPhone in the corporate environment is very strong. Since the launch of the 3GS, the iPhone is either being deployed or being piloted in well over 50% of the Fortune 100.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...us_growth.html

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I would if I had the time.

So you can write dozens of posts here during the day, but you can't take 20 seconds to type a few words into the Google box?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Thanks for the links. I'll be glad if the iPhone takes it all. It deserves to. I still think there needs to be more of a business oriented OS or app store business for it to really roll it over. But then you still have AT&T. I just don't see enterprises switching as easily as the general public. Verizon will fight to keep those contracts.

The fact that only AT&T has it is a major limitation. I don't know many have Sprint, but that would be a limit as well. I doubt too many use T-Mobile.

But now there's a rumor that Apple is contracting for a universal phone for late 2010, I suppose that means the June introduction. If that's true, it will be interesting.

There are plenty of business apps in the store. Some by big hitters.

[solipsism]

Originally Posted by Robodude

And it was all going so well! If I recall, RIM are still gaining marketshare.

They are gaining marketshare but only at a fraction of what Apple is gaining each quarter and have significantly dropped their gross profit margin by offering BOGO offers in order to do it. More detrimental to RiM and what Quadra 610 means by “one-trick pony” is these new phones offering ActiveSync hurt their business model because there is no server-side BES HW to buy from RiM and no $100 per user per year fee that companies have to dish out. The recession has helped these other devices when companies are weighing the cost of having 100k users on Blackberries of integrating new ActiveSync capable devices onto the network.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

So you can write dozens of posts here during the day, but you can't take 20 seconds to type a few words into the Google box?

You got it. I'd be reading those specs all day long and you know how long it takes me to read and get it right.
Hey -I sent the links for The Whaling Wall on the other thread, what more can you want then that?

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

You got it. I'd be reading those specs all day long and you know how long it takes me to read and get it right.
Hey -I sent the links for The Whaling Wall on the other thread, what more can you want then that?

Sigh!

[Alfiejr]

i thought Price/Dan's article is very insightful and a very good read. but in focusing on the Android platform's fragmentation problems he forgot to actually discuss its business model - the title of the piece!

Google's goal of course is to max its ad revenues (and anything it may charge for its cloud services eventually). that is its "business model." as long as Android phone owners use Google search and services a lot - and a lot of Android phones of all varieties are sold - GOOGLE DOESN'T CARE if the OEM's and telcos screw up other third party app and data interoperability via fragmentation.

in the Google business model, Apple and its iPhone are not the competition (since Google gets most of that search business too) - MS and Yahoo are. and while i suppose you can do it (need fact check), how many Android owners are going to bother to change their default search engine to Bing or Yahoo? nobody really.

Google no doubt sees search on portable devices as the huge growth market of today and tomorrow, while the desktop search market is pretty much set. that's why Android exists ....

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by melgross

Sigh!

I know- right?

[mstone]

People seem to give Google a pass on any deficiencies in Android because it is a new venture for them and they expect it will improve over time. On the other hand AT&T and iPhone get ridiculed for every little thing as if the world has never seen such incompetent losers, when in fact Apple is also pretty new in the handset and mobile OS business and AT&T is still sorting out the pieces an parts of Cingular/SBC merge so they are pretty new in the cell game as well.

I think both Apple and AT&T have done a pretty good job ramping up to meet the challenge, but I would like to see Verizon get the iPhone so the whiners can finally get what they deserve.

In regard to corporate users preferring Verizon, that may slowly change as AT&T starts getting more coverage and speed. After all their cell reputation was basically inherited from Cingular which was not known for focusing on businesses. Furthermore, most corporations already use AT&T for their regular phone service and I believe they are pretty well regarded in that respect. I like it anyway.

[petos]

Originally Posted by Robodude

Are you trying to say Prince and Dan are the same person?

Google isn't branding their product to consumers, they're doing it to the manufacturers. I don't think it's part of the strategy. Google is going after the rest of the market, not the iPhone. Soon, plenty of available handsets will have Google Maps, search and who knows what else built in. Rather unsettling...

They are... Dan also writes on roughlydrafted.com (did not know about apple insider until recently)... they are one in the same

[melgross]

Originally Posted by Alfiejr

i thought Price/Dan's article is very insightful and a very good read. but in focusing on the Android platform's fragmentation problems he forgot to actually discuss its business model - the title of the piece!

Google's goal of course is to max its ad revenues (and anything it may charge for its cloud services eventually). that is its "business model." as long as Android phone owners use Google search and services a lot - and a lot of Android phones of all varieties are sold - GOOGLE DOESN'T CARE if the OEM's and telcos screw up other third party app and data interoperability via fragmentation.

in the Google business model, Apple and its iPhone are not the competition (since Google gets most of that search business too) - MS and Yahoo are. and while i suppose you can do it (need fact check), how many Android owners are going to bother to change their default search engine to Bing or Yahoo? nobody really.

Google no doubt sees search on portable devices as the huge growth market of today and tomorrow, while the desktop search market is pretty much set. that's why Android exists ....

It matters because Every phone sale impacts on every other phone sale.

Even if Google is looking to Win Mobile (often said to be a major thought to them) and RIM, as well as Yahoo and others, if Android phones sell well, it will impact on Apple's phone sales, even if Google isn't meaning to do so.

And the other way around, Apple's phone sales will prevent Android phones from selling as many as they would otherwise have.

You don't have to aim at a target to hit it here. Besides, Google is leaving it to the manufacturers and carriers to do the marketing. So what Google is aiming at really doesn't matter, because the phones still have to overcome other better established phones.

We can see this with Verizon's new Ads.

[Quadra 610]

http://blog.telephonyonline.com/unfi...handset-maker/

Quite the trend we're seeing.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I know- right?

It's ok. I love ya anyway.

[Psych_guy]

Originally Posted by caliminius

Gee, a Dilger article that should be entitled "Why Product X Sucks and Apple's Product Y Rocks".

Color me (un) surprised by this sudden turn of events.

Can we focus on the content of the article and not your personal vendetta against Dan?

[RichL]

Originally Posted by Glockpop

You've been delivering regular personal attacks against Prince Dan, but I have yet to see any cogent explanation of why you think his articles are bad.

Can I have a go, please?

To put it simply, Dan is a bullshitter. And I use the scientific definition of a bullshitter.

Let me explain. Someone who's honest knows the truth and chooses the tell the truth. Someone who's a liar knows the truth and chooses to not tell the truth. A bullshitter neither knows the truth or cares about the truth. All the bullshitter cares about is making their point and impressing his or her peers. Dan is a classic example of a bullshitter.

He writes a lot of articles on subjects that I know nothing about. What he writes is very plausible and it's easy to take what he writes at face value. However, as soon as he writes about a subject that I'm an expert in, I begin to realise what a total bullshitter he is. The basic factual errors he makes is remarkable. He cherry-picks data and he twists facts until there is zero value in the conclusions he makes.

What I don't understand is why he bothers. Apple are big enough and clever enough to defend themselves. Apple's products speak for themselves. They don't need some superficial semi-person licking their collective bums.