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ctt1wbw · Oct 28, 2009, 04:14 PM

No, it would take one HELL of a cupcake or an eclair to make me switch from the iPhone. I consider the iPhone to be the best single piece of electronics that I have ever purchased.

imitchellg5 · Oct 28, 2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by ctt1wbw

No, it would take one HELL of a cupcake or an eclair to make me switch from the iPhone. I consider the iPhone to be the best single piece of electronics that I have ever purchased.

You never had BetaMax?

ort888 · Oct 28, 2009, 04:45 PM

Apple and google have a truly bizarre relationship right now.

If I was Apple I would kissing google's giant ass. They need google more then google needs Apple.

ort888 · Oct 28, 2009, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

You never had BetaMax?

Or a Teddy Ruxpin?

Dork. · Oct 29, 2009, 10:16 AM

Ars has details on pricing:

Motorola Droid lands at Verizon next week, $199 post rebate - Ars Technica

The Motorola Droid will be an exclusive for Verizon for the time being, and availability both in store and online begins next Friday, November 6. The handset will cost $199 after signing up for a two-year contract—with voice and data plans together starting at about $70—and after a $100 mail-in rebate, which you only get in the form of a debit card.

Big-C · Oct 29, 2009, 12:04 PM

The Droid does look cool, and in a strict phone-to-phone comparison, it looks like a great competitor to the iphone.

But when I think about comparing them, something bout the iphone that I like is it's seamless integration with my desktop computer. All my itunes purchases (movies, music), audiobooks, playlists, and of course, apps, can be controlled by my computer. My bookmarks are also (primarily) controlled by my computer, so when I actually go to use my iphone, I can just use it, and spend very little time configuring it, or tinkering with it.

While I know Android is connected to Google, and I am a huge fan of Google apps, I just have to wonder how Droid users will be managing their music, movies, media, etc. Does it have the same, thorough, integration with the desktop?

Maybe that's not the point, but for me, it really makes me hesitate to jump on the Droid bandwagon.

Plus - have you seen in the video's that its kind of laggy? I'm sure it'll be fixed someday, but that's not a very flattering representation of the OS out there...

ort888 · Oct 29, 2009, 12:07 PM

The Android Phone I played around with was very "laggy". You would click on something and then wait a half second for it to register. A half second doesn't sound like much, but it really is.

nonhuman · 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by ort888

The Android Phone I played around with was very "laggy". You would click on something and then wait a half second for it to register. A half second doesn't sound like much, but it really is.

That's basically what it's like on my iPhone 2G. I haven't played with any of the newer Android phones, but I imagine they're as much better as the iPhone 3GS.

turtle777 · Oct 29, 2009, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

You never had BetaMax?

Yes, in the 80s, what about it ?

It's toilet paper compared to the iPhone.

-t

Laminar · Oct 29, 2009, 11:58 PM

They're aiming straight at the iPhone.

Droid from Verizon Wireless

turtle777 · Oct 30, 2009, 12:06 AM

That whole scifi theme is really lame.

That's all they could come up with ?

-t

ctt1wbw · Oct 30, 2009, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

That whole scifi theme is really lame.

That's all they could come up with ?

-t

It does seem kinda cheesy. Aimed at the 10 second attention span generation, obvious.

The Godfather · Nov 1, 2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by ort888

Apple and google have a truly bizarre relationship right now.

If I was Apple I would kissing google's giant ass. They need google more then google needs Apple.

You seem to under-estimate Apple's design and engineering powers, coupled with a sustainable profit strategy. Google on the other hand, is a newbie fueled on VC vapors, and is going to go Pandora on us sooner than you expect.

After that, Apple and other worthy competitors will eat GOOG's marketshare pie slice.

Peter · Nov 1, 2009, 06:45 PM

if this had a decent virtual keyboard (= no physical, = thinner than iPhone) and a proper media player I'd be tempted.

besson3c · 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by The Godfather

You seem to under-estimate Apple's design and engineering powers, coupled with a sustainable profit strategy. Google on the other hand, is a newbie fueled on VC vapors, and is going to go Pandora on us sooner than you expect.

After that, Apple and other worthy competitors will eat GOOG's marketshare pie slice.

I disagree.

Apple makes hardware and Desktop software, Google is moving into cloud computing. These are totally separate businesses with totally separate goals and strategies. If MobileMe is indicative of what Apple is capable of in this area, Apple is no threat to Google in cloud computing, Google is lightyears ahead

Cloud computing and social networking are a very fast growing area of the internet, and are what makes many iPhone apps useful.

turtle777 · Nov 1, 2009, 07:40 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

I disagree.

Apple makes hardware and Desktop software, Google is moving into cloud computing. These are totally separate businesses with totally separate goals and strategies. If MobileMe is indicative of what Apple is capable of in this area, Apple is no threat to Google in cloud computing, Google is lightyears ahead

Yes, true, MobileMe is an embarrassment. Apple needs to step up their game, especially since they are charging money for it.

Let's compare ALL the areas where Google and Apple compete directly:

iPhone OS vs. Android OS: Apple wins in usability (Android might win among geeks)
Safari vs. Chrome: Apple wins
OS X vs. Chrome OS: Apple wins
MobileMe vs. GMail: Goggle wins

Also in the works
iTunes vs. YouTube: ??? (still too different)
Pages/Numbers/Keynote vs. Google Docs: Apple is working on online versions, stay tuned

-t

ctt1wbw · Nov 1, 2009, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

You never had BetaMax?

My friend did. He had an 8-track too. He was the ****, man. But yeah, I know BetaMax was better. VHS won the advertising war.

CharlesS · Nov 1, 2009, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Safari vs. Chrome: Apple wins

How do you figure? They both use the same rendering engine. The only difference is that Chrome manages to work well on platforms other than OS X, unlike Safari.

ctt1wbw · Nov 1, 2009, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Yes, true, MobileMe is an embarrassment. Apple needs to step up their game, especially since they are charging money for it.

Let's compare ALL the areas where Google and Apple compete directly:

iPhone OS vs. Android OS: Apple wins in usability (Android might win among geeks)
Safari vs. Chrome: Apple wins
OS X vs. Chrome OS: Apple wins
MobileMe vs. GMail: Goggle wins

Also in the works
iTunes vs. YouTube: ??? (still too different)
Pages/Numbers/Keynote vs. Google Docs: Apple is working on online versions, stay tuned

-t

I would put it at a tie between Chrome and Safari.

besson3c · Nov 1, 2009, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Yes, true, MobileMe is an embarrassment. Apple needs to step up their game, especially since they are charging money for it.

Let's compare ALL the areas where Google and Apple compete directly:

iPhone OS vs. Android OS: Apple wins in usability (Android might win among geeks)

Agreed

Safari vs. Chrome: Apple wins

Are they really competing against each other? If I were Google, my motivation here would be to get Chrome out there so that developers can test their apps against the browser that will be included in Chrome OS, much like Apple's motivation to get Safari to Windows. I really don't think Google is plotting to compete toe to toe with IE/Firefox/Safari/Opera, at least not now. The market is already pretty saturated with browsers, and Chrome is still very young. Besides, wouldn't it have made more sense for Google to go with a rendering engine not controlled by their competitor if their intention was really to compete vigorously against Apple?

OS X vs. Chrome OS: Apple wins

Has Chrome OS been released? It's not really fair comparing a brand new OS/vaporware against an established OS, even if Chrome OS were available now. Google also has made it clear that Chrome will start out being an OS for mobile devices, so I don't think this comparison is just.

MobileMe vs. GMail: Goggle wins

Shouldn't this be MobileMe vs. Google apps?

I hate to pick apart your points and glaze over your main point, I know how annoying that can be as a frequent victim, but all of this is to make my own point that Apple and Google are still very indirect competitors. Comparisons between the two are sort of apples vs. oranges right now, they are in totally separate businesses. Where Google is branching out is relatively very, very new, and very, very young.

turtle777 · Nov 1, 2009, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

... but all of this is to make my own point that Apple and Google are still very indirect competitors. Comparisons between the two are sort of apples vs. oranges right now, they are in totally separate businesses.

I don't disagree

Originally Posted by besson3c

Where Google is branching out is relatively very, very new, and very, very young.

Yes. However, Google's problem is that none of these areas has proven to be a reliable source of revenue. Their ad business is still keeping everything else on (life) support.
They need to find a way to make money with it; if not, it will not be a successful venture.

-t

besson3c · Nov 1, 2009, 08:23 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I don't disagree

Yes. However, Google's problem is that none of these areas has proven to be a reliable source of revenue. Their ad business is still keeping everything else on (life) support.
They need to find a way to make money with it; if not, it will not be a successful venture.

-t

Their ad business is what funds GMail and all of their web-based apps. They are in the data mining business, and selling this info to advertisers. As far as their phone and OS ventures, I agree with you, but the exact same could be said of Apple getting into cloud computing.

To keep this on track, again, this came out of this point:

You seem to under-estimate Apple's design and engineering powers, coupled with a sustainable profit strategy. Google on the other hand, is a newbie fueled on VC vapors, and is going to go Pandora on us sooner than you expect.

After that, Apple and other worthy competitors will eat GOOG's marketshare pie slice.

I don't think Apple is any competition to Google at all, and vice versa as far as their core business goes. I'm assuming that this person was speaking specifically to the smartphone market, but even then I think that there is plenty of room for competition. Apple is doing what Apple does best, designing hardware and software that work well together, and creating a nice little bubble where everything works great and provides a great user experience. Google, on the other hand, is attempting to develop a phone platform sort of similar to Microsoft's place in the world of Desktop PCs (that is, you don't need specific hardware made by the software maker to run the software).

OS X is superior to Windows, yet Windows dominates the market in terms of marketshare. There is always going to be people that want hardware flexibility, pricing flexibility, and/or an alternative. As far as smartphone software goes, I think that Google is better positioned than Microsoft, Palm, or RIM, to really grow their user base that falls within this demographic.

This is not unique to computers either, there are always people that will opt for a Toyota rather than a fancy sports car. Apple is a boutique-style computer maker, and the iPhone follows this pattern and builds upon what Apple does well quite nicely.