[NewsPoster]

[Updated with Apple denial] Apple may be creating a tool to allow its users to migrate their data from an iPhone to an Android device, according to a report. It is claimed major European carriers are applying pressure on Apple to make it easier to move away from iOS and onto a smartphone running Android, with the reasoning behind its development apparently a combination of the iPhone's dominance in the smartphone market and the difficulty of transferring data between devices.

A senior industry source told the Telegraph Apple has allegedly agreed in private to create the tool to appease the carriers. Operators are apparently worried that the lack of ability for subscribers to easily switch their contacts, photographs, and messages between devices effectively weakens their position in commercial negotiations with Apple, something already weakened by the high profits said to be generated by sales of the handset to affluent customers.

If Apple is making the tool, it would be an effective way to appease fearful carriers, simply by making it easier for users to move away from iOS, though how many of said customers want to move away from the iPhone remains to be seen. It would also be another step away from the vision of Steve Jobs, with emails from the founder surfacing as part of the Samsung patent infringement trial noting Apple has the tools to "further lock customers in" to its ecosystem.

Apple has already has a "Move to iOS" migration tool for Android, which effectively does the same task but from Android to iOS, though it is a rebrand of another existing migration tool. While Apple has already created its own Android app, in the form of Apple Music, it is likely to simply acquire and rebrand another migration tool rather than expend too much development resources on something designed to lose users.

Update: Apple has responded to the claims of the report, with spokesperson Trudy Muller advising BuzzFeed "There is no truth to this rumor. We are entirely focused on switching users from Android to iPHone, and that is going great"

[DrSkywalker]

Maybe the "fearful carriers" should not carry the iPhone at all if they're so concerned. Wonder what THAT would do to their bottom line...
I don't think Apple should spend the time and effort.

[cljmac]

what i don't understand... google doesn't offer an app, microsoft doesn't offer and app that easily moves all your stuff to a mac. Why would they and i wouldn't expect them to. This article is useless information.

[quebit]

I agree. It's not Apple's responsibility at all ... the handset vendor, perhaps with assistance from Google could attempt to do it themselves. Obviously, none of them will do it right, but it's THEIR responsibility to attract and appease their new customers .... NOT Apple. WTF??

[bobolicious]

...and would Android & their similar phones even exist without the iOS & iPhone designs...?

At what point do copycats get their due...?

[lkrupp]

News flash. Apple has officially DENIED it is working a such an app.

[Mike Wuerthele]

Originally Posted by lkrupp 

News flash. Apple has officially DENIED it is working a such an app.

Yeah, we know. We're working on it.

[besson3c]

Why are we applauding vendor lock-in of any kind? Understandable? Sure. Good for consumers? No.

[Inkling]

In the long run, Apple will have to give in. When you sell phones to someone, here European carriers who buy them by the million, you have to make them happy. Those carriers don't have to stop selling iPhones. They can merely make the more expensive and give them less publicity, particularly with first-time buyers who don't have lock-in troubles.. Apple can stall, but eventually it will have to yield. I might add that there are reasons why people are shifting to Android. In comparison to its huge market share, Apple offers a most lackluster range of choices—essentially only different screen sizes. It needs ruggedized sports models and thicker models with a longer battery life. The same lackluster range is true for desktops and laptops. Steve Jobs idea for limiting the product line made sense in the late 1990s. It makes no sense today.

[Flying Meat]

No question. People move to and from products for various reasons. One might move because a product is too easily broken or fails frequently, or even that a specific vendor doesn't have the type of device you want in your desired price range.

I don't expect there would be much financial incentive for a carrier to artificially inflate the price of a vendor's product unless they have no competition, and as far as "lackluster range", well,.. Luster IS Apple's range.