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Not trying to start a flame war or even a debate about which is better, but thinking about the mobile OS landscape of today reminds me a lot of the OS war for PCs back in the day. You have a lot of operating systems available, some a lot more popular than others, and in the end it will likely be content availability, speed to market, and room for price/product differentiation that could eventually win the majority of the consumer market.
So, in that context, doesn't it seem like Google and their Android OS is much like Microsoft and Windows back in the day? Instead of making their software only available on their hardware, they have made it available to all hardware manufacturers, which, like Windows, could cause it to spread much more rapidly and quickly take over the market. The only difference today is that Apple has a big upper hand. But if enough hardware developers get on board with Android, and the software developers follow for more revenue, and because they don't want to deal with Apple's stringent app approval, Android could quickly overrun Apple.
Now, I'm not saying Apple should change their ways or anything, or that this could kill the iPhone. Apple has always been on the side of developing high quality for the few rather than sacrificing quality for a bigger chunk of the market, and that model has done well for them. I just think it's interesting how it appears that the future is unfolding similar to the not-so-distant past.
So, in that context, doesn't it seem like Google and their Android OS is much like Microsoft and Windows back in the day? Instead of making their software only available on their hardware, they have made it available to all hardware manufacturers, which, like Windows, could cause it to spread much more rapidly and quickly take over the market. The only difference today is that Apple has a big upper hand. But if enough hardware developers get on board with Android, and the software developers follow for more revenue, and because they don't want to deal with Apple's stringent app approval, Android could quickly overrun Apple.
Now, I'm not saying Apple should change their ways or anything, or that this could kill the iPhone. Apple has always been on the side of developing high quality for the few rather than sacrificing quality for a bigger chunk of the market, and that model has done well for them. I just think it's interesting how it appears that the future is unfolding similar to the not-so-distant past.