The next best thing to Console wars... Smartphone wars!

[guyjin]

Smartphones are like consoles you carry in your pocket. but they do more than just games. Therefore, which one is successful should be more important to you than life itself! FIGHT!

[Necromancer]

The iPhone will win.  Not because it's better but because of the Mapple marketing juggernaut and the legions of iSheep that will ignore the competition no matter how good.

[guyjin]

The iPhone will win.  Not because it's better but because of the Mapple marketing juggernaut and the legions of iSheep that will ignore the competition no matter how good.

you may be right, at least short term. But Apple has learned nothing from its history; a single format from a single manufacturer, no matter how good, can ever compete against choice.

The Apple II and Mac, and many better formats, were all brushed aside by the PC. not because the PC was better, but because PCs got cloned, legitimately. people had choices of what kind of PC they wanted. They had few options when it came to Apple products.

The eventual winner may not be Android, or Windows phone. but it won't be the iPhone.

[TheClash603]

I have spent a lot of time with the Droid (posting using one now) and iphone, and the Droid is better in most aspects.

In fact, the only two areas it is not better are ease of use and app selection.  Once the Droid install base gets larger the app store should get more AAA apps and I am OK with the learning curve.

[_joshuaTurbo]

I say Android, cause I just installed a hacked Android OS on an EPC laptop using Linux...

LOL- not cause I have any kind of smart phone, just cause Android is pretty cool as an OS on a weak little lappy!!

[nodtveidt]

you may be right, at least short term. But Apple has learned nothing from its history; a single format from a single manufacturer, no matter how good, can ever compete against choice.

The Apple II and Mac, and many better formats, were all brushed aside by the PC. not because the PC was better, but because PCs got cloned, legitimately. people had choices of what kind of PC they wanted. They had few options when it came to Apple products.

Nowadays though, you own a PC, and you own Windows. Choice? Most people don't know what that is anymore... nowadays, the only choice they have is which overpriced, under-quality company to get their Windows computer from.

[BlueBMW]

All my friends have iphones and I have a droid x.  The iPhone seems a bit easier to use, but after I did some customization to mine, its just as easy and I feel like it has the potential to do a lot more since it lacks some of the restrictions that Apple has.  Hard to say who will win, but I'll vote Android for now.

[SuperDeadite]

I see no point to a so called "smart phone."  I have internet at home and at work.  During the 30 min travel time between them, I do not need the internet.  I use a my phone for making calls and sending emails.  Maybe once a year I'll watch free TV on it during an extended train trip.  But for me a regular phone is perfectly fine.

[SignOfZeta]

you may be right, at least short term. But Apple has learned nothing from its history; a single format from a single manufacturer, no matter how good, can ever compete against choice.

The Apple II and Mac, and many better formats, were all brushed aside by the PC. not because the PC was better, but because PCs got cloned, legitimately. people had choices of what kind of PC they wanted. They had few options when it came to Apple products.

You seem to be unaware that Apple makes f*ckLOADS of money these days. They are way bigger and more profitable than they ever were doing the Apple II days. There have always been people who looked at Apple's success as something temporary and said, "Just you wait, it will all come down like a house of cards." People have been saying this for 30 f*cking years now. When's it going to happen? They are more profitable than any PC manufacturer, and in many ways are even doing better than MS, which is really saying something.

As for the original question: Its is a dire and pathetic excuse for a system war. Phones don't evolved like game systems. There are a thousand of them on the market at once, each one expected to last a year or less. Each one designed to make the guy that bought it feel like a dope for not waiting 4.7 days for the next big release. There will never be a PC Engine or C64 of phones that just kicks ass for a decade or whatever. Also, almost every smart phone these days just looks like an iPhone, only cheaper. That's not innovation. Few companies, if any, are really doing their own thing.

Personally, I wish Apple would go back to concentrating on computers again. I really not into phones.

[Tatsujin]

I hate 'em all!

[Senshi]

I prefer my "dumb" phone which requires that I am the smart one in the relationship   

Check this video out related to this:

[guyjin]

Nowadays though, you own a PC, and you own Windows.

Not necessarily. Also, I didn't really mean Operating system, I was talking about tech specs. Your Windows computer can probably be configured a thousand different ways; Apple could never make enough different varieties of Mac to please everyone.

There have always been people who looked at Apple's success as something temporary and said, "Just you wait, it will all come down like a house of cards." People have been saying this for 30 f*cking years now. When's it going to happen? They are more profitable than any PC manufacturer, and in many ways are even doing better than MS, which is really saying something.

I never said Apple was going to collapse. They play to their Niche very well. but they can only ever have a niche.

As for the original question: Its is a dire and pathetic excuse for a system war. Phones don't evolved like game systems. There are a thousand of them on the market at once, each one expected to last a year or less. Each one designed to make the guy that bought it feel like a dope for not waiting 4.7 days for the next big release. There will never be a PC Engine or C64 of phones that just kicks ass for a decade or whatever.

I dunno about that. My friend still has the original iPhone, and he still loves it. And Apple still seems to be supporting it.(dog bless 'em.)

Also, almost every smart phone these days just looks like an iPhone, only cheaper. That's not innovation. Few companies, if any, are really doing their own thing.

Personally, I wish Apple would go back to concentrating on computers again. I really not into phones.

I don't think my Droid looks anything like an iPhone. I know that a lot of manufacturers are making iPhone-alikes (HTC and Samsung spring immediately to mind) but not all of them are.

[ceti alpha]

Android is going to take it. They are already overtaking Apple in sales. The real question is whether or not Android will overtake RIM/Blackberry. Blackberry is pretty entrenched in the business/government world and I'm not just talking up Blackberry because it's Canadian. heh. There's nothing wrong with the iphone...well with the iphone 3GS at least...but Apple did take a one-two hit with all the Android phones coming out recently, along with their technical difficulties regarding the iphone 4. Even Apple fanboys weren't impressed with Steve Jobs' initial comments about the antenna and screen issues.

I read an article before where the author made a Star Wars reference to define Apple's biggest battles. The first was "Attack of the PC clones" and the second being "Attack of the Droids". Apple is not going to be able to withstand all the different options and choices that all the other Android phones are offering. For example, the Samsung Galaxy just came out and has been getting very high praise, and of course there's the HTC EVO and HD2 phones. Android's biggest pro is Apple's biggest con: Openness. For example, unless you don't care about updating your iphone you're stuck with iTunes, which is has become a bloated storefront for Apple instead of a simple music player. Jobs can whine all he wants about Flash, but right or wrong (and I think he's mostly wrong) he should let the consumer decide. You don't realize how much a part of teh internetz Flash is until you can't access it. For me, the lack of Flash is a deal breaker. That said there are many other reasons I would go with Android. I can't comment on what programming for Flash is like, but I'm sure Rove has a few things to say about that. lol  All that said, Apple has its niche market and that's not going anywhere.

As for Rove's statement that you if you buy a PC you only get Windows, well if you a buy a Mac you only get OSX. But in reality you can load linux, Chrome, or Windows on your PC, and you can load Windows on a Mac. Also, I've read online on ways of loading Leopard on your PC by setting your BIOS correctly - Macs are, afterall, just PCs running on an Apple operating system. There are no significant hardware differences anymore now that Apple went to Intel processors. Also, I think Microsoft has pulled up their socks with Windows7. It's a great OS and runs smoother and faster than XP on my current computer. There are lots of new features that I already wouldn't want to go without. Apple may have had a good argument a few years ago when Vista (though the Vista problems were VERY overblown) came out to convince consumers to switch to Apple, but with the release of Windows7 it's a completely different game.

I also don't quite agree that all new smart phones are just iphone clones. RIM/Blackberry was the phone that revolutionized the mobile phone industry and Apple just did their own thing with the smartphone, albeit in a unique way. The HTC EVO looks completely different than an iphone and has unique features compared to the iphone. I mean, I guess they all have a screen and are rectangular in shape, but I wouldn't call them clones. There's no doubt that Apple was very influencial with the release of the first iphone.

Anyway, I'm really rambling here so I'll wrap it up. lol. As it stands now in the US market, Apple is already in 3rd place behind Android (2nd) and RIM, which is in 1st place. Worldwide Symbian is in the lead by a longshot. Windows Mobile and Apple are pretty much in the same position and I don't really see that changing too much in the near future.

[SignOfZeta]

I never said Apple was going to collapse. They play to their Niche very well. but they can only ever have a niche.

Yes but...how is that a bad thing...at all? As it is, Dell sells 8x as many computers but rakes in 1/8 the money. Most of these OEMs make as much money from kickbacks from putting shortcuts for trial software on the desktop (something that Apple doesn't do at all) than they do by actually selling the computer itself. Are you saying that is what they should be aiming for?

That's like saying, "Ferrari will always have their niche, but they will never move the number of units Kia does." Why would they want to?

Also, I agree with the "lack of choice" thing. Anyone who was into computers in the 80s had a much better selection*... but that was a different time. Computers were much more reliable back then, and there were more OS to chose from, but computers also cost a lot more and didn't do nearly as much stuff so...its a trade off.

*(Atari, Amiga, non-Amiga Commodore, OS/2, Mac, non-Mac Apple, several flavors of DOS, Windows, and more as opposed to today, where your choices are Windows, Mac, or, what I do, Windows+Mac (or Linux, but please, lets not joke, no normal person uses that shit).

[Necromancer]

Yes but...how is that a bad thing...at all? As it is, Dell sells 8x as many computers but rakes in 1/8 the money. Most of these OEMs make as much money from kickbacks from putting shortcuts for trial software on the desktop (something that Apple doesn't do at all) than they do by actually selling the computer itself. Are you saying that is what they should be aiming for?

That's like saying, "Ferrari will always have their niche, but they will never move the number of units Kia does." Why would they want to?

The poll is not asking which phone OS is the most profitable, so what's your point?  Guyjin makes a valid point, as Apple makes only one phone: you'll be taking your money elsewhere if you want longer battery life, more durability, a network other than AT&T, improved reception, a better built-in camera, an integrated cheese grater, or flash support.