A personal observation
on Iphone 5 (Ios) vs Galaxy 4 (Android)
Mobile phones evolved
in couple of years. They are larger, faster, that means more processing power,
and more applications are available for users. Definitely they are more
computer than phone. Their processing power enables more complex application
and artificial Intelligence to be used in daily life. This evolution enables
more intuitive usage on mobile. Human interfaces started to be natural, such as
speaker independent natural speech recognition, speech to text or text to
speech conversion, or face recognition etc. We carry whole web in our pocket,
google search can be performed with speaker independent speech as well as
dialing. Computer, radio, TV, web,
camera, calculator, word processor, spread sheet and many dizzier technologies
are all in one box. But natural man-machine interface always has been intuitive
and appealing for the users. Short cuts and easy buttons can not replace
natural interfaces.
Technology is evolving
and placing itself in the daily equipment. Two major operating systems are
available. Ios by Apple and Android by many others include Samsung. Common
operating system enable more application to be placed in phone hardware very
fast.
Apple was very
innovative with Iphone features before Android’s domination in the phone
market. Iphone 4, 4s has been a phenomenon for consumers with available
features. Iphone 5 did not add much to existing features, thus didn’t generate
a great impact on consumers. Meanwhile, Android phones have added more to their
portfolio. Let say “Siri” of Iphone, as the natural interface was successful
for English and some other popular languages. But I haven’t heard any local
language adaptation of it. So what I can say Iphone is designed for USA and
some EU market and could not localized itself for other market’s consumers.
Maybe this was the impact of absence of Steve Jobs or Apple strategy is missing
something in global market trends and “glocal” needs.
I observe a challenge
for those who wish to replace his/her phone in these days. Samsung and Apple
substantially share market with their flagships Galaxy S4 and Iphone 5. Diversity of Samsung models is covering for
many users’ needs in different segments while android applications are
fulfilling several needs for them. Samsung’s innovative technology such as
hardware radio application, speaker independent speech to text conversion for
local language, cut, copy, paste, handwriting to text conversion, face
detection to play and pause video, camera settings for photographers, step
counter without any sensor are attractive widgets for users. All of them seem complicated but at least some
of these features are for you to ease or enhance of your life.
Apple’s operating
system with available applications is behind of all these features in these
days. Iphone’s hardware is just one block that cannot be expanded. When you buy
it with 16GB, you have no chance of expanding memory capacity with additional
memory that is available in many phone models.
Apple seems to be slow
in delivering technology and application while its competitors are providing
diversified solutions for different user segments. Definitely, Android, as a
common platform and seemingly with more software developers, is going to beat
Ios world.
I see a parallelism
with old Symbian operation system that is supported by Nokia years ago and
today’s Apple Ios. After Nokia lost market share, company replaced its phone
operating system and stared to use more common platform, Windows mobile.
Today’s consumers are waiting for Ios 7 and Iphone 5s/6 or whatever they call
it. If this move is not a satisfactory one compared to Android competitors,
then Iphone is going to loose more market share. This might let Apple to back
off from phone business line or to move to another platform such as Android.
We will wait and see.
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