Google versus Apple...

It’s no secret that Android has become the biggest threat to Apple since....well ever.

But have you ever stopped to consider why...

Android

The Android operating system was developed by Google, a company that’s no stranger to doing things the difficult way. The Google cooked operating system is adaptable, free, open source, and hugely customisable.

Google’s attack at Apples reign was very similar to that of Microsoft’s, and Symbian, in that it chooses not to create a phone, but to create an OS that could be used by any phone company. Now this could be because of the way the OS was designed.

It was designed to be simple, and had a few key features that allowed it to be almost universally usable. The code after 1.6 allowed for different screen sizes meaning that companies didn’t need to invest money in either rewriting a key part of code, or developing a new phone to certain specifications.

The OS was also designed to be adaptable by users. This helped to foster the friendly and warm Android community. It also allowed coding apps to be accessible by users, and devs. This is due again in part to the open source nature of the OS.

Apple

Apple had some major advantages over Android.

1. It was already generally accepted as the top line, bench marked phone, that other phones success and power were measured against.
2. It was sexy, which unlike Androids first phone the G1 was sleek and fashionable, which has lead to Apple iPhone becoming almost a fashion symbol.
3. It already had a foothold in many secondary markets with the Mac computer, and the iPod. Google may have had the Google search engine and so on but this was much further from the Smart phone market than Apples footholds.

Predictions

1. Apple has already shown that it’s feeling the heat from Android, and can clearly see Android has no desire to back down. This may end up causing Apple to rear its ugly head. There's already been talk of Microsoft’s Bing search engine and maps replacing Google’s search and maps on the iPhone and iPod. This could be a precursor to an Apple/Microsoft alliance, which could prove a nasty piece of competition for Google.

2. I believe from the size of Apple and its apparent obvious lack of new “market altering Products” that Apple could have a new product in development that a lot of time and money is going into, drawing funding away from other new products. This could be a redeveloped version of the Apple OS, or even a new phone. However Apple could also believe they have a strong enough foot hold in the smart phone market to venture into a younger market that Google’s involved in such as the Tablet PC market. CSmonitor seems to think so, but again Android wouldn’t need to do much to put Android 2.1 on a tablet –they already sort of have with the Archos –.

3. Anyway I believe a major war between android and Apple is set to take place, and the current murmurings are in could get very ugly.