New Media Research Studio

For those of us not willing to jailbreak our iPhones, we’re stuck in jail. But the good news is, it’s not half bad!

So, this travelogue has been interesting, especially since Jayme and I have both been researching two sides of the same smartphone coin, so to speak. He’s pretty much covered Android’s open-source awesomeness, and I already talked about Apple’s power-tripping rules. So where does that leave us?

In his last post, Jayme asked how G1 and Android fare against the iPhone. In attempting to answer that question, I found that a popular critique (or compliment, depending on how you look at it) many people have about Apple still remains true: owning and using Apple products is like living in a beautiful prison.

At the end of the day, there’s no hiding the fact that Apple’s applications system via third-party developers isn’t open. Apple can reject an application for pretty much any reason they want, including (as Maggie mentioned) applications that compete with the built-in features of the iPhone. There are other limitations and restrictions, like the programming language. Again, as Jayme mentioned, Android uses the popular language Java for their apps. The iPhone employs a mobile variation of the Apple-developed Objective-C, which isn’t as well-known.

BUT there are perks.

Like access to Apple’s legions of fans (read: customers). As of October 21, 2008, Apple has sold 13 million iPhones. If you are a developer, there are 13 million people out there waiting for your product. And not only does Apple basically hand you this customer base on a silver platter, but they also give you a really nifty way to reach them.

the apps store

The Apps Store is very accessible, both for consumers and for distributors. It’s set up pretty much exactly like iTunes, an interface that all iPhone users are familiar with. And although I haven’t personally created and distributed an app using the Apps Store, I’ll trust all the programmers out there who praise Apple’s streamlined process.

And while it is a disadvantage that the iPhone uses Objective-C, it’s not a big one. First, if you’re a computer programmer and you’re planning on making an app, Objective-C isn’t a difficult code to learn. And because these apps are only meant for the iPhone, as a programmer, you don’t have to worry about what your app is going to look like or how it’s going to work on a different device. Android, on the other hand, is a platform that is meant for use on a variety of devices–not just the G1. So when you make an application or feature in Android’s programming language, you probably need to make some adjustments or tweaks to accommodate for different screen sizes, keyboards, customized features, etc.

It’s a classic trade-off between freedom and convenience. In some ways, I feel the balance is tipped in Google’s favor. They’ve already shown themselves to exhibit an understanding of how to appeal to their users based on services (as we all know from our attempted week without Google), so streamlining the process of distributing applications is easily within their grasp. I don’t know much about programming, but I’m going to assume it is feasible to make Android behave universally on a variety of different devices. Once Google overcomes these two hurdles, they will have basically eliminated the gap between the freedom of Android and the convenience of the iPhone.

But in other ways, I feel Apple has got this in the bag. Because just like Google knows how to make awesome services, Apple knows how to make awesome products. Macbooks aren’t just laptops, iPods aren’t just mp3 players, and iPhone is not just a phone. It’s become culturally iconic in a way I don’t think the G1 ever will. Maybe for all the hardcore techies and new media buffs out there who really care about open-source and who want the allegedly superior applications that Android has to offer, the G1 holds greater appeal than the iPhone, but for Joe Sixpack (from what I hear, Joe the Plumber is no longer the bastion of the everyday working man), they’re essentially the same product. The difference is the iPhone is a status symbol, an accessory. It just looks cool. And that’s why G1 will likely never usurp the iPhone’s position at the top of the smartphone food chain.