Android at 10: How Google Won the Smartphone Wars

DooKey

DooKey

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I know you're looking at the headline and thinking I'm trying to start a fanboy war, but I'm not. Andrew Orlowski, over at the Register, came up with the headline and his own opinion on why Google has won the smartphone war. You have to admit Android has come a long way in the last 10 years and it is certainly the OS of choice for almost all smartphones not called iPhone. However, is it the best OS for smartphones? I think that one is up for debate. Go for it!

It's just that Google was in the game, at a time when others didn't realise what the game was. Or did, and couldn't turn the ship around fast enough. Android succeeded because it was just about good enough, and its parent was prepared to cross subsidise it hugely. Android wasn't brilliant, but it was better than Bada, and uglier than WebOS.
 
Up until about android 6, it sucked. Really really sucked. Ironically I felt the best os for phones was windows 8.1 / 10. But the stupid idiots abandoned it and didn't license it out, yet kept the interface for mainstream desktop. Stupid stupid stupid.
 
MV75 said:
Up until about android 6, it sucked. Really really sucked. Ironically I felt the best os for phones was windows 8.1 / 10. But the stupid idiots abandoned it and didn't license it out, yet kept the interface for mainstream desktop. Stupid stupid stupid.
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I never really found it to be lacking, at least not with where mobile OS's were at the time. I started running android on a WinMo device via SD card on my HTC HD2. I think what lead to androids popularity is that it was simply the poor man's alternative to the iphone and gave Verizon/Tmo users the option for a polished iphone ripoff without having to succumb to ATT, which was a rather shitty carrier at the time. I love android and have had no complaints for the past 7 years, however a friend is donating her iphone6 to me so I'm going to get my feet wet in the iOS waters for a bit and see how it rubs me. I support these devices as part of my job so I know them well, but have just never used one as a daily driver.
 
Depends on your definition of "won". Android has all the marketshare, but iOS, and Apple by extension, has all the money.
 
Ah yes i remember the G1 that you could not get on wifi without first installing a tmobile sim with data.

Years and years of 2.33 phones...

WOOOHOOO 4.04, its now usable.

5.1 look people dont need iphones anymore to be cool.

Hey tablet folk, lets keep making 6.0 devices till the end of time...


Now its time to put oreo on my 32 bit nexus 6
 
Android really didn’t win much, other than offer a stream of data to Google for very little investment.

It’s a free OS for OEM’s to use. Most of the time the OEM fucks it up in many ways but it’s still free. This is key for the low end market where it is obviously bigger then the high end market. If you had to pay $30 for an OS vs $0 for a device you intend to sell for $150, it’s a no brainer.
 
Android 1.5 was terrible. Really anything less than 2.3 was pretty bad. I think from about 4.3 onwards it's worked well enough for me that I haven't really cared what version it is anymore or had much interest in what the new version will offer. Pretty decent place to be. For sure if they didn't update it things would stop working and be dated and all that, but I haven't felt like android was deficient for a few years now. That said I think IOS is fine as well. Still runs terrible on older devices that keep getting pushed updates the hardware can't handle. Even my ipad air is starting to feel sluggish with the latest versions of IOS.
 
There really wasn't any question that Android would overtake iOS. iOS only works on Apple devices. Android will work on what ever device wants to use it.

Despite all the iSheep and iHipster jokes, it is rather remarkable that iOS and Apple have been as successful as they have, since the only devices that can run iOS are Apple iThingies, and iThingies can only run iOS.

Bigdady92 said:
IOS Better than Android.

/mic drop
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If history tells us anything, it should be obvious that better does not equal more successful.
 
If history tells us anything, it should be obvious that better does not equal more successful.
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Microsoft would not exist today if the best always won out.. I am thinking of the early days of dos, windows and office, even the compiler. None of the Microsoft products were the best at what they did yet they ended up winning in the long run.
 
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i use an android OS smartphone and have had zero issues with it. I do wish The Fed's would enforce the no call registry list though - I don't think they do
 
Early versions of Android were intolerable. I think 4 is when it finally hit stride, although plenty of OEM's still manage to muck it up today. I often wonder how many people that hate Android have experience using it on a Nexus, Pixel, or even a Motorola device. I get thinking iOS is better (in some ways it is), but I wouldn't judge it based upon a Sammy device.
If you're willing to let big brother into your life and go all-in with the Google apps it's pretty tough to go back.
 
I think there's Pros and Cons to both Android and iOS. As someone who was pro-Android for the longest time, switching to Apple has just made life easier for me. Although I really wish Siri was on par with Google Voice/Assistant. Their voice recognition/AI is much much better.
 
I read somewhere that Apple makes more profit from the iPhones than all of the Android phone makers combined. Something like 90% of mobile phone profits go to Apple.
 
Android won the phones because they played people like a drum. What people wanted was phones to play games, text, talk, watch videos, share stuff with friends etc. Also android did not care about security your life and how to protect it. Blackberry might have lost the smart phone battle because they thought security first before any fun. Apple on the other hand is a balance of security and fun. It might not have all the fun android has but at least its more secure than android any day of the week. Friend of mine got married and there honeymoon was in eurupe his wifes phone got stolen in Italy and within 3 min they hacked there android phone stole all credit info and lost 20,000 dollars in 4 min. Wana guess which phone she has now.!
 
King of Heroes said:
Depends on your definition of "won". Android has all the marketshare, but iOS, and Apple by extension, has all the money.
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And Google (Alphabet) by extension "won" as well. They managed to get thousands+ of devices to run Android and deliver data analytics and ad revenue which is Google's cash cow. They didn't need to make money off of the devices and they were happy to let other vendors fight over those small margins.

Android was just a way to feed the cash cow they already built from a data rich source experiencing massive growth. This is why both Apple and Alphabet are nearing a 1 trillion market capitalization. Both companies played it very well.
 
Google hasn't won anything, really, but Android is like Windows - designed to run on most anything you install it on manufactured and sold by most any company - vs iOS being like macOS - designed to run only on the hardware that Apple itself makes and sells. It's sheer numbers, and even in spite of the popularity of Apple mobile devices, the sheer number of companies making devices and using Android as their operating system of choice ensures Apple could never compete in that respect (sheer volume of devices and sales).
 
Domingo said:
Early versions of Android were intolerable. I think 4 is when it finally hit stride, although plenty of OEM's still manage to muck it up today. I often wonder how many people that hate Android have experience using it on a Nexus, Pixel, or even a Motorola device. I get thinking iOS is better (in some ways it is), but I wouldn't judge it based upon a Sammy device.
If you're willing to let big brother into your life and go all-in with the Google apps it's pretty tough to go back.
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I utilized a Pixel as my daily for a few months in between my 6S and 8+. Didn’t care for it. I’m not a power user in any regards and didn’t do anything differently really. I’m just too use to iOS and it’s performance I suppose.

Prior to that my last android phones were HTC Thunderbolt and then the original Nexus. I enjoyed those just fine but going back is a chore due to the little differences.
 
Wolf_Tech said:
Android won the phones because they played people like a drum. What people wanted was phones to play games, text, talk, watch videos, share stuff with friends etc. Also android did not care about security your life and how to protect it. Blackberry might have lost the smart phone battle because they thought security first before any fun. Apple on the other hand is a balance of security and fun. It might not have all the fun android has but at least its more secure than android any day of the week. Friend of mine got married and there honeymoon was in eurupe his wifes phone got stolen in Italy and within 3 min they hacked there android phone stole all credit info and lost 20,000 dollars in 4 min. Wana guess which phone she has now.!
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Sounds to me like his wife was a dumbass for having all that shit on her phone.

Don't do personal banking on a cell phone period.
 
drescherjm said:
Microsoft would not exist today if the best always won out.. I am thinking of the early days of dos, windows and office, even the compiler. None of the Microsoft products were the best at what they did yet they ended up winning in the long run.
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Or maybe your opinion of what is best does not align with the mass average of the consumer base. This applies not just to you but a lot of other people commenting in this thread sorry to pick you out.

I have used android since leaving windows mobile touch pro 2. The phones have done well and served my purposes ever since then better than any other player when you take all the factors into account. Cheaper to use, cheaper to play games on, the most advanced and feature full hardware. And ever since Samsung broke out the note the rest has been history not one competitor ever has come out with a device that has all the features of a galaxy note device, they haven't even tried they are so sad I guess they just keep listening to all the fools like this guy. As such the note line has been sweeping my family controlling about 90% of our phone purchases.

And this doesn't mean that I am naïve, I certainly have my critics of android and Samsung, and note phones but still almost every time I go out looking for a phone for myself or a family member the at the end of the day the sale goes to a Samsung note when I take into consideration what I desire out of a device. For instance personally I am not happy about the glass backs on these devices. But really what am I going to do? Give up the best screen, the only device with an accurate stylus, and a very powerful device which has on of the top SOCs, and Top cameras every year? Then I look at the competition and typically they aren't winning many battles, for instance Apple is back to glass backs again. Samsung is smart, they don't jump to early to ditch hardware as well, like the IR leds, 3.5mm jack etc... Gives me flexibility longer, by the time Samsung ditches the 3.5 mm jack almost everyone else while
 
Honestly, WinMo and WinPho were the best from version 7 on. However, they are now dead so I had to move on and Android is what I ended up with. Not because Android is better than iOS or not, it was just the specific phone that interested me and is just the right size. (Sony Xperia XA1) Otherwise, who cares, I have to know this stuff on both sides and all that matters is it does what you need it to do.
 
I actually prefer Windows Mobile over Android, sadly just that there was no app on that platform. If only they didn't botch it up it would have been an interesting market with 3 mobile OSes.
 
drescherjm said:
Microsoft would not exist today if the best always won out.. I am thinking of the early days of dos, windows and office, even the compiler. None of the Microsoft products were the best at what they did yet they ended up winning in the long run.
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Well, it helped that nice “agreement “ which didnt allowed any other OS.

In my mind, if it wasn’t because of that, we might be running BeOS or OS/2, which at the time, were vastly superior to MS offering.
 
Domingo said:
If you're willing to let big brother into your life and go all-in with the Google apps it's pretty tough to go back.
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This is my conundrum. I was an iPhone disciple from the 3GS to 7 Plus. Switched to Android mostly just to see what it was like and to try a few of the phones that used it. I really like Android now, but am well aware that its basically an open portal to the NSA. Tried an iPhone X and didn't like the gestures at all. Face ID only worked about 50% of the time for me. Returned my X after just a few days. :(

BulletDust said:
iOS is becoming more like Android with every update anyway.
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I wish iOS would adopt Android's notification style.
 
I've never had an iphone but I did have an ipod touch. Requiring me to use itunes to add mp3 files to it is what made me get an android phone over an iphone. I wouldn't add music that often so when I did I of course didn't know my itunes password and had to reset it. What should have taken 1 min max to drag and drop a file would end up taking 20 minutes.

The first few android phones I had were kind of annoying, but I was also installing half working roms on them all the time. When I got a Motorola android phone everything was good, I think it was around Android 4 when Moto started using pretty much stock android. I found it to be way better than the modified android OS that I has used from Samsung and HTC. Have had Moto phones since.
 
Zepher said:
I read somewhere that Apple makes more profit from the iPhones than all of the Android phone makers combined. Something like 90% of mobile phone profits go to Apple.
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"90% of mobile profits go to Apple" is total fantasy.
 
King of Heroes said:
Depends on your definition of "won". Android has all the marketshare, but iOS, and Apple by extension, has all the money.
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Depends on your definition of money.

Apple has today's AAPL stock price which is subject to change without notice, Google has an Android global install base that passed 2 billion active users back in May, and it's probably closer to 2.5 by now.

If Apple has a bag of money, Google has a money printing machine. Install base is king because data analytics is king.

But hats off to Apple, they've accumulated enough wealth that they never have to innovate again.
 
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I have been pretty happy with android since version 2.3. I had a palmpre phone that i loved, but android won me over with useful apps that windows and palm did not have. Never considered an iphone because they are closed, too small, and too expensive. Generally $200 is the most i spend on a new phone (no contracts) for less then $200 i can get an LG G5 flagship phone or an Iphone 5s. hmmm tough choice...
 
DPI said:
"90% of mobile profits go to Apple" is total fantasy.
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Apparently they got 104% of profits in the 3rd quarter last year, not sure how you get more than 100% though,
http://fortune.com/2016/11/04/apple-smartphone-profits/

https://9to5mac.com/2017/03/08/aapl-iphone-profits-profitability-2016-strategy-analytics/

While Apple’s slice of the profits has fallen from the 92%+ it has achieved in previous years, it still hit an impressive 79.2% last year, reports Korea Herald.
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nutzo said:
Better at separating people from their money.

I'd rather hold on to some of my money instead of sending it to Apple.
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There in lies the choice:

We can send our $$ to Apple

OR

Let Google send our personal info/data to the feds
 
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