Andy Samberg. Famous for such lines as “if there’s a honey in the middle, there’s some leeway”.

From the link to Apple’s aesthetic dichotomy

“For me, the most interesting software interface design is being done at Microsoft with Metro on Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8. Here there is no effort to offer spurious concordance with the legacy technologies the software replaces. It is digitally native design.”

That is for him, I disagree. A digitally native design that looks like a Soviet apartment building complex? No thanks, give me art, give me beauty, give me poetry, give me soul.

It’s official. Hell has frozen over. How did that happen? Blame it on halos.

John ~ Did you mean,“blame it on “HEROes?”
I could find no reference to halos in the linked story.

If Android phones have fewer apps and only rarely have the OS updated, why are people buying them?

Is it a lower price on the phone or lower monthly cost? Or the appearance of “good enough”? Is the iPhone not available to some?

And is it really “marketshare” if carriers give away the phone?

@ibuck: As someone who had and enjoyed the iPhone before Steve went all content Nazi on us, and then switched to Android, here’s my answer… Android is a better phone. Having multiple manufacturers and a range of choices in phone sizes, features, price points, etc. means that there is probably a perfect Android phone for you and a perfect one for me and it’s OK if they’re different. They’ll still run most of the available apps the same.

The phone market and apportioned shares encompass more than just handset manufacturers and end users. Carriers and resellers play a part too. So to dismiss subsidized or free phones is to simply ignore how the market works.

James Higgs is an ass. He either doesn’t get the whole concept or, and I think this is more likely, he’s trolling for hits. Tying apps to real world objects has been the core of Apple’s OS designs since the first Mac in ‘84. I LIKE the little touches. The leatherette look, the stitching, the torn page corners. I find they both keep the device from feeling cold and impersonal and they let me know that a real person coded this.  I’ve used digital library systems that just list titles and authors. I’ll take the “wooden” bookcase. It’s just a bit more pleasant to work with.  Maybe James Higgs wants to go back to a dark terminal screen with green letters. That would be even “cleaner”.

FWIW in my last job I did a couple of WiFi deployments for our resorts.  Our general rule was one transmitter in every other room. For example fourth would have transmitters in 401,403,405, 407 then fifth would have them in 501, 503, 505, 507 and so on throughout the building.  Two floors would go into a switch. The lines from the switches would go down to the basement. There we had several Gb feeds coming into the building. One for secure corporate use and one for each tower. We never had complaints about speed.

The “halo effect” from the iPhone is widely believed to have had an effect on I.T. managers.

iGeddit.

Bosco: Having multiple manufacturers and a range of choices in phone sizes, features, price points, etc.

So your mobile phone choice relies on price and how many sizes and/or features are available, and the the idea of fewer restrictions. Even if, over time, there are fewer apps and less chance of updating the phone’s OS?

I wonder if other Android buyers, many of whom say their next phone will be an iPhone, have the same criteria, or if cost (over the length of the contract) is the biggest issue. Or if they were persuaded to Android due to sales spiffs and the larger number of features Android offers over feature phones. Or some mix of these factors?

a, or if cost (over the length of the contract) is the biggest issue

I wonder if the cell market is not as simple as some make it out to be. It isn’t really a measure if whether iPhones or Android phones or whatever is “better”. There is a huge distortion due to the contract. A lot of people will take a phone that is less that their ideal if they can get it free, or even two of then for free as long as they sign a contract. For a lot of people this is far more enticing than a better OS, AppStore, and hardware.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown by manufacturer or OS of smart phones for people who buy off contract, that buy the phone outright and then go month to month. This group would be a better measure of the customer appreciation of the OS and hardware.

So your mobile phone choice relies on price and how many sizes and/or features are available, and the the idea of fewer restrictions. Even if, over time, there are fewer apps and less chance of updating the phone’s OS?

Meanwhile, the iPhone 4 you purchased a year ago and have a year left on contract can’t do Siri because Apple won’t even sell it to you. Whatever.

I would caution against relying on surveys of what people say they will do to prop up your esteem about your platform of choice. This same survey has been going on for two years now, since before the first Droid came to Verizon. And guess what. In that time, Android has gone from a blip to more than 2x market share and new sales as iPhone. Do you remember how the Verizon Unicorn was going to change everything? Sure, they sold millions, but all it did was help Apple tread market share water in a growing market. Meanwhile, for example, there are a plethora of bigger-screened Android phones that are just plain easier for people 50 and over to read and use. You can buy your Android phone now and add a 32 GB SD card later rather than absorb the storage costs up front to the tune of $100 or $200. You can stick widgets on your home screen. You can replace your home screen. I could go on and on. And despite what Apple proponents say about these being nerd features, they are things your Mom could probably handle and be delighted by.

Just a quick response to the IRIS 9000, I have got to get one these!

It is now officially on my wish list.