Observations: iPhone purchases likely decline as June approaches, due to the (pending) announcement of a newer model. This year there were a ton of leaks about iPhone 4, so I suspect the effect was even worse due to the mainstream coverage.

Android is not only featured in some marketing-heavy phones such as Verizon's Droid brand, but it's also quickly becoming the default OS on your run of the mill cheap go-to phone. The "smartphone" category is dead. It doesn't exist anymore. App phones, what we've been talking about, are simply on their way to becoming ubiquitous. With the iPhone stuck on AT&T there's simply far too much opportunity for Android to gain share against it, even if those gains don't come at the expense of iPhone unit sales.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with some phone producers once Windows Phone comes out. IMO, if I wanted to change my bottom line, I would not commoditize my product line further by making models running every OS. HP, for example, might be on the right track by trying to build WebOS and taking a pass on Windows Phone.

With Android, the skinning doesn't seem to be cutting it and I don't think it's going to get any easier for manufacturers to make their products distinctive without heavy carrier marketing blitzes. That's only going to lead to regional branding and continued high turn-over in models. Expect your new Android phone to have a lifespan of well under a year. I don't see most of these phones being able to take multiple full revision OS updates. At least they'll have the apps.

BTW, no one includes the iPod Touch nor iPad when they look at iPhone/iOS numbers. There's no iPod equivalent with any of the other OS platforms. If you're marketer or software vendor, that's very important to consider. I still think it's Apple's game right now, regardless of the most recent quarterly numbers.

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EDIT: fixed a few grammatical errors, one of them quite important (re: "not" commoditize)


Edited by hybrid8 (03/08/2010 13:36)
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software