Currently the Droid in no way competes with an iPhone. Sorry but some one had to point it out to you. I\’m not bashing the OS, or the possibilities, I think the device has a future when it matures. It was thrown out into the world before its future was properly planned. It has no support structure like the iPhone has in its AppStore, developers, and market. Developer base isn\’t going to happen as easily with so many variants of the OS likely for each possible device/carrier. Currently the hardware in no way offers the capabilities of the iPhone, really I mean you not only don\’t have pinch capability you can\’t have it!

I think you should be comparing to the PalmPre, HTC variants and the RIM whatever, at least then Droid looks promising. When Droid has been in the market 2 years and done all that can be done, then take on the iPhone. Get some practice in before trying for the world title.

\”Another dozen plus Android devices are going to hit the market by Christmas time — and according to the commercials — Android does a bunch of stuff that iPhone doesn’t do.\”

Um, OK. What are those things that Android will be able to do?

My observation is that iPhone has a lot of similarities to Palm of a decade ago and Android is gaining momentum that cannot be ignored or under-estimated. If Android continues on its current trajectory, it will be a player to be reckoned with.

Does fragmentation pose a risk for Android? Absolutely – I have pointed that out many times in many venues. And that further strengthens the point about Palm being very narrowly focused (way back when…) just as Apple/iPhone is today. And I agree with the point which you aptly observe that the narrow focus of iPhone strengthens, not weakens Apple\’s developer base. I commented that Apple should not follow Palm\’s path of abandoning those developers. It was when Palm starting making promises about new features and platforms but never followed through that Palm developers were first burned — then their virtual exclusion from the webOS has further separated them to the point where today webOS is just not a topic of concern for Palm OS developers. All but a few have scattered to other platforms, iPhone and Android included.

Speaking of developers, the volume of traffic on the Android lists is very high – a strong indicator of the interest in the Android platform. And it is not just mobile phone people.

I think fragmentation is the single largest risk to Android — one need only look to Linux on the desktop as a case study there.

The counter point to fragmentation is that the accessibility of Android to handset manufacturers may also be the means by which there is an Android device for many tastes and budgets — and now, multiple carriers.

@ekeyser – \”What does Android do that iPhone doesn\’t?\” Here are a few: multi-tasking, multiple carrier options, removable battery, removable sd card, open source application installation without jumping through hoops, Flash, multiple input/keyboard options, home screen widgets, notification panel, etc. Though the biggest point of difference is that there are multiple manufacturers and usage opportunities for Android — it is more than a cell phone OS — or at least it has the capability to be that.

As I stated out in this post, I am a fan of mobile and hope to see each of these platforms succeed. Over time I believe the competition is very good for the marketplace as one platform puts pressure on the others and the see-saw battle of features, price, connectivity options, etc. continues.

Droid compares with iPhone in a big way. The same way linux compared with dos. Droid can do lots of things at once, you know multi-tasking, holy shit its that argument again… psst if apple doesn\’t move they are going to die again… Who saved their ass the last time? Open source ever heard of it?

Android is not new, its been around for awhile. You ought to read before you jump on it. of course you ought to look at it before you jump on it too.

I ride motorcycles, the nav software on the droid rocks. I can listen to pandora, while getting directions, without having to hit buttons. You ever worn thick winter gloves going 70mph down a highway in 30 degree weather? Little buttons suck, none of the gps devices can do what droid does. motorcycles dont have a lot of electrical power, they are pretty cut-and-dry, my droid elimated a gps, mp3, and cell phone. mp3 sucks you have to screw around wasting time and hdd space w/ the files.

The screen on the droid is amazing.

There are some bugs, ever heard of linux? They will get fixed. One thing is for sure choices are never bad. To that apple will lose, they will lose a lot of market share.

If you dont like motorola or verizon. Go by a openmoko, you can put it on t-mobile. If open-open source is to much for you buy a HTC hero on t-mobile or sprint. They got different names but they are the same phone.

Linux will rule the world. Go Tux!!! Unless of course it pulls a palm and drops its developers on their heads. I wonder if they figured how to secure their machines yet?

>jasonbelec said:

>\”Currently the Droid in no way competes with an iPhone.\”
Get a life Jason, your allegiance to Apple has overwhelmed
your logic.

>\”It has no support structure like the iPhone has in its AppStore,
>developers, and market.
No, the support structure is not like iPhone, thank goodness.
Read the Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric Raymond, it still
applies today, a short read.

The open source support structure is self sufficient, dedicated, and doesn\’t
rely on monetary profit but on the profit of the capability of the
OS and the developers.

Let\’s see, Droid doesn\’t have AppStore but there\’s Market Place
where several of the iphone app developers have already ported
their apps to the Android OS, actually I think all they had to do
was change how to find the Java interpreter, I think they are all
java based mostly.

>Developer base isn\’t going to happen as easily with so many variants
>of the OS likely for each possible device/carrier.
There are variants but there \”can only be one\” Android SDK which is
the main stream development kit and its even available to you.

>Currently the hardware in no way offers the capabilities of the
>iPhone, really I mean you not only don\’t have pinch capability
>you can\’t have it!
You can\’t have it? But that may change as OS and hardware change,
and they will, but maybe pinch is not the supreme alternative.

>I think you should be comparing to the PalmPre, HTC variants and
>the RIM whatever, at least then Droid looks promising.
Well this indicates you haven\’t had any hands on experience with
the Droid and possibly others you mention here. I have Verizon\’s
Motorola Droid, iPhone 3G, and the Blackberry Storm (not 2). B Storm
didn\’t even have wifi until Storm2. iPhone is the perfect comparison
to the Droid but maybe should compare it to the HTC Droid since it has
a sealed non-user replacable battery also ;-). In my comparing the iPhone and Motorola Droid the results I have found is:

iPhone Motorola Droid
2 megapixel 5 megapixel
shorter wifi much further wifi reception
skype skype beta and google voice (look it up)
copilot copilot – excellent low price navigation software
ATT – only at work Verizon – signal reaches my house
1 hardware multi hardware choices and some not even phones
virtual keyboard real and virtual keyboard
touchscreen touchscreen – equal
gps gps – haven\’t been able to do a comparison yet
but will let you know

> When Droid has been in the market 2 years and done all that can be
>done, then take on the iPhone.
Yes, maybe then iPhone will multitask, have improved wifi, and have
a cute little mascot instead of a fruit.

>Get some practice in before trying for the world title.
And know what you are talking about

fableson said:
Yes, you too ;-).
>I wouldn’t be liquidating Apple shares just yet, nor necessarily
>jumping to buy Verizon and Motorola stock, though to fully disclose

Maybe not for that reason but I just sold all my vmware shares, which
were dwindling until just after I sold them, and bought VZ for the long
term appreciation. Although I know short term isn\’t the way to look at
stock but I have made over $600 on VZ since November 4. This decision
does partially include Droid development but more over the frequency
bandwidth they won and their future foresight to cover the entire US by
2015 with at least 4G. Testing is on going now.
I expect you are seeing the current map coverage commercials Verizon is
putting out, need I say more?

stoggy said:
Ditto Stoggy, ride safe.

Carpe diem