The gap is narrowing…rapidly
Android is taking more than a slice of the Apple pie
As much as I agree with the common view that Apple has created one of the most innovative mobile devices, the iPhone, and is widely credited forhelping drive the uptake of the mobile internet worldwide, I’m actually the proud owner of an Android phone – HTC Desire and there are many reasons for this.
If I were to ask a random group of people: What’s the most important part of a mobile device, what would they say? Some might say they are lured by the looks, meaning the hardware is important. Whilst how a phone looks and feels is important, it’s the operating system that turns the mobile phone into a great experience. And this is exactly what makes the HTC phone so appealing; the Android operating system is not only a slick and open mobile platform that operates and thinks like a PC but more importantly, offers a great app store experience.
So, while some people are still blindly following the iPhone crowd, increasingly more are waking up to the great benefits of an Android phone. In fact, this is the case of many of my friends, who, despite not being mobile savvy, have decided against buying an iPhone and purchased an HTC Desire instead, attracted by the slick and neat mobile experience that an Android phone offers.
Here are some of the great features that you get with an Android phone that are absent on the iPhone (Apple, please read!):
- Mobile applications are fully integrated
- Multi-tasking is possible – Stream a video app while navigating through your Google map app, no problem
- It’s intuitive and logical – Like a PC, it pre-empts what you want to do next, you’re in charge of your phone
- Free applications – Most of the good stuff is free, great! Unlike the iPhone, where most of the apps you have to pay for
- Payment experience – Slick and quick payment experience, on the iPhone you have to set up an iTunes account first
- And last but not least, it’s an open platform! – The open source nature of Android is one of its best features. For developers as well as for users, being an open platform gives users the freedom to benefit from cutting-edge and innovative apps on multiple devices.
What else could you ask for from a mobile phone?! Ok, I know it’s not all roses, as fragmentation continues to be a major issue with Android. But if you get all these great features and with Google’s development team working on the next OS version things are about to get even more exciting in the mobile market.
Android is now forecast to overtake the iPhone and be number 2 (after Nokia) by 2013 (according to IDC), HTC phones are flying off the shelves, so, believe me, the gap in the market is narrowing. It is only a matter of time that we’ll see Android as the number 1 mobile operating system, having taken a big chunk of Apple’s pie.
