The French Photographer Weblog

Since my iPhone App has been online a lot of people have been asking me if there is gone be something similar for other smartphones. The answer is – probably not. For various reasons.

First I believe that the iPhone has more or less already won the battle of the smartphones. Apple current market share is still low but it’s rising very quickly. In the US the exclusivity with AT&T is a strong factor to limit the market share but it is likely that this will have an end as soon as possible. In France, for example, during the last 2 weeks of December Orange the largest mobile operator announced that 77% of the smartphones they sold were iPhone. That is the market share we are heading toward in my opinion. Another factor to consider is that most of the cellphones are subsidized by the operators in exchange for a 2 years contract. So users have to wait to get a new device, but once they get one, they are more likely to get an iphone than anything else.

The second reason is simply that the competition is still not catching up with Apple in terms of offer, technology and marketplace.
When the iPhone was released everybody focused on the device and the hardware (yes it was missing 3G at that time) but nobody realized that to go with the iPhone Apple created a mobile operating system. More precisely a version of MacOS that works with devices without a mouse or a keyboard. The iPhone is not a cell phone it’s a computer that can be used to make phone calls.
The magic is that the computer is small enough that you can stick it to your ear.

This OS has been a major investment to create and we can expect that it will be used in other Touch based devices. And to tell the truth, it’s a pretty good OS. Far more advanced than Windows Mobile. And as far as the other competitors, well let’s face it, they have nothing at all even close.
Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone is also a great phone. Apple came up with a nice user interface and some great innovations. We can even wonder why people who have been selling cell phones for 15 years could not come up with something like Visual Voice Mail. Why did they had to wait for Apple to invent it?
But the real strength of the iPhone is not the hardware or the device itself, it’s the operating system and the ecosystem that goes with it.
So, ok, the iPhone has a great OS but what about Google and Android? Well, yes it’s an OS, a modern one, pretty good too.
Will it be successful? Well most likely yes it will, because it is better than anything else (ie Windows Mobile), it is free and if you are a cell phone manufacturer like HTC (those guys do some really nice hardware) it’s your best interest to use Android in your phone. Android lacks the second component that makes the iPhone a success, the ecosystem, ie iTunes, the App Store, Apple review of all the softwares available and Apple strict guidelines on what an App should look like and do.
A lot of developers have been complaining about Apple review process and for sure there has been some ‘disturbing’ stories, but overall Apple strict guidelines and policy make users life much easier.
When you buy an iPhone you are pretty much assured that you will be able to use every software on it. The interface will be consistent.
Unfortunately with the competition it’s not exactly the same, software versions and operating systems differ. One software will work on one phone but not on the other. Screen sizes are not consistent. Overall it’s not nice and slick and a no brainer like the iPhone can be.

It’s a typical case of look a like product. You save a few dollars (not always) you get a product that look like the real thing but when you start digging you figure out that it’s not the real thing, far from it!