In the struggle
for market share, cell phone manufacturers have had to keep themselves fully clued up on the latest trends with the consumers, and rumoured new releases of their competitors and this has led to a market hot with new products and extra features, and so many choices that a potential phone owner might not know where to start.
When the smartphone came to light a few years ago, the name on everybody’s lips was the iPhone. Aided by an impressive marketing campaign and helped by the novelty of the touchscreen and downloadable content, the Apple had little competition. They were still riding high on the success of the Mac computer, which had recently benefited from numerous releases of slimline laptops and the release of the iPhone couldn’t have come at a better time. There was simply nothing else on the market that could do what the iPhone claimed to be more than capable of doing.
Our friends, @SeanWard and @cellguru take the new Android to the streets to see if people will switch for itSoon, however, the release led to other companies stepping up to share some of the limelight, and one of those who seemed to pull in a large crowd was Android, with their Droid handsets. Not long after the iPhone began growing comfortable in its success the Droid started showing signs of being the new market leader. One of the many reasons consumers gave for their sudden switch to the Droid was that the software was much faster, with the emphasis being on helping the consumer have a far more customizable experience. Not just that, but Droid users started reporting better battery life times, call quality and support for apps, which was bad news for the iPhone which had barely had to defend itself until now.
And of course, the Droid has not suffered from the bad publicity that iPhone has had. Firstly, there was the issue of the battery, in which iPhone users would have to send off the phone if there was a problem with the battery as users were unable to remove it themselves. More recently users have complained of problems with the camera quality, lack of flash and faulty white-balance. The most recent and potentially damaging bad publicity the iPhone has received is due to the ‘death grip’ signal fault associated with left-handed users. The only remedies so far being to spend more money on a case, or simply hold it in the other hand.
While the Droid is certainly not without its faults, the main one being issues with the security of the device, it is clear that the iPhone developers have something to fear. The feud over market shares is far from over, and both Droid and iPhone are doing everything they can to win.
What are your thoughts? Would you switch to the Android OS? Let us know by leaving a comment!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think the iPhone and the Droid will remain the top two competitors for a long time, the Coke and Pepsi of smartphones.
There are so many more Droids than iPhones that sometimes it seems Droid has an incredible advantage. Then again, with fewer iPhones each model can command more attention.