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by briancooley 5302 days ago
Marco's "what will be different in 6 months?" question gave me a chuckle when you consider that native development for the iPhone is only about 3.5 years old and the rapid pace of change in the industry.

Anyway, Schmidt enumerated some differences: - he thinks the software (ICS) has caught up to iOS - Google has made it a core objective to get all the hardware vendors on ICS - the Android Market has improved and now offers carrier billing - volume favors Android

I don't know if he's right, but it's certainly a reasonable argument and not at all threatening or arrogant.

To me, Marco reads something nefarious or coercive into the "whether you like it or not" phrase which I don't think was intended.
2 comments
fpgeek 5301 days ago
Not to mention ICS unifying "phone" and "tablet" apps and the growing impact of hybrid devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note. The sooner people realize that the right way to do an Android UI is to have a flexible framework that scales from from a 2.5 inch screen to a 10.1 inch screen with varying pixel densities, the better.
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dextorious 5302 days ago
"""Marco's "what will be different in 6 months?" question gave me a chuckle when you consider that native development for the iPhone is only about 3.5 years old and the rapid pace of change in the industry."""

I don't see any disruptive forces to have emerged those 3.5 years. The iPhone retains the lion's share of smartphone profits, and still is where the lion's share of mobile app profits are made. Trending upwards. Android expanded mostly in the low margin, bottom of the barrel, market category, and that's why they have a problem with apps.

Do you see anything TODAY that would challenge that in 6 months, or do you believe that something will magically emerge in, say, 3 months to do it?

All this "rapid pace" of the last 3.5 years is because a reaction to the iPhone, not something inherent in the industry.

The 10 years preceding the iPhone the smartphone industry was boring, with very slow evolution, and marginal differences between models. I know because I was there, using some monstrosities of the era (by Nokia, Sony, etc) and hoping someone would come and build a better f&%^n phone.

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