Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Hmm?
|
I'm not convinced you can argue that Android has fewer benefits than Kindle OS. But if you'd like to be my guest
Quote:
I'm Joseph Fritzl, and no windows was my idea. |
|
quote |
Sneaky Punk
|
I know a few non-geeks that do care about what OS they use, and many consumers are aware of the two at this point.
|
quote |
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
|
Quote:
If you want to be taken seriously, it's your job to back up your statements. It's not my job to somehow go to the future and disprove them. Quote:
Trying an Android device, finding it difficult to use, then trying an iPhone and finding it easier to use also doesn't require geekdom. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
||
quote |
‽
|
Quote:
That said, earlier posts of his seemed to suggests he sees benefits of Android over iOS, and I'm curious about those. Openness doesn't count. *) I.e., Android with Google apps, including the Marketplace. |
|
quote |
careful with axes
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
|
I have very little faith in Amazon's ability to design a tablet interface. Just look at their search filtering, it's still completely useless for items in very narrow subsets. Sorting by lowest price STILL doesn't work the way it should...
|
quote |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Hmm?
|
Quote:
The Kindle tablet will have an OS based on Android ~2.2. It's an entirely different category of OS. There's plenty in the open about Android 2.2 and at least one article covering Amazon's implementation of it. So, yeah. A Kindle based on Android will have a shitload of benefits that put it into a different league to the Kindle, especially if, as you and I both suspect, they market it as the latest Kindle. I take your point that some users might just pick Android because it's on a lot of devices at the moment. It really isn't a convincing argument when you stack up sales of Android devices, though. How many million units per month have they sold? You really think a majority of those sales are made of geeks, people who just don't want an Apple device, and people who like the phone for something other than the OS? Plenty of people will just be given a really great demo of the hardware / software, and like it. They like the benefits of a device running Android, not the feature of a device which runs Android. Most of them probably won't know it's running Android. They'll just like the fact that they can do xyz. Quote:
There are plenty. I'm an iOS user, but Android and iOS both have differentiating features, which in turn mean differentiating benefits for some users. I'm Joseph Fritzl, and no windows was my idea. |
||
quote |
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
|
Wait, why are we talking about the black and white Kindle's "OS" in a thread about the Amazon Tablet? It's such a non sequitur that I thought you were talking about Google Android OS vs. Amazon's Forked Tablet OS. It's like saying, in an iPod touch thread, "Android provides more benefits than the iPod's OS" and then assuming everyone will know you're talking about the iPod classic, obviously.
I agree that the Amazon Forked Tablet OS will be better than the current black and white Kindle's firmware. Is that your point? OK. Quote:
Quote:
Everybody else abandoned ship. Android is young yet, and most non-geeks are still on their first smartphone (if they have one), but I don't see any reason to believe that this exodus will change in the future. I'm actually seeing a consistent pattern of people buying Android devices as essentially touchscreen feature phones, and then, when they later begin to want apps, switching to another platform (usually iOS). They don't view Android as a software platform that they should (or even could) stick with. It's almost like there are two Androids: the "app market? what app market?" feature phone that most people are buying, and the software platform that geeks like to believe that most people are buying into. Nokia says they're going to compete with low-end Android sets on price with Windows Phone (and for all their software struggles, Nokia has been very good at competing at price). BlackBerry is coming out with a cheap all-touchscreen Curve. Samsung could start selling bada in more markets. And of course, Apple could stick a radio in an iPod touch whenever they feel like it. What I'm saying is, Android isn't always going to be the only cheap touch OS, and if non-geeks aren't choosing Android based on its unique Android qualities, there's no reason to assume that Android will remain dominant in this part of the market. Can you honestly say that the target market for, say, the Samsung Dart (Galaxy Mini for Europeans) wouldn't buy it if it was the exact same phone running bada? No? Then I don't think that counts as being sold on the benefits of Android. (I think much of the target market might be talked out of it by the geeky salesperson who insists that you just "gotta have an Android," but I don't think that has anything to do with bada not meeting that person's wants and needs.) Quote:
I think most people who "choose" Android choose it because it's cheap and available, not because they like or want it or its software. The combined advertising barrage of all the Android makes probably wins them some sales via brute force, too, but I don't think any of the ads we've seen have been particularly effective at reaching non-geeks. They're certainly not effective at making them want Android or the Android Market and not simply the phone that's being advertised, it has a cool name and there's fighter jets, yeah let's go with that one. (The exceptions are the Droid ads, which just confuse people.) If Android were to be declared illegal and vanish overnight, would non-geeks care? I really don't think they would, as long as they could still get free touch phones running something. I'm sure we disagree on this, but I can't think of a single benefit that a significant number of non-geeks will choose Android for over a comparatively priced iPhone or Windows Phone 7.5 device. I really can't. Virtually everyone I've met considers Android more difficult to use, the app market is still a mess, and updates are a crapshoot. It's just worse, and its "strengths" — being "open" and free to handset providers, giving Verizon a cut out of app sales — have nothing to do with the end consumer, unless they're a geeky tinkerer. It's okay to be worse when you're cheaper. You can get away with not giving people a real reason to choose your OS when you're virtually the only OS in the category. But by all indications, that's not going to last forever. Google's going to have to give non-geeks reasons to want Android, specifically, that have nothing to do with price. Maybe they'll succeed, but that's a completely different game then what they've been playing so far, so I see no reason to assume they will. and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong |
|||
quote |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
|
In Japan, Android phones are being marketed using some five-minute-wonder boy band. Android ads and iPhone ads here are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum.
|
quote |
Posting Rules | Navigation |
|
Thread Tools | |
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Here We Go: Amazon Launches Netflix Competitor, Built Into Amazon Prime | Robo | General Discussion | 7 | 2011-02-23 00:03 |
Why does everyone want a tablet? | cosus | Speculation and Rumors | 77 | 2010-01-02 15:41 |
Wacom Tablet | T-Man | General Discussion | 5 | 2006-07-01 16:39 |
Tablet, PDA, or Nothing? | Kasracer | Speculation and Rumors | 6 | 2006-01-15 19:30 |
The Tablet Mac was real? | BlueRabbit | General Discussion | 5 | 2005-04-01 10:26 |