10 December, 2009
Android is silently stalking the iPhone
Posted by Ben Rowland in Mobile, Cool!, Web technology,
The mobile wars are heating up.
Apple's iPhone provides the most satisfying user interface, while Nokia's Symbian leads in market share, Blackberry struggles to reinvent itself, and Microsoft's Windows Mobile is foundering in the face of viable competition.
Google's free Android operating system has barely managed to get any press coverage, what with Apple announcing staggering numbers of iPhone App downloads (2 billion) and available apps (85,000).
Yet, Android is quietly poised to flood the market. Big cell phone makers are shifting to Android in droves, and twelve Android phones should be on the market by the end of 2009, with dozens planned for next year.
On top of that, Google is quickly adding great new free features to Android, such as a free GPS turn-by-turn direction system and Microsoft Exchange support (a key feature for business users).
With great new devices, such as the Motorola DROID on Verizon's network and the Vega Tablet, Android's future looks bright indeed.