I expected this, although I never thought it was be a real problem for the iPhone.

Reply

Interesting take on this development. Most commentary I've seen has lauded Apple for taking its time in developing new products and platforms, rather than jumping in with something half-baked. I could have sworn I'd read commentary to this effect on this very site. Now Apple is going to be at a significant advantage because its a little bit ahead chronologically. Well, we'll see about all that. While I applaud the significant technological and user-oriented advances of the iPhone, I am very much looking forward to a more open platform which Android represents. More competition, more choices, more options--this is what I really like to see. I am not an early adopter by a long-shot, I'm the wait-and-see type, and I'm looking forward to the fruits of both of these initiatives.

Reply

Im all for Apple too, but if you honestly declaring a victor before the battle even begins you honestly have no idea how the mobile market works; or even the slightest idea how the electronic market works.

Good job TUAW, another incompetent editor

Reply

Per the larger blog that also posted a few hours earlier:

yet the article fails to mention that this is right inline
with what Google has been saying for quite awhile now.

Google for a very long time has said not to expect one until the beginning of '09.

Apple is still going to do very well despite the launch of WM 7, Android, and any new feature packs to S60, but with the lackluster updates to the iPhone, they are going to experience some serious competition

Reply

Or as Engadget puts it:

There's a lot of hoopla today over a Wall Street Journal piece stating that Google's first Android device has been pushed back to late 2008 for release -- yet the article fails to mention that this is right inline with what Google has been saying for quite awhile now. Admittedly, the fresh-faced mobile competitor probably is finding itself somewhat mired in carrier demands, which doesn't seem unexpected given the broad swath of partners it's collaborating with and the open source nature of the project, but as phone release schedules go, it hasn't veered off the path much. The breakdown is something like this: from what we've been told, you can expect an Android-powered handset before the new year (i.e., HTC's Dream driven by Google's OS), followed by a crop of higher profile phones showing up in early 2009 (as previously stated by companies like LG and Samsung). So... feel free to switch off the alarms anytime you like.

Oops?

Reply

First, how did Apple win a battle by doing nothing? Also:

"...with tens of millions of the inexpensive handsets sold."

This remains to be seen. There is no guarantee that it will sell that many units in such a short period. Official plans for the Netherlands aren't yet out - but from preliminary reports by T-Mobile the cheapest plan will be pretty expensive (30 euros or 46 bucks), with no word about the final euro price of the iPhone itself or whether or not that price includes internet (which would be another 10 euros or 15 dollars *minimum*).

I'm surrounded by a lot of techsavy persons and interest in the iPhone is limited. It's out in less than a month over here and I have friends that do not wait until then, when they can renew their subscriptions.

Reply

Over at last last100, I wonder if Google’s Open Handset Alliance strategy may have inherited the worse aspects of both an open and closed platform. By releasing Android to developers, carriers and handset manufacturers as a ‘work in progress’, Google has raised expectations (since anything “broken” can still, in theory, be fixed), with each partner seemingly able to make their own demands on what the finished platform will look like. Worse still, if they don’t like the outcome, Android’s open-source license means that partners are at liberty to make any changes they see fit, not just cosmetic, including re-designing the UI and closing off access to parts of the operating system. It’s in this context that Apple’s more closed strategy and the Steve Jobs dictatorship doesn’t look so bad after all.

http://www.last100.com/2008/06/23/no-surprise-gphone-reportedly-delayed/

Reply

An alternate headline might have been: Bad news for Apple consumers: Android delays expected.

Along with coverage of how this affects Apple, it would be nice to read a little bit about how this may affect those of us that buy Apple's (relatively expensive) products. Elsewhere I've read about Apple's iPhone being good for everyone because it pushes other handset makers to improve their products. Perhaps the same thing will occur when Android handsets hit the market.

Reply

The mobile phone market is very finicky. While the iPhone strong right who's to say that the bottom won't drop out. I for one am looking forward to Android since I think it will be good competition to help keep pushing the envelope of what can be done in mobile devices.

Also don't be quick to dismiss the Balckberry and WM platforms both have done very well and will continue to be thorns in the side of the iPhone and since in the US AT&T can't piss off their other suppliers since not everyone wants an iPhone they have to play a well balanced game by not over selling the iPhone, to ensure that they continue to get new products from their other suppliers.

Reply

Potential Android buyers don't care about the iPhone, and the typical consumer doesn't even know Google has a mobile phone platform.

Reply

I don't know much about programing and such but it seems that an open source mobile platform could end up being rife with malicious wares and in combination with a device that is always connected this seems pretty dangerous and potentially infuriating. Am I understanding this right?

Reply

Uh, why does it have to be a "war" that Apple has to "win"? iPhone is doing fine, and will continue to do fine, just like the Mac, with a portion of the market. Having less than 100% of a market is not "losing" -- as Steve pointed out years ago in his comparison of Apple and BMW. I don't want Apple to become another Micro$oft, in any field -- if it did, it'd be ... another Micro$oft.

I'm happy to see Apple being successful, but I'd rather not see anyone occupying more than 10% (20% at most) of *any* technology market. A healthy ecosystem is a complex ecosystem.

I've never had a cellphone, and have no interest in in getting one; but if I did, it wouldn't be an iPhone, despite that I've been an exclusive Mac user for over 20 years, precisely because of the closed, locked-in, expen$ive contractual nature of the iPhone environment. I'm not interested in being anyone's slave, not even Apple's. Power corrupts, and the master-slave relationship degrades both parties.

Reply