Topics in Digital Media – Fall 09

iPhone users have responded…

So here’s a little more information on where our competition still lies and some more details into the differences that might, well…make a difference.

First, I want to make a note her about a response to my earlier post about Verizon and the Android OS.  Franklin brought up a good question about whether or not Verizon was going to fully support to the open sourced software and capabilities of their Android phones.  My understanding is that yes, this is what they plan to do.  As stated in my comments of the previous post, “according to Boy Genius Report, Verizon really is on board about working with Google to release open sourced phones. In their recent preview of the Droid by Motorola, they stated, “Verizon hasn’t and won’t touch or control any functionality on the Droid.” Obviously they will probably have one or two of their own applications on the handset (sch as the VZ visual voicemail), but that’s simply because [that is linked to your Verizon account and only accessed as such.]“  Although it does cost money which is somewhat of a downside.

For this short post, I thought I would shed some light on some key issues that are brought up around the bloggs and news relating to the downfalls of the iPhone and where the Android might find its market.

Flash

The iPhone does not support Flash, but Adobe is said to be working closely with Apple to rectify this issue.  The Android OS does not currently support Flash but it is among the mobile operating systems that will be receiving it in 2010.  Adobe is apparently in the process of creating the ability for Flash based sites to created apps on the device, but it is unlikely that Flash will come to the handset itself.  Apple lists an assortment arguments against it such as the possibility of it competing with its App store (because they would then of course have less control over what you can do on your iPhone/iPod Touch), the possibility of malicious software harming the phone, reduced battery life, etc…(Learn more about this story over @ Wired).  Could this be a puller for the Android market?  I mean who wouldn’t want the ability to watch Hulu on their phone?

(Speaking of Hulu.  Take a quick break and have a quick laugh to lead you into the next segment or feel free to just move on.  The related section of the video is between 01:30 and 04:20, but feel free to check out the whole thing if you so chose.)

Multi-Touch

The multi-touch capabilities of the iPhone has been one of its key features that sets it apart from most other phones; the only other phone currently with this capability is the Palm Pre…or is it?  Thanks to its open source nature and the ingenuity of nerds and hackers, it looks like the G1 and the HTC Hero, both powered by Android, also have the multi-touch capability, but its not a capability that the Android operating system has outright implemented.  For some reason Google, in all its wisdom has yet to simply write this capability into its OS even though they phones that it is currently running on support it.  Now there are rumorsthat Google is so far in bed with Apple at the moment that they aren’t willing to challenge this capability for fear that they will lose their Google maps, Google search, or geotagging functions that they are using within their platform.  Could this be coming to the Droid? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

**NOTE: After this was written, news on the new Android OS “Eclair” was released and Multi-touch has now been officially added to the OS, giving the developers the ability to “officially” innovate further.  I only say “officially” because it was already present before, it just wasn’t openly accessible.  So…then how open is Google’s Open Source OS?**

(For those of you in the class who might have one of the aforementioned phones and would like to add multi-touch capabilities to it, CHECK THIS OUT)

Keyboard

Although there were a large number of complaints about the lack of a physical keyboard when the iPhone originally came out, I think that this was simply, as Jay Yarrow states in his article on The Business Insider, “scary and foreign.”  Like most new technologies, people fear what they don’t understand or know how to use.  The idea of a keyboard that you couldn’t actually feel is a strange feeling when you first use it.  And it’s also likely that the original keyboard for a majority of applications, being only the vertical version, felt very cramped, but Apple has since rectified this issue and made the horizontal keyboard accessible in more programs.  For those individuals who still want a physical keyboard, this is where Apple’s abundance of third party developers come into play and have started creating a slew of different options to appease the masses.  Of course for those who are still against a virtual only keyboard, the new Droid phone will probably be a fantastic choice, and even better it will accommodate either view of the keyboard.  It is already sure to have a physical keyboard, but from the preview of the device on Motorola’s website, it is also said to have a virtual keyboard, and with is already being very close in length and width of the current iPhone 3GS, that’s a very well put together phone.

Droid/iPhone Comparison

These are only a few components to this issue, I know I haven’t gotten to the meat of the issue yet, but for those of you who are interested, I’m trying to keep up the suspense.  And tomorrow marks the official announcement of the phone that may or may not shed some more light on this issue.  I hope to tackle the Music/Video software, Applications, and the Network issues with my next post.

Possibly Relevant Posts:

• What Does the Droid by Motorola Bring to the Table to Make it an iPhone Contender? (6) | Craig Donahue
• All about the hype…where’d it go? (1) | Craig Donahue
• History Repeats Itself: Microsoft to Apple, Apple to Google (1) | Craig Donahue