Android Is For The Masses, iPhone For The Rich
Our network blog last100 has an interesting interview with Nicolas Gramlich, founder of anddev.org - an online community for Android developers. As editor Steve O'Hear notes in his intro, there have been issues with Google's mobile OS of late - an incomplete and buggy SDK, favoritism towards select developers, lack of transparency, and concerns that the platform could become fragmented and that Google has ceded too much control to carriers. But all those problems may fade into the ether if, as Gramlich claims in the last100 interview, "Android is for the masses, iPhone for the rich".
Android is Google's mobile operating system and competes with the likes of Apple's OSX for iPhone and Nokia's Symbian open source OS. Gramlich told Steve O'Hear that "there will be a great variety of Android devices all over the world, where there will always be just the iPhone." He also dismissed the threat of Nokia and its recent acquired controlling interest of open source mobile OS, Symbian. "I think Android will win over Symbian", said Gramlich, "as there are so many companies behind the Open Handset Alliance."
So what draws developers like Nicolas Gramlich to Android? Gramlich says that "Android's main attraction is its simplicity" and that this enables the rapid development of "feature-rich applications".
Asked by Steve O'Hear what kind of apps we can expect from Android, Gramlich replied that "we will definitely see a lot of location-aware and social-networking applications, that will try to be the social app for Android. I've seen so many that I cannot even count them." He noted that integration with Google Maps is especially tight, which he says doesn't currently exist on other mobile platforms. Indeed his own Android app is a free navigation app called AndNav! (screenshot below).
Despite all the positive attributes of Android, currently it is vaporware (no commercial phones running Android yet exist) and there has also been developer unrest because the SDK hasn't been updated for some time. Gramlich admits that "the next SDK has to be overwhelming to get Android back on track".
For the full interview, hop over to last100. Also see last100's recent interview with the zintin CEO talking iPhone, Android and mobile future.
Comments
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Well iPhone's definitely for the rich, there's no way it can flourish in the price sensitive markets. Who's gonna pay an exorbitant monthly rental just because they want to flaunt a particular phone when you have cheaper options available with matching or better functionality and ease of use.
I wouldn't rule out Nokia just yet though, their Widsets haven't been successful because of wrong strategy but they must have learnt some lessons on the way, let's wait and watch how Ovi turns out. And of course, let's not forget LiMO.
Posted by: Sachendra
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July 25, 2008 12:13 AM
yawn...
1) prices trend down. The iPhone is cheaper now than a year ago (yes, I know, it's a subsidy). As the ATT exclusive expires the phone will become cheaper and plans will become cheapers. Remember the RAZR at release? $200... now it's what, $29? Free?
2) Android phones DON'T EXIST. I'll borrow a rule from fiction - show me, don't tell me. People complain about Apple fanboys on the iPhone and then start telling us that the real thing is Android... which most haven't even seen.
It's only to the good if Android DOES rock - but until we can see at least real, working prototypes let's restrain ourselves a bit, ok?
Posted by: rickg | July 25, 2008 1:05 AM
sure iphone is only for rich in italy for example price i double thens usa!
Posted by: monza | July 25, 2008 1:47 AM
The first iPhone version perhaps would be for the rich only - but now that the price has dropped (even including the binding to a 2-year contract) iPhones will crop up everywhere. And that's not including the jailbroken ones.
Still, with proper support for the various apps (and that's not really hard to get right) Android will be even more widespread.
So, iPhone will indeed be kind of elitist (in the sense that everything is taken care of by somebody else -Apple- making sure that everything works) whereas Android may be more prone to bugs and things not 'just working'. And that is something impatient and high-standard crowds will avoid.
It will be interesting to see which device the geeks choose tho. I bet they will go for the Android's openness.
Posted by: dimitris | July 25, 2008 4:11 AM
if it ever comes out...
Posted by: Danilo da Silva
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July 25, 2008 4:12 AM
I'm waiting for the Gphone.
Posted by: Andy Roberts
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July 25, 2008 4:18 AM
I think Android is doomed to be subpar.
1. Apple has almost 30 years of making commercial operating systems, Google has 0. Same with hardware.
2. Too many phone types. Hard to program applications to utilize each type of phone layout.
3. @rickg I agree, gphone or any phone running Android has yet to exist.
4. iPhone is at 7 million sold? Probably 12 million by Dec. That's not too bad.
Posted by: Charles Ju
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July 25, 2008 7:22 AM
Android is not "vaporware"!
It's software that you can download already!
And, we've all seen the demos on real Android phones, and there are plenty of Android phones out there already, just not in the public's hands yet.
Posted by: Rex Pechler | July 25, 2008 7:37 AM
Regardless of whether Symbian or Android achieve long-term market dominance, these developments are going to have a really interesting effect on the web. For large portions of the world, mobile phones are much more popular and available than desktop Internet. If access can be made affordable and widespread using open source operating systems on cheap mobile devices, the medium becomes a much more global phenomenon.
Does anyone know what the figures are for mobile handsets vs desktop Internet access worldwide? The former almost certainly far outstrips the latter, which means that simple, quick-to-download interfaces are going to be one of the most important aspects of modern web design.
The best would be interfaces that seamlessly adapt to the capabilities of your browser and connection. We've built functionality for multiple interfaces into our platform, and I think this is going to become the norm.
Posted by: Ben Werdmuller
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July 25, 2008 9:12 AM
What if Symbian and Android merged ?
Posted by: http://openid.xmpp.za.net/base64/a2FlbEBqYWJiZXIub3Jn
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July 25, 2008 12:11 PM
Thank God I'm rich...
I'll take the Mercedes over the Ford any day of the week.
Posted by: Max | July 25, 2008 12:44 PM
if it ever comes out
Posted by: promosyon şapka | July 26, 2008 12:03 PM
With comments like "Android is for the masses, iPhone for the rich". Nicolas Gramlich is not even credible and borders on rediculous. The news space he takes up is a waste, lets move on to more important things than the rantings of a zealot.
Posted by: Don Burr | August 3, 2008 2:28 PM
Nicolas Gramlich whom you interviewed is a looser and whines about every lil shit. This is just a prick teenager who have never tried to develop anything for other mobile platforms like iPhone or Symbian or WM, yet makes his great comparisons. Don't waste your time for his BS, he has no idea anyway.
Posted by: MobiDick | August 13, 2008 6:40 AM