How Android has beaten iOS, and how Apple plans to beat Google at its own game

How Android has beaten iOS, and how Apple plans to beat Google at its own game

The green Robo vs the forbidden fruit! 

Smartphones are among the most beloved 'devices in demand' today, and indeed the two key-players continue to be Google's open Android and Apple's more of a walled garden, iOS. While other OSes are not unheard of, and indeed Windows Phone, Ubuntu for smart devices, Tizon, Bada, Firefox OS, Blackberry etc continue to draw our attention at times, nothing is ever so exciting as the battle between Android the iOS, the meridian opposites when it comes to philosophies and design, and otherwise quite similar in terms of usability and diversity of applications, with both platforms sharing a large number of cross-platform apps, usable on both OSes.

Android, as it's known to everybody, is open-source. So, thankfully, the diversity of Android devices has always beaten that of Apple's much-revered series of high-end, super-premium iPhones. And iOS being the 'elder' among the global village of OSes, having been devised before Android and most other mobile OSes, it did enjoy a number of advantages. Having been developed before Android, iOS did attract more audience at first, because smartphones were not so common back then, even in 2007. While Symbian and Blackberry did have their fair share of the market, yet Symbian gradually gave in to iOS and Blackberries have always been more 'corporate' devices by their design. iOS had truly targetted the general population, especially the Gen Y back then, and indeed it had succedded.

How did iOS become so popular? 

Two of the most important factors affecting the degree of acceptance of a smartphone OS, even today, are:

1. The total number of apps available, their quality and diversity 

2. The userbase

The two factors are mutually dependent on one another. A greater userbase attracts a greater number of developers, and thus the app-ecosystem continues to grow and evolve. Likewise, this evolution and expansion of the app-ecosystem produces quality apps of diverse kinds, attracting more and more people, thus feeding the userbase and helping it grow simultaneously. And iOS did indeed attract both users and developers alike, thus producing one of the largest digital markets the world has ever seen, the iTunes store.

Android's gradualy rise to replace iOS from the throne of mobile OSes

The Karbonn Titanium S5, a locally made
device popular in India. 

However, apart from these two factors, there are indeed other powerful factors that affect the populatiry of smart devices, and quite possibly the most important among them is the price. While high-end, quality devices are loved and desired by all, not so many people can actually afford to buy them, or even care to spend so much for them. With the swift rise of globalisation, the entire world has become a smaller place than it used to be. Developing nations like mine continue to grow fast, and the younger folks of these countries are eager to enjoy the comfort and utilities available to the people of already developed countries. However, the per capita purchasing power of most developing countries is far less when compared to that of developed countries. Here in India, most people would not be able (or willing, in the case they're able) to spend ₹40,000 or so just for a fancy device, when a device having half the specifications and 75% of the functionality can be bought at a quarter of the price (literally).

This is where iOS got its first beating from Android. The open standard of Android allowed the companies of developing countries to set up effective local brands of their own, and devise more such devices in turn. Local brands such as Lava, Karbonn, Micromax and Spice continue to make fascinating devices at unbelievably low prices here in India. It's well-known that they can never match the specifications of higher-end devices such as Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One, but most people care more about usability and functionality than specifications. People are happy to play a couple of games, do a little bit of social networking (well, younger people of my age do like to do it all the time), capture a glipmse of their lives and so on. And the only reason this happens is because people care more about functionality, and that arises mainly from the software these days. Hardware is still absolutely essential, to help those software 'sense' and receive data, respond aptly, but at the same time compromising with the specifications without fully removing them from the device helps a lot. Added to this is the reduced price and greater availability of electronic components, especially from China. Using all these channels, local brands have contributed a lot to popularising Android among the population of developing countries.

And with increase in userbase, inevitably the app-ecosystem of Android continued to grow, mature and evolve. Finally, the golden moment came when Google Play was able to boast of more apps than iTunes store. While most apps still lack the polish and shine that is available in the case of iOS apps, Android's own ecosystem of apps is growing at far greater rate, even now. And a lot of this is because of Android's openness. But to a great extent, the growing userbase of Android especially in developing countries has contributed to this as well. Imagine when we have a large number of users. Some are sure to turn into developers, and thanks to the law of large numbers, greater userbase of Android contributed to greater number of influential Android developers.

iOS still has a few things to boast about, such as greater security (although this can be debatated, but I'd like to go with the public opinion here), a more polished and organized interface, more 'integrated' apps etc. But now that Android has grown sufficiently, major manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC and Asus have paved their way into the market of Android devices.

A look at a possible design for a cheaper iPhone.
Looks like Apple wants to beat Google in the game of prices. 

And finally, another factor does indeed benefit Android as a whole. This is the hardware or device diversity. Due to the openness already mentioned several times, local and international brands contributed to a vast ecosystem of the devices themselves, powering Android releases. Because of open-source nature of Android, manufacturers could indeed modify and customize their own versions of Android, tailored to power their devices. Thus, we have android devices which are as low-end as having 256 MB of RAM, to super-premium models powered by 2 GB RAM and more. This was never  the case with Apple.

Thus, the four major factors determining the success of a mobile OS can are (to mention them once again, in an organized manner): 

1. App-ecosystem (number, quality and diversity of apps) 

2. Userbase

3. Price

4. Device diversity 

How Apple is trying to win the 'throne' back

Although Mr. Jobs, the primary motivatiing and invigourating force behind Apple is walking the earth no more, the worshippers and members of the company alike dream of beating Android in its own game. Like Google drew inspiration from the concept of iOSes itself, and developed Android, Apple has finally decided to clone parts of Android that have made it so popular. The new iOS 7 Beta sports a number of Android-like features, such as their nifty 'control centre', very much like Android's notification space, the 'slide to unlock' option on their lockscreens etc.

It appears iOS 7 Beta has been visibly 'inspired' by Android's design

But most importantly, while Apple has not yet come up with any plan to make use of the fourth factor I mention (that's entirely the meridian opposite of Apple's walled-garden philosophy), it has most certainly decided to utilise the third. Rumours of a cheaper iPhone have been floating in the market for a long while, and finally it seems that Apple has decided to give it a shot. While the thing is still under discussion, I believe Apple would most certainly try its best to build devices of price tags around $99, that's around Rs. 5,500. And once it is successful, many people would consider rushing to Apple stores to buy the cheap cousins of iPhone 5's kind. After all, we are all the children of Adam and Eve (if the Bible is literally belived), and even our remote ancestors did have a great love for the forbidden fruit. ;)

The more polished interface and 'easier to use' approach of Apple, if available at this price point, could indeed mean a threat to Android. While the fourth factor is still, and will visibly be so, in favour of Google, reduced price alone could broaden the userbase of iOS-powered devices in the developed and developing nations alike.