Android is the leading smartphone OS in the US now and it powers more than 130 million devices across the world including a phalanx of cheap handsets across Asia.
Not just that, there are more than half a million devices activated everyday. That’s a good story and Android is a killer app from Google. That’s only one side of the story.
Sure there was a meteoric rise and great sales figures but today’s Android is different from Android of 2009. Android of 2009 is a cool mobile operating system which has the potential to usurp Apple and Nokia. Today’s Android is a booby trap with the potential to take as many manufacturers with it.
Android’s threats are not single fold. At the last count they are five fold. Here’s are the 5 imminent threats to Android :
Contents
Cheaper iPhone, iPad and Windows Mango
Technically Apple doesn’t need to produce a cheaper iPhone or an iPad. It got so much cash, it can stop its innovation machine, continue selling its current iPhone’s and still be a competitive company. But Apple is not known for that.
It is known to kill competition and that’s exactly what it plans to do with Android. While Apple is going full throttle in its efforts to stymie Samsung (Android manufacturer) it is also planning to launch a cheaper iPhone.
Something which costs $300 – $350. When that happens, no body cares about Android anymore and Android will be left to handle the sub-$300 market.
Microsoft isn’t far behind with its smartphone strategy. With Mango, it seems to have a killer mobile OS. Add to that the mobile handset manufacturing machine called Nokia and we have a machine which can ruin Android late night party.
Open operating systems
When Android was an upstart, its main ploy against iOS was Android’s openness. Ironically that is being challenged. Android is only 23% open in the Open governance index.
Symbian is more open than Android. Sighting this as an opportunity, Mozilla has announced an operating system based on its Gecko. Boot to Gecko is a truly open mobile operating system which Mozilla wants to position as a Android challenger.
Alibaba has unveiled its operating system Aliyun which is cloud based. There are rumors that Chinese search giant Baidu, is launching its own mobile operating system.
No open operating system can compete with Android right from the word go. But Android’s adoption was mainly based on its openness and it being free. Both the notions are now being challenged in more ways than one.
Patent trolls
I had enough coverage on the patent trolls against Android and how Microsoft has made Android its bunny. Patent trolls are here to stay. However angry Google might get in its blog posts, it is one stark reality we can’t get away from.
After all, Google is a company which was built on a patent. Apple, Microsoft and Oracle will make sure they get their due for their ‘intellectual property’. Google will continue its shopping for patents. Amidst the uncertainty, manufacturers will look for options.
High return rates for Android devices
Android device return rates are as high as 30-40%. This is the secret which came out few weeks back and manufacturers are facing this on a daily basis. Why are people returning Android devices? So much for Android’s openness, general public want a phone that works, you know like an iPhone.
Poor Android tablet adoption
When it comes to tablets there is only one name you hear often : iPad. We are now close to 2 years since iPad was launched and there is no credible competitor for iPad or iPad 2. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10 which got rave reviews is facing an uphill task to deal with Apple and the patent troll. Android tablets are dime a dozen, but a credible tablet which can compete with iPad is still a far cry.
Can Android get past these threats and still shine? We all know it wants to but will Apple and Microsoft let it?
[This post has been reproduced from our sister blog The Gadget Fan for benefit of trak.in readers]
The threats are not enough to hold back android growth.First of all, many people do not like the closed system of iphone and therefore wont bother a small iphone. Personally I dont like the whole apple range as being too restrictive.However..nokia and windows phone7 can compete.
The android os openness is enough forca healthy app development atmosphere.At the very least android will be more open than ios anytime.Symbian is being left to die by nokia for no reason at all.It was a very good OS and should have been developed more.
The meteoric rise in android speaks for itself that people trust it as a stable Os.
The main power of android lies in the fact that it gives the user choice in every segment.
The android phones are much better in terms of flexibility and connectivity than iphone.(like bluetooth file transfer, usb cable and microsd). Android already got so much market segment that a new os is a difficult choice for anybody .Suppose I am going for a smartphone.Why should I buy a new os that I know that very few uses and there is no certainity that this os wont suck or would be discontinued.If I want a stable os I got android .ios. symbian and windows mobile in my mind. Ios has only and only one good thing that there are lots of apps. But the main problem is that they are under complete control of apple. In symbian apps are there already but most of them are not as smooth as android.However the old os works great on low powered devices.
Windows phone 7 is good as per I heard.They may get some market.
But the android already gives most of the needs of user fulfilled by free apps.Where many iphone apps are paid.
The patent trolls are a desparate attempt by apple as it is and will lose market share.That will not succeed as Any company can make android devices.whom apple will sue? Moreover..PATENT TROLLS ARE NOT GOING TO LAST FOREVER.AS PATENT RIGHTS HAVE A TIME OF VALIDITY.After that what are they going to do I dont know.
High return rate of android Where? USA? please mention.
The android tablets are pretty decent and will evolve more as the os matures.Android in its childhood.Yet the old os are so much afraid that they are launching patent attacks against company who make android.
Android is rising .Future will tell what will dominate.I believe that it will be an android dominated future.
There is no limit for android…and apps…It will rocks in future..
http://etechlearning.blogspot.com/
learn android
wait & seee…..
One major concern which looks serious to me is that Androdi needs to protect software piracy and its great threat to the hard work of developers. If such protection is not guranteee to application developers their interest will vanish ultimately.
Well No doubt software piracy protection is major issue of worry for android and they have introduced many software plug-ins for resolving this like the introduction of “Pro Guard”. But still a long to go and more improvement steps are needed.
Well written points! Definitely Android is facing strong threats now. And it seems its not going to be an easy ride for them in future. But following things about Android still makes it a tough competitor:
1) Existence of biggest App market after iPhone with around 2 lakh apps. No other smartphone OS is even close.
2) Apart from price, Android offers variety to customers by being supported by variety of different models & companies.
3) Companies like Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC etc have invested hugely in supporting Android OS on their phones, so any new OS have certainly to be very promising in order to make these companies switch loyalties.
Hey this is very well written. Kudos Arun!!
Hey Rabi,
This is actually written by Sriram … Kudos should go to him…
I am not sure how my name came up in author field…changed it now..
-Arun
Android…Going Down!