Based on the statistics I’ve been seeing, I have to wonder what planet the author is living on, because plainly it’s not Earth.

Apple’s iPhone is showing no signs of slowing down and in fact is increasing market share at an accelerating pace. Android, meanwhile, is floundering. Moreover, the fact that iPod’s sales growth has slowed is an indication only that it is saturating the market, not that the market has tired of it.

Frankly, I think this is a wad of wishful thinking heated by a hatred of Apple and its appeal to the unwashed masses.

There are a bunch of facts that get discounted in these discussions about Apple. For one thing, the iPhone is a platform. So although Apple has 17 percent of the smartphone market, keep in mind that they also sell iPod Touches. That's another 30 million users for the iPhone platform and potential buyers for the App Storm.

I bought an iPod Touch because I didn't want to pay for the iPhone data plan. The new iPod Touches come with mics on the headphone, so you're able to make calls over Skype. The Android ecosystem don't have an equivalent to that.

There are a lot of people who don't want to pay for a smartphone and those people will just get iPod Touches while using their old dumbphones. So Apple is going to have lots of market share with just the platform that runs on both the iPhone and iPod Touch and it's going to continue to get bigger and bigger.

Also, 100 million people have credit card accounts on iTunes. That's 100 million people who can conceivably buy an iPhone and iPod Touch and just sync to their music and buy apps without having to do anything extra. If they go the Android route, they have to sign up for Google Checkout and figure out a way to port their music.

Sorry, but that's not going to happen. Also, Android has a huge problem with piracy and open source people tend to not want to pay for apps anyway, so major companies aren't going to bring their apps to Android. Gameloft pulled away from the Android Market just the other day.

Anyway, I just thought I would bypass the pissing match between the Droid and iPhone and just talk about ecosystems. Apple has a better ecosystem by far.

The iphone is selling in million!!!! 600,000 in Q3 just in france!!!!! not to mention other countries.

Regarding China well this will take time, remember that Nokia does not sell phones in japan as they were classed a Low Tech. Yes seriously even the most current high end models.

The phones in these far eastern countries are very high tech with Digital TV, Fast 3.5G net access and RFID and fingerprint scanners for mobile payments to mention some features.

The Iphone in comparison is not upto this spec neither is any phone from any other manufacturer apart from the Japanese.

The Droid and Iphone probably seem high tech but they are not when compared with these handsets, plus the USA is only just getting 3G to go mainstream this is crap in the UK we have had 3G for nearly 9 years and its showing its age 4G is the next thing and Apple will address this in June 2010 with the next Iphone

"Open Sauce" ??? Seriously? LOL No wonder Apple-phobes don't get it. LOL-infinity.

Im a current IPhone user.

Linux/Unix/Microsoft man by nature. The only thing that Apple got right with the IPhone in my opinion is the Visual Flow Experience. Everything else is lousy.

I currently am using the 3GS. We can blame AT&T for the dropped calls, but how much is there fault? Problem seems to lie within the 3G-Edge switching, thus making it a device issue.

I think the most important thing outside of Enterprise email on a PDA would have to be the PHONE feature. If you are unable follow up with a phone call or have to dial back in to a 30 minute conference call 2 or 3 times, what good is it?

People who are tired of the AT&T woes are going to jump ship and end up on Verizon, not because the IPhone is a bad phone, rather, Verizon finally has a phone "Comparable" to the IPhone, but in addition has the network covereage and bandwidth to support it. When the Exclusivity contract is up with AT&T and the IPhone is able to jump over to Verizon, I think we will see one of the oldest telephone companies go belly up. Ma Bell will be turning in her grave...

The Droid is a wonderful phone, has great functionality and doesn't drop calls! All the things you look for in a Digital Assistant.

Does the android phone come in many colors? I don't think so. THis will keep apple's fan-base happy.

seriously, all the iphone is is replacing the cellphone keyboard with a touch screen. How long can that gimmick last? Probably not as long as the ipod gimmick, which was all about giving an mp3 player a cool name and a cooler bezel than the otehr products, and charging 2x the price.

The Great Falling Away is hipodocrisy at its wurst!

First off CDMA and GSM are being unified so it's only a matter of a generation. Second my penis is way larger then yours.

Regardless of which phone does what, hopefully the bottom line is that the Droid and the other Android based phones that will arrive on CDMA & GSM networks increase the speed that Apple open the iPhone to other networks, especially in the US and get some competitive pricing plans available. Remember that the hardware margin is only a part of the iPhone revenues Apple receives.

LOL @ Ridiculous amount of comments over mobiles.

My mobile is better than yours, and my penis is larger too. lol

As always when Apple fanboys, who are obviously not very technically versatile(otherwise they wouldn't be apple fanboys) comment on stuff they have no clue of :)

1.) You have mutitasking on Android, you can talk while having as many apps open as you like. But then again, I am on GSM, and maybe the CDMA thingy is true.
Well, have fun trying to browse while chatting on you iPhones.

2.) The 256MB internal SD on G1 doesn't matter. Only the application itself has to reside on the internal storage (and only if you don't root it), so it's no problem to have 50 apps installed.
The application data can be stored on the microSD. I know its a tough concept for iPhone users to grasp, but you can actually change your SD and throw in a 16GB microSD for 40€ instead of buying a new phone.
(@Bruce Hoult)

3.) You might have more apps, but it's pretty much duplicate useless stuff. Well, do you have an Super Nintendo emulator? Scripting Framework? The answer is probably no, and Apple won't allow something like that in the AppSto. Just like pretty much any uselful app because it might overlap a wee bit with the functionality of one of its own crappy apps or violate their draconian policies for app developers.

4.) Again, you can install better media players/camera software on Android, it's not Apple. So all those saying Android sucks because of the default player ... are pretty Apple.

But of course if an annoying flashing shiny GUI is everything you are interested in, go with apple. If you actually care about capabilities ... well, stay away from it as far as you can ^^

Bruce Hoult says:
"Dismissing fundamental and permanent hardware limitations as minor, while making out that a software policy decision is major seems just a little .. inconsistent."

It might seem inconsistant to you because it seems that your basis for comparason is the G1 phone that is locked to a rubbish network.

If you try a more honest comparason, perhaps a HTC hero or another recent android phone:

-True multitasking, even while speaking
-arbitary size app storage (and to be honest with the size of apps even 256Mb is probably adequete)

so while your complaints about hardware are certainly true for only one android phone (the first one, and possibly some budget ones), my complaints about the iphones lack of multitasking are true for ALL iphones.
what you said is correct, the iphone is capeable of multitasking but Apple won't allow it. Why this is i really don't know.

The Droid is just the first of many.
The Acer Liquid A1 is out next month, 1GHz CPU, big screen, 3.5mm jack - and good looking.
By mid-2010 buyers will be spoilt for choice and Jobs' mob will be getting a good kicking - and about time too!

Guys and girls...please...enough...Apple counts eBooks as Apps because you need proprietary software to read them. AFAIK, Android Market hasn't counted eBooks as such since their major online content partnet, Amazon.com , doesn't require proprietary software.

If they wanted to triple their number of apps overnight they could do the same dishonest thing Apple does and start counting eBooks as apps which I certainly will never do.

Also, 500 fart machine apps is a bit much don't you think?

The AppStore is a bit more thin than it should be on content and it has been out longer than Androids has been.

iPhone is a good phone and there are some great apps (tweetdeck) but to pretend there aren't a great deal of smoke and mirrors involved, you simply haven't been following Apple lo these many years.

"Apple keeping its hand firmly on the development of applications limits the field to its Disney-like view of the world."

Yes, Disneyworld it is to Apple. Perhaps "PIXAR-like view of the world" would also be appropriate, as per the current CEO. He does seem to have a need to try and impose his sugar-coated, "TOY-STORY" cartoonish products and ideals upon denizens of the real world.

Bad things never happen to cartoons, and if bad thing happen to those who use Appleproducts, these occurrances are denied -- as this would just be edited-out in cartoon production.

All Hail to Lord Jobs, the book of cupertino and holy ithings.

I am willing to sell my house and everything I own to obey the voice of Jobs.

Keep the faith

DEATH TO HERETICS!!!

I live in Asia where people love gadgets. What I am seeing is more and more people giving up their smartphones, including iPhone, for more traditional phones that actually work well.

When the fashion craze dies down and everyone is tired of spending so much on a smartphone with features they never use and with the features they do use, such as voice calls, not working very well, the smartphone boom may very well die away.

spence91 says:

"The Droid don't do calls and web browsing at the same time: call that multitasking?"
-This is true, but Android is capable of actual multitasking whereas the Iphone can't.

"The Droid don't do more than 256 mb of application storage"
-This is only a limitation set by the hardware, Android itself can reference as much
memory as bit length allows

The Droid's CDMA network is physically incapable of doing voice and data at the same time. There is nothing that Google or Motorola or Verizon can do about that, ever. (except switch to GSM) As TheCableGuyNY says, his G1 on TMobile can do voice and data at the same time. That's because TMobile is GSM.

The Droid's 256 MB application storage is also admitted to be a hardware limitation. That might be changed on another Android handset later, but current buyers are stuck with the limitation. And it *is* a real limitation. The Magellan iPhone app announced yesterday is something like 1.5 GB all by itself (with North American maps).

The claimed limitation of the iPhone is that it "can't multitask". That's just false. The iPhone's OS X is a fully multi-tasking operating system. Many of Apple's built in apps stay running in the background (e.g. iPod, Phone, Mail, Safari). The only thing that stops 3rd party apps from multitasking is Apple *policy*, not the operating system. Apple could flick a switch tomorrow and enable full multitasking for 3rd party apps, on every iPhone ever shipped. If you jailbreak your iPhone you can have it now.

Dismissing fundamental and permanent hardware limitations as minor, while making out that a software policy decision is major seems just a little .. inconsistent.

"Droid is a major threat to Apple" gives the impression that Apple is the one giant producer of smart phones.
Perhaps a better header would have been "Android joins Apple in smart phone race" or something!

to catch up to apple content delivery mechanism and for the device in which to consume said content. the end.

YOU JUST NEED TO LEARN HOW TO USE ANDROID,AND U CAN TRULY MULTITASK.
AS A TMOBILE G1 USER.
IF U WANT TO SURF THE NET AND DECIDE TO MAKE A CALL,U JUST HAVE TO PRESS A HOME KEY THEN ON DIALER, THE WHILE U R TALKING U CAN PRESS AND HOLD THE HOME KEY THEN U`SEE ALL THE APPLICATIONS THAT R OPEN,THEN JUST CLICK ON THE BROWSER.THEN U BEEN TALKING AND SURFING.U CAN ALSO OPEN ANOTHERS APPLICATIONS WHILE U R SURFING AND TALKING.

Droid Fan,

In fact CDMA is already offically dead. Qualcomm gave in to the enevitable last year and stopped developing CDMA - switching instead to LTE (based on the evolution of GSM).

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1335969420081113?rpc=401&

Droid Fan,

You perception of CDMA is sadly mistaken. It is an inferior proprietary technology only used in the colonies because you always choose crappy solutions based on who pays your politicians the most. Classic examples would be your garbage TV system NTSC with it's inferior resolution and colour issues and more recently your adoption of a non standard and inferior digital radio format whilst most of the rest of the world moves to DAB+

The real clue that CDMA is inferior is that the USA is having to role out GSM, but no one else in the world is rolling out CDMA. The numbers also tell the story - over 1 billion GSM users versus CDMA's 82 million.

The major problem with CDMA is virtually a complete lack of International roaming - I can visit pretty much any country in the world including the USA and use a GSM handset. 218 countries use GSM.

The second big problem is that CDMA phones dont have SIM cards! Meaning you cant easily swap handsets which REALLY sucks. To upgrade a CDMA phone, the carrier must deactivate the old phone then activate the new one. The old phone becomes useless! Only Americans would be gullible enough to let themselves be ripped off like that.

Also as regards to the technology, GSM HSPA+ has a much higher data transfer rate (up to 168 Mbit/s) than CDMA does.

The iPhone may have over 100,000 apps, but how many of them are repeats of pretty much the same thing? I'm willing to bet any amount of money that, in terms of what an application can do, Android has every app that the iPhone has, even though it only has about 14,000 apps. Android will also inevitably out do the iPhone in apps due to its being open source just like the Palm OS did. It's only a matter of time.

Apple fans are very afraid, because the iPhone may get eaten by an Android.

But Droid fans should be afraid too, because soon it will be Droid against Droid.

Sony Ericsson has made its last phone based on Windows Mobile (the X2), and will be joining the Android bandwagon. Sony's new Android phone will be the Xperia X10. As soon as it's on the market, it will start to attack the Motorola Droid.

The Droid does not have the app support to be a major threat. Admittedly the Droid's killer apps Google Navigation and Google Voice are very enticing. I also hear that the NeuroMobile app will be available on the Droid soon. But Apple now has more than 100,000 apps --many of them are very compelling. The battle is no longer about the handset technology. It's all about applications. In any case the iPhone will leapfrog the Droid handset in it's next release.

Oh and Synthmeister's post is looking like a start to 1984. like when apple did thier ad,,,,, hmmmmmm coincidence?

Ok I have read the comments and I see fanboi's and non fanboi's. Everyone has thier say and here is mine.

If anyone thinks for a second that apple will fall then they are mistaken, they have like $35 billion in cash that they can spend. now apple falling from the top hurdle that's another matter. History is littered with examples of a new product type that is the top of the rung only to be devoured by the catch up companies. Apple need to realise (and I think they do) that they have had a good few years and will let in the onslaught of android and win mob 7 and go in another direction to make money.

On my note. one thing I bloody hate is people flashing an iPhone 3G S and thinking they are techy. no no no no FFS no. Apple have succeeded in the mobile as in the desktop, normal DUMB people think they are top of the tech world and can do anything..... as long as jobs says so.

CDMA is the best system by far, Greater capacity, Faster Data transfer and a larger tower footprint. The only reason you think that GSM is better is thats what Europe uses ( They couldn't stand paying royalties to a US company)
Look at the problems with the iJoke and ATT they use the crappy GSM and look what is going on dropped calls no data coverage. Look at the maps of GSM in the USA compaired to CDMA coverage.

The Droid will make Verizon consider having a more open network and Apple consider putting the Iphone on a network that doesn't suck.

Most people who aren't nerds don't care what the OS can do they care what the actual phone they buy can do. And those people want a phone that can browse the internet run cool apps play music check email take pictures.

Those who bought the droid are folks who don't want a blackberry and couldn't wait any longer for an Iphone on Verizon.

i know you guys at the Inquirer pride yourself on tongue-in-cheek contraryism, but what are you smoking today? crack? meth?

"Soon, the best that the Iphone will be able to offer are cheesy games and little apps things that don't threaten the Apple empire."

is that the stupidest statement you ever wrote (in view of actual reality)? could be.

Wow does this article ever read like the same garbage that was said when MS was about to bring out the "iPod Killer" Zune.

not trying to be shallow but apple design sux... its for lame smug dudes and chicks, of which i hope i'm neither. give me a utilitarian phone that doesn't look like a gawdy website graphic.

Its okay. . . . just give up, really. I now look at your articles like I look at MSNBC and CNN, biased and primarily there for entertainment.

Apple is doing fantastic . . . .your still socially awkward and lonely, the world keeps spinning its okay. lol

Droid is going to go the way of HTC and every other phone that has tried to compete with Apple. Put that 32 pin plug on the bottom of the droid, and then you'll be talking.

Apple has become a dominant smart phone maker for many reasons, and Droid changes none of them.
1. Apple has a seamless universe with Mac, iPods and iPhones. They all overlap with software, development platforms, peripherals, media and iTunes. No one else has that synergy.
2. Apple has shown every intention of keeping their iPods and iPhones priced competitively. Even the new Droid actually sells for $299 and you have to send in for a $100 rebate.
3. Apple retail and internet. With Apple stores and the internet, anyone can see Apple stuff in action. In particular, Apple retail is positioned in high-dollar, strategic locals.
4. In 1984 IT departments made most of the big PC purchaces (because they were so expensive) and they were all brainwashed by IBM. In the mobile space, Joe Consumer makes the most influential decisions, especially Joe Consumer under age 25 who isn't even under the dictates of an IT dept and doesn't care about "open source" software. He just wants it to work.
5. Google,, is allowing the OEMs to customize the OS, look and feel, apps, etc. which has the strong potential to completely fragment the Android market. In fact the Droid has OS 2.0, while Moto also inexplicably released another phone "Eris" that has OS 1.6.
6. Apple has probably the best and largest development ecosystem in place for a mobile platform.
7. In the mid 90s, Apple was almost completely at the mercy of MS for Office apps, and Adobe for creative apps. But now, Apple is keeping tight control of strategic apps on the iPhone even while the iPhone is opening up opportunities to more developers than Apple could ever have dreamed of in 1984.
8. With the iPhone, Apple has figured out how to monetize every aspect of the mobile space: the hardware, the software, the "made for iPhone" peripherals program, the telco subscriptions, the sale of movies, music, TV shows and even a cut of the retail when they sell something at their own Apple stores/internet store. NOBODY, AND I MEAN NOBODY ELSE has figured this out! Not MS, not Google, not RIM, not Nokia, and not Palm, Verizon, Moto, or anyone. While Google is hoping people will use Google search on future phones, Apple is making $600 per iPhone.
9. Apple's ecosystem is already making other players major amounts of cash. Ebay is making $500 million off Paypal accounts using the App store, income which did not exist two years ago. That kind of money drives more apps, corporations, developers and mindshare to the iPhone.
10. Apple is one of the best managed companies in the world and every product line reinforces the other product lines.

For those who don't see the point of using the phone and multitasking, I do it quite often.

For example, you have a call, they tell you, I'll meet you in this restaurant, do you know where it is? Hold on you say, open safar, google the place, find the address, click on it open maps, find the place, and route to it. You tell your mate, yep, I know how to get there.

Another example. My wife calls asking for the number of a friend. Hold on, open contacts, check the number. She need it sent to a friend. Ok, open mail, send it. All the time while still talking with my wife to be sure I am sending the data to the right person.

More often than not, having data and voice, at the same time is really useful. But if all you can think of is games, well that's your needs.

Sixteen comments. This is important stuff!

Uh, how did Microsoft and Apple fanboys get into this article on the iPhone and Android? That reads more like an MS fanboy mentality to me. Try to keep things on track, Nick.

I don't know but on my Blackberry i tend to talk on the speaker phone while referencing google maps for directions, or typing a note. Great business device that can truly multitask.
Just because you don't do it does not mean other people don't either.

I don't know. I tend to talk on the phone when I'm talking on the phone. I don't think I do a whole lot of other things.
Personally.
I don't see the draw of being able to talk on the phone and play games or whatever.
When I'm on the phone, I'm talking.

Apples has 10% of the smartphone market and that is what? 0.5% of the cellphone market?

Despite massive media hype and the world+dog knowing all about the iphone its marketshare in the cell market is so small they're not even relevant. Nokia is the WTC standing next the Apple shack.

rvassar, I've just done a quick google concerning voice and data. It seems to be a carrier problem in America (verizon using CDMA, which is outdated). Please correct me if i'm wrong.

This of course isn't a problem in Europe and other countries, and certainly not a problem with android (again, correct me if i'm wrong).

Furthermore, why would you need voice and data at the same time? Wouldn't you be talking?

The iphone doesn't have true premptive multitasking yet, whereas Android does. An example of this is having msn messenger working while browsing the internet. The iphone most certainly can't do that because i've tried.

rvassar's post IMO is very misleading.

"a massive base of brainwashed Apple fanboys" let me just say "Source needed".

Where is the source for that claim?
This article almost no facts right.

(Btw I run with Windows 7)

Spence91: What good is multitasking if you can't use Voice and Data simultaneously?

BTW, you can talk on an iPhone and multi-task with other apps very easily.

So, basically, the iPhone multi-tasks better than Android (and where it counts!)

thanks for your comment, unfortunately the comment you refer to has been deleted by the Inquirer.

Go figure...

Why t'was Apple that killed the iPod, using the iPhone and the iPod Touch, in the library...

And when you look at their profit margin on those things, you realise that they have a LOT of margin to pare if the competition does heat up. And I'm still damned if I can see what Google gets out of the whole project, apart from kudos...

Android does not mainly threaten Apple;

- Apple has a very good OS, very good hardware... just a shitty "proprietary" attitude that turns ME off, but I'm very much in the minority on that one

- MS has a shitty OS, more open on the apps side than Apple though... I'd feel VERY threatened if I were them, because, frankly windows mobile is terrible, bth reliability and ergonomy.

- Nokia has S60 and Maemo. I don't know much about Maemo, from outside it looks like Droid, only with more history, but less support. In the end, Nokia probably doesn't much care about which OS its phone are running, it never really made the "eco system" switch like Apple and MS.

- I'm not sure BlackBerry and Palm are very OS dependent. They have a nice environment, but porting it to any OS shoudln't be too hard, and they probably don't see the OS by itself as a major point.

So, to me, Droid threatens mainly MS (good riddance) and Maemo. There's room for two ecosystems... I do'n't think competition will entice Apple to be more open, but at least people will be allowed to choose their poison.

All you want is readership!

Droidvoid does make some good points, albeit in a fanboy voice.

But some points i have to contend:

"The Droid don't do calls and web browsing at the same time: call that multitasking?"
-This is true, but Android is capable of actual multitasking whereas the Iphone can't.

"The Droid don't do more than 256 mb of application storage"
-This is only a limitation set by the hardware, Android itself can reference as much memory as bit-length allows

"the Droid don't do a camera that can focus"
-yes it can.

most of the other points however are pretty spot on. Less apps (probably more useful free apps) and a less satisfying UI.

So the followers of Android believe in the iPhones death by a million cuts and the inevitability of their eventual world domination but so far they haven't shown much to back up their aggressive hype.

The hardware, software and interface still sucks: The Droid don't do calls and web browsing at the same time: call that multitasking?
The Droid don't do more than 256 mb of application storage
the Droid don't do a decent music player or video editing
the Droid don't do a camera that can focus

However the petty tyranny of Verizon will sting you with a monstrous ETF should you wish to leave and extra for tethering should it arrive.

The the App market for Android is still below par.
While the iPhone has 17 percent of the smart phone market it has 100000 apps available, Android has 3.5 percent marketshare but only 14000 apps - a clear indication that app development is not growing in line with market share.
Then we hear the Android fanbois celebrating 100000 unit of da Droid sold in a weekend when Apple is selling 30000 iPhones in a day just by letting a rival carrier in the tiny UK market carry it.
The question also remain as to how many Droid drones purchased it just to replaced their horrendous wobbly brick that was the G1…
And just by the way, the iPhone is selling millions in China, last time I checked black market iPhones were still produced by Apple.

Steve Jobs can rightly be proud of the success of the iPhone, some call it smugness, but it beats Googles lossleading adventures which purely exist to swallow your data.

By this scenario, Android sounds a bit like Godzilla, going around smashing things, and destroying our enemies.

Android will wipe out all of our enemies, one after the other. First to be destroyed will be the Vole, and its Windows Mobile operating system will be left a smouldering pile of wreckage (well, it's like that already, so Android doesn't have to try to hard).

With Windows Mobile phone eliminated, the Android will target Bada, Symbian, LiMo and Maemo, knocking them to the ground, before it launches into the biggest dual of them all, with the almighty iPhone.

When all our enemies are gone, we can then be happy again and sing in the streets. Ding dong the Vole is dead, open your eyes, get out of bed. Ding dong, the mighty Vole is dead.

This should be interesting when all the fanboi's high-jack this...........