seanmonstar

John Gruber on the threat of Google:

A different perspective would be that Google is the bigger threat, and that using Apple products is a way to better protect our privacy and personal information.

This was in response to Dave Winer suggesting why he uses Android:

If there is no alternative to iOS then Apple will have exclusive control over what makes it to market. That is a future none of us should want to live in.

I agree that both threats are very real. Which is why I hope neither wins, but that they continue to compete, forcing each other to be less evil.

An excellent, fair look at selling a popular app on the Android Market, from someone who has had the same app in the iOS app store. The Android version is currently selling about 80% of what its selling on iOS, which shows the Market definitely supports selling quality apps.

And Battleheart is definitely quality.

Apple has several lawsuits against manufacturers of Android phones, essentially saying they copied the iPhone and iOS.

Then, when Apple does the copying, Apple fanatics argue “well yea, how else would Apple have made notifications?”

Android had pretty much perfected the notification system. So if Apple had to create a perfect notifications system it was going to be difficult for them to not make it look like the one on Android.

I don’t really care when people copy good ideas. I think that copying good ideas is better for consumers. It’d just be nice for people to notice the hypocrisy around this.

That’s where Apple is behind.

I don’t think many people need to be syncing 32 or 64 GB of data wirelessly. Only power users have that much media they want to carry around all the time. And for those power users, I would argue that it would be far more impressive to see 64 GB of your music and video starting to slowly show up on your new device. Trying to view media not yet downloaded would bump it to the front of the queue, and you would be seeing your content in a few seconds. Without being a slave to a PC.

I love the freedom Android makes me feel, and I can’t possibly imagine having to go to a device that requires me to connect to a PC on a regular basis. Computing is just that much better when the cloud is involved. Mmm, fluffy clouds.

As we get more and more devices in our lives, we need more and more syncing going on between them. Shawn illustrates an very common issue when apps want to notify us:

iCal alarms that go off on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac at the same time. I can think of two ways to fix this: (a) the devices know when they are on the same Wi-Fi network and then just one device displays the alarm; or (b) give me the option to set a default device that is the only one that ever displays the alarm.

Some of Google’s apps on Android are smart enough to do this. If I get email, I can see the notification on both my phone and in my web browser. If I deal with the email in my browser, the Gmail on Android is smart enough to remove the notification from my phone a few seconds later. Gtalk also will alert both places of incoming chats, but once you start using one, it stops pestering the other device.

This is what I think all apps should start doing. They should keep track of what device I’m currently using, and make smart decisions about that. Take Twitter: when I’m looking at the website, I’ve obviously seen a bunch of tweets recently. Currently when I pick up my phone, it still thinks I haven’t seen a bunch of @replies.

Chris Clark, giving an iPhone owners’ fairer opinion on Gruber’s Android gripe:

Be that as it may, consistency of text selection—or just lack of small infuriating inconsistencies—isn’t something it can brag about.

Much evil has been done in the name of business. Here’s some more from Apple (surprise, surprise):

A lot of apps aimed at the web community will fall into this camp – not big enough to be featured by the App Store because the niche is too small. Therefore there is no extra marketing value from being in the App Store and forking over the extra 30% to Apple.

For instance, in a personal web app of mine, when I start to offer pro accounts, and I wanted to have an iPhone app, I would have to let Apple take 30% of my subscription. Even though the use of the iPhone app would be minor compared to that customer coming to the actual website. No, Apple, you don’t get 30% of my hardwork. Instead, Apple just gets less apps in its App Store.

Commenter farra puts it:

Apple only hosts the app code, they don’t host all your backend services, or pay the bandwidth for the delivery of in-app media. This is a 30% payment processing fee, which is hugely out of line in the larger market.

I wonder what happens to 3rd party apps that tie into subscription-based web apps, like Campfire.

People make statements like this all the time and assume that’s the end of the argument right there:

[Android is] never going to be Apple-like in user experience, polish, or design.

I agree that the iPhone is a great product. However, I can also conclude that Android phones are great as well. There are pros and cons to both devices¹. Yes, generally, the Apple UI is more pleasing to the eye. I wouldn’t say it’s clearly more intuitive though.

Regarding the UI: not everyone cares about how perfect the UI is. Sure, designers will care. Even people who are more educated about the design can care. But plenty others won’t care. People I know who don’t care: me, my wife, my parents, my in-laws, my brother, some of my co-workers. Some of us like Android’s pros more than the iPhone’s. Others don’t care either way.

There are some things I don’t think Google will do better than Apple. That’s ok. It doesn’t make either the absolute best, but depending on your tastes, one or the other might be better for you.