What strikes me as odd is how many people here bash android for the sake of bashing it. I'll admit that I'm not an Apple fan nor part of their target market. While I do develop for ios, I don't actually own any ios devices. When I need to test my app, I borrow a friends device. I am an Android fan. I love the os and its ties with all my other Google products.
That being said, some of you fanboys need to tone it down a little. When people come to you for advice comparing Android to iPhone there tends to be more bashing than helping. The cynicism is daunting and a turn off. It makes the product seem geared for a-holes and snobs. Feature for feature, the iphone vs an android phone are pretty comparable for most people. But when you spend so much time bashing the competition, you accidently make your favorite products seem inferior. You fail to assess and address the customer's needs.
Now I'm not saying there aren't a fair share of android fans who are ios bashers. They're equally annoying and just as cynical, but their voices aren't as loud as a slew of apple fanboys. Go to an Android forum asking the same comparison, and you'll get a plethora of people trying to figure out what the customer wants and needs are and try to match them, even if their suggestions are a little bias. However, I've seen more than a few post end with recommendations for iphone than android.
Before you guys slam me with a "this is an Apple site," remember, this is where people are coming to help them make an informed decision. If they see more bashing than helping, they're going to assume that other Apple sites are like that as well. Our phones and their manufactures are not politicians. We don't need smear campaigns. Not smearing is one of the reasons I think Apple has been effective at keeping the lead, and one of the reasons I think people got turned off with their antenna portion of their website. Smearing isn't really apple's forte. But if you diehards keep crying only negatives about the almost unrelated competition, then you're only going to hurt the company/product you're crying for.
Be proactive and push benefits, not who's features are better. Instead of telling people everything YOU think is wrong with Android, ask them something like "Why do you think you need a smartphone?" And "Have you ever used a smartphone before?" Then push ios on them by matching these concerns. For instance, I wouldn't tell a feature phone user to switch to Android because the learning curve is too steep. But I also wouldn't tell a crackberry user to switch to the iphone because the complication withdrawal curve is too steep (they're already used to a complicated os). Different users, different products.
Currently, I'm recommending ipads to substitute PCs for people who don't need, nor want to pay, for a complicated computer and os, be it windows, os x, or linux. Multitasking and printing are hurdles but Apple is trying to take care of that. And as soon as Apple works CUPS support into the ipad, gumstix, linux, and CUPS will substitute the needed pc to act as a print server (technically, it'll still exist but in a much smaller form factor). All that's left is bluetooth mouse support for greater precision.
But do you get my point? Market share means nothing if you can pair peoples' needs and wants to a specific product. And it really is useless if you can pair it with your favorite product. Market share is just what we in business use as a measuring stick for our shareholders. We can define the market any way we want as long as we're making profit.
That being said, some of you fanboys need to tone it down a little. When people come to you for advice comparing Android to iPhone there tends to be more bashing than helping. The cynicism is daunting and a turn off. It makes the product seem geared for a-holes and snobs. Feature for feature, the iphone vs an android phone are pretty comparable for most people. But when you spend so much time bashing the competition, you accidently make your favorite products seem inferior. You fail to assess and address the customer's needs.
Now I'm not saying there aren't a fair share of android fans who are ios bashers. They're equally annoying and just as cynical, but their voices aren't as loud as a slew of apple fanboys. Go to an Android forum asking the same comparison, and you'll get a plethora of people trying to figure out what the customer wants and needs are and try to match them, even if their suggestions are a little bias. However, I've seen more than a few post end with recommendations for iphone than android.
Before you guys slam me with a "this is an Apple site," remember, this is where people are coming to help them make an informed decision. If they see more bashing than helping, they're going to assume that other Apple sites are like that as well. Our phones and their manufactures are not politicians. We don't need smear campaigns. Not smearing is one of the reasons I think Apple has been effective at keeping the lead, and one of the reasons I think people got turned off with their antenna portion of their website. Smearing isn't really apple's forte. But if you diehards keep crying only negatives about the almost unrelated competition, then you're only going to hurt the company/product you're crying for.
Be proactive and push benefits, not who's features are better. Instead of telling people everything YOU think is wrong with Android, ask them something like "Why do you think you need a smartphone?" And "Have you ever used a smartphone before?" Then push ios on them by matching these concerns. For instance, I wouldn't tell a feature phone user to switch to Android because the learning curve is too steep. But I also wouldn't tell a crackberry user to switch to the iphone because the complication withdrawal curve is too steep (they're already used to a complicated os). Different users, different products.
Currently, I'm recommending ipads to substitute PCs for people who don't need, nor want to pay, for a complicated computer and os, be it windows, os x, or linux. Multitasking and printing are hurdles but Apple is trying to take care of that. And as soon as Apple works CUPS support into the ipad, gumstix, linux, and CUPS will substitute the needed pc to act as a print server (technically, it'll still exist but in a much smaller form factor). All that's left is bluetooth mouse support for greater precision.
But do you get my point? Market share means nothing if you can pair peoples' needs and wants to a specific product. And it really is useless if you can pair it with your favorite product. Market share is just what we in business use as a measuring stick for our shareholders. We can define the market any way we want as long as we're making profit.
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