Wow...so much that needs to be addressed here. Let's give it a shot.
hoops23;929827 wrote:I find it funny how Android phones have short shelf lives. You never know when your specific phone will be dropped from support or receive it's next update. The likely hood that your phone will still receive OS updates over the course of a 2 year contract probably isn't very high.
Google has agreed to support a device with updates for 18 months from its launch. The biggest problem is, two years ago, Android was in its infancy. It has progressed extremely fast in those two years because it needed to catch up, and then surpass, what other operating systems were doing. So you saw a huge amount of updates in an extremely short amount of time. I think you'll see the software updates from Google slow down now that they are in a strong position market-wise. You can already see this with how long it is taking to go from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich on devices.
hoops23;929827 wrote:Phone companies pretty much bend over backwards to get the iPhone.
Of course they do. It's a freaking cash cow! Why wouldn't they? It doesn't matter if it's a huge change like the iPhone 4 was, or a minor change like the iPhone 4S is...people will line up to get it, and the carrier will sell a ton. Is that because the phone is better? Well that's debatable. But it happens, so yes, carriers are going to bend over backwards to get the iPhone.
hoops23;929827 wrote:Apple continues to support their device for at least 3 generations. Same can't be said for most Android phones. Is the Epic 4G still running 2.2? What's the Evo running now a days?
Doing this doesn't really support your argument as much as you'd like it to. I knew Apple supported their devices for awhile, but I didn't know it was 3 generations. What this tells me though, is that not much changes in Apple's software from year to year. Out of date, old specs (that a phone three generations ago would be sporting) should not be able to handle the things that the newer and better phones can do. Take the original Droid at Motorola. When that launched two years ago, it was a top of the line device. Looking at it now, that 550mhz processor is PAINFULLY slow. If Google allowed that phone to be updated all the way to Ice Cream Sandwich, the phone would completely shut down because it wouldn't be able to handle the OS.
On top of that, Google, the manufacturers, and the carriers, are in this to make money. They don't want customers sitting on a phone for three years because it is still getting updates. They want customers to come in after two years and buy a new phone.
hoops23;929827 wrote:It's also pretty laughable that you say Android is far superior in functionality...
It's not laughable...that's just, like, his opinion...man.
hoops23;929827 wrote:As for your business sentiments, A bunch of businesses seem to disagree with you.
About 80% of fortune 500 companies are using iPhones and 50% of those companies are using iPads.
There is a reason why the iPhone is the best selling smartphone in the world, it probably helps that it's also captured over 70% of Japans market as well.
As far as the businesses go, that's only because the iPhone and iPad got whitelisted first. Android has come a long way to improve the security on their devices, and many Android devices are whitelisted with just about every IT department.
And saying the iPhone is the best selling smartphone (while true) is kind of misleading. The iPhone is the only one running iOS, while multiple manufacturers make Android devices. So what really needs compared is iOS and Android. And Android has a significant lead over iOS in the smartphone world...at least in the US. The last data I saw was for the first quarter this year, and Android held a 36% marketshare, while iOS held a 16% marketshare.
