RSSAnalyst: Android is in iPhone's league, but more apps are needed
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published September 23, 2008, 7:16 PM
Despite speculation that Google's Android might turn into a platform for lower-end "feature phones," Android is definitely shaping up into not only a smartphone platform but also an iPhone competitor, says analyst Avi Greengart.
NEW YORK, NY (BetaNews) -- A lot more applications are needed before Android fulfills its potential, suggested Avi Greengart of Current Analysis, a leading wireless/mobile analyst. Greengart spoke with reporters including BetaNews today during the launch event for T-Mobile's G1, the first Android phone.
At a press conference, Greengart noted that many different definitions of "smartphone" are currently in use. He elaborated that he typically regards a smartphone to be a phone that runs its own operating system -- whether that's Windows Mobile, Mac OS X, or Linux -- along with "native applications."
But, he added, there are some examples to that rule -- such as the G1, Sidekick, and RIM's Blackberry, all of which run their own OS in conjunction with applications written in Java, as opposed to native apps.
Meanwhile, T-Mobile's plans to sell the G1 for use on its 3G HSPDA network also take Android out of the bracket of phones that rely on features rather than speed in order to be marketable, according to the analyst.
On the whole, Greengart indicated, the G1 stacks up well vs. the iPhone and other smartphones. Where some, including the iPhone, lack any physical keyboard at all, the G1's foldout QWERTY keyboard is particularly easy to use in text messaging and Web browsing, he said.
Moreover, the inclusion of a link to Amazon.com's MP3 store gives the G1 music download capabilities somewhat along the lines of the iPhone's use of Apple's iTunes.
Greengart also suggested that Android holds especially strong promise for application development, due to its focus on open source. But, he contended, only one application has been created so far which starts to meet that promise.
"Android has only one 'killer app' right now, and it is Google Maps Street Views," he said, referring to an application from Google which syncs up with Android's built-in compass to give 360-degree street level views of the user's location.
The G1, he predicted, will definitely be targeted at consumers first, since "it has absolutely no applications yet which would be of interest to the enterprise." The top three among those, he said, were security, manageability, and corporate e-mail support.
Ecorio and SmartSavvy -- two third-party applications demo'd at the launch -- are apps that don't particularly take advantage of Android, and could easily be run on other smartphone platforms, too, according to the analyst.
The iPhone, on the other hand, is way ahead of the G1 with applications, with Apple's App Store already up-and-running and Google's Android Marketplace not set to open until the G1 becomes available in late October.
Still, Greengart said, "Apple really needs to do something about being more consistent about which kinds of applications it will allow to be sold in the App Store."
[Edits were made Wednesday morning to clarify some of Greengart's points.]
FOR MORE on the T-Mobile G1:
- T-Mobile Android G1 phones priced at $179, launch Oct. 22 by Jacqueline Emigh
- T-Mobile's new G1 looks promising, if lopsided by Tim Conneally
- T-Mobile plans more Android phones after G1 by Jacqueline Emigh
- Google and partners roll out first apps for Android Marketplace by Jacqueline Emigh
WM has alot more software then pretty much any of these devices. Also has alot more dev tools.
Support a FREE market place for these platforms!
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|The Apple App Store is definitely in the lead with number of apps offered, but how quickly will this change? If the Android App Store is allowing anyone to upload apps without restrictions than I think the Android App Store will surpass the Apple App Store rather quickly. I'm just wondering what Google is doing to prevent malware!
http://googlesandroid.wordpress.com
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|I think it costs more to download the cow bell app and pretend to play cow bell on an iPhone than it would cost to buy a real cow bell and really play cow bell.
You can also use an iPhone to pretend to drink beer, again I think it's more expensive than real beer.
I hear with an Android you can measure how high you can throw it. At least until you don't catch it.
Maybe I'm just ready for a Jitterbug.
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|Android is in the iPhone's league?
Strange, as the consensus of the fanboys say that the iPhone doesn't cut it, ...so, if Android is in the same league, its a shame that Android doesn't cut it as well.
Pity.
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|Despite the sarcasm, it actually is a proper assessment. Android still needs more work, which by it's open nature needs to actually be out for it to mature. So that's not unexpected. I'm not sure what Google was thinking when they picked the G1 as the launch phone when they could have easily gotten the Touch Pro or HD.
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|iPhone is great hardware that has software that many of us geeks want more control over without a jailbreak. Many of us find Apple's control over their platform worse than Microsoft's antitrust days. Yeah I trust Apple less than MS, and that is saying something.
While Google isn't the perfect beast, the fact that they encourage open software is def a good thing.
Linux>Google>IBM>MS>Apple.
Sony would be below everything.
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|I agree. Google needed to build buzz and this phone is a flop. From this point on people will look at android and say, "isn't that the OS that sorta works but is incomplete and is on third rate hardware?"
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|That and not having a keyboard is show stopper for many. I'd gladly give up the photo album and finger pinching zoom for a h/w keyboard.
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|*laughing*
"isn't that the OS that sorta works but is incomplete and is on third rate hardware?"
Wait...Android is Linux?
//It's a joke, people. Chill.
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|I love watching people on multitouch. They invariably go too far or not far enough and spend more time micromanaging their touches than they do browsing.
Also tried a macbook the other day and the touchpad is horrible, worse than any PC touchpad I ever used It was not sensitive enough, and this was a fresh default setting.
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|I agree with you. I like, love, use Linux, but I can immediately see its failures for what they are.
I have patience though, and don't care whether or not it succeeds commercially.
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|I wouldn't touch anything Apple without wearing a HazMat suit so can't be sure but surely the touchpad can't be that bad.
Next time wash your sticky fingers 1st ;-)
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|Google?
LOL! You obviously missed the point of Google's bid for control of the RF whitespace that BetaNews totally missed as well!
If you can, check out FOH (Front of House) Vol.6, No 12 September 2008
"Watch Out! Google Wants to Take Your Wireless" p1 and 10.
Also:
Exactly Who Is Behind Google’s Grab for “White Space”?
C Bray Aug 26, 2008
As a bunch of news stories have recently explained, two sides are fighting over control of “white spaces” in the broadcast spectrum that are currently used for wireless microphones. On one side, the greedy scofflaws of the audio industry and their clients in businesses like live music and theater. On the other side, the apple-cheeked American consumer, pulling his child around the block in a bright red American Flyer wagon. (They’re on their way to buy a slice of apple pie. From a military veteran. At the local volunteer firehouse.)
Now, sure: A giant corporation, Google, has taken an interest in the same issue, and companies invested in the Internet would like to sell new services over those broadcast frequencies. In fact, Google started a website, freetheairwaves.com, to promote the commercial use of the “unused” radio airwaves that wireless microphones use. But we’re not talking about Google, here — they just happen to be on the same side as the ordinary American. “Consumer groups,” reports the Associated Press, have alleged in an FCC complaint that users of wireless microphones are violating federal regulations by using those unused airwaves.
Consumer groups? The AP goes on:
“The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition accused manufacturers of deceptive advertising in how they market and sell the microphones, which largely operate in the same radio spectrum as broadcast television stations.”
The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition. Here we go. In an April 5, 2007 regulatory filing before the FCC, that group identified itself as an “ad hoc” association — that is, a cluster of disparate organizations, informally banded together to address a single common concern.
Among the organizations making up this ad hoc consumer coalition is the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C. non-profit. It’s a pretty connected organization — it even turns out that the chairman of the board is Eric s***, the CEO of Google. In fairness, Eric s*** probably does buy stuff at the store, so it’s not a stretch for him to stand in for America’s consumers — he has experience in the field.
Another member of the PISC is the Media Access Project, also a D.C. non-profit. The names of the project’s board of directors are available online. Director Kathleen Wallman is an erstwhile lobbyist for clients like AT&T and the U.S. Telecom Association, according to lobbyist filings obtained by OpenSecrets.org. Board member Albert Kramer, a partner at the law firm of d***stein Shapiro, LLC, is the former general counsel to the North American Telecommunications Association. According to his law firm’s Web site, Kramer’s clients now include internet service providers and VoIP companies — just the kind of ordinary American consumers who unselfishly yearn to “free the white space.”
Democracy at work: In our nation’s capital, Vegans for Fairness to Animals would be an organization of slaughterhouse operators. And the news reports would take everything they said at face value.
You can check out all of this information for yourself, by the way — it’s easy to find. Just Google it.
http://stage-directions.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1027&Itemid=1
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|Sorry to hear its too kompleekatd for you. Now we know just who Tool was referring to.
Yup, multi-touch technology is dead. You read it here folks.
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|f**
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|Trolling with your pants around your thighs, showing your underwear, advertising that you are 'available' is pathetic - EVEN for you...
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|It's not dead, it's just nothing special (in particular it doesn't make you special, even if Apple tells you so... For that you need to try harder in your own capacity. But Fox - please - you try as hard as anyone here can handle...)
Any cheapo netbook has multi-touch. It's a *nice to have* nothing more.
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|and you think that you're gonna make me mad with that? is that all what you've got son?
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