Android vs iPhone
So straight away this doesn’t sound like a fair fight, there’s an obvious mismatch. We’re pitting a physical device up against code-based software. One is a tangible physical object and the other can only be experienced through such objects.
The iPhone is a revolutionary device, loved, if not worshipped by millions. It has changed the way we think about mobile phones and it’s no exaggeration to say for many people it has changed the way they live their lives. Apple’s dominance of the smart phone market has been based on doing things simply and doing them well. The iPhone never did everything a phone should do but what it did do, it did well.
Android is Google’s mobile device operating system software that launched last year. The clever thing about Android is its’ multi-tasking and horizontal stacking capabilities. Not only can you run more than one application at a time but applications can share data between each other. Now it’s possible to view your contacts, see their phone numbers, Facebook status, latest tweets and location all in one go without switching between apps.
Android isn’t tied down to one handset, in fact every phone manufacturer in the UK now has an Android or Android compatible handset on the market. With so many devices, the Android app store is now growing at a considerable pace. Perhaps Apple now has a serious competitor and in Google, has perhaps the only worldwide brand that could make a credible challenge.
Handsets are not advertised as Android phones and most users won’t even know they’re using Android. It was probably this that led to the launch of Google’s own branded phone, the Nexus One, helping to make a more direct challenge to the iPhone.
We’ve been playing with Android and developed a location based augmented reality application. It adds graphics to live video on the handset giving you directions and the distance to our offices in Bournemouth and London. If you tilt the phone down towards the ground the video and graphics make way for a Google map display with pens and route added.
Android applications may soon have the potential to reach a larger audience than iPhone applications. The range of handsets and price of contracts available for Android users will give brands delivering on Android a more varied demographic that can be targeted through iPhone apps.
So who will win in 2010? Yes Android looks like a good bet. A greater market share and an open source mentality will help users, brands and developers who are getting increasingly annoyed with the closed and locked down approach of Apple. Unfortunately this could also prove to be Android’s Achilles heel.
As an agency that puts a great deal of emphasis on usability and who have recently gained experience and great insight into mobile user experience, it seems obvious that variance in devices, screen sizes and software releases – and no one taking overall responsibility for the quality and consistency of apps – will lead to a very hit and miss user experience for those on Android. And this, of course, is the very opposite of Apple’s approach.
1 reply to “Android vs iPhone”
Hi David,
Great article and very thought provoking. It’s obviously tough to tell which way the pendulum will swing, but what I can say is that app developers are loathe to put all their eggs in one basket.
What I can say is that we are currently recruiting for mobile apps developers for a client in London. The founder of the business developed one of the apps included on the iPhone appstore on day 1 of the iPhone’s release. That app is now one of the top 5 used apps across Europe,
Even with that kind of success they are still working on Android apps, not least because of their agnostic device approach… It’ll be interesting to see what traction the Nexus One will get when it lands on our shores in the next few months.
All the best.
Steve
Leave a comment