I'll bet my next paycheck that this analyst is wrong. I expect to see the iPhone on Verizon this fall. At which time I will switch back to the iPhone. I have had all three iPhone models and only switched because I couldn't take AT&T anymore, especially since I travel to NYC and San Fran a lot for work. FYI I have had Palm Pilots since the 1st one, same with Windows CE/Windows Mobile, Blackberries, and about everything in between. I've been a handheld enthusiast for a long time, am an IT Architect, and used to work for Motorola, so I am very familiar with these things.
Android has a terrible user interface. The kind only a engineer could love just like most Google Apps. It is counterintuitive, busy, and many activities take 3 or 4 more steps than doing the same thing on an iPhone. Google is finally recognizing this as they are hiring some UI engineers. Essentially Google has done a poor job of copying the iPhone interface with Android. When Google bought Android their first interface looked like Windows Mobile because thats who they thought they were competing against. When the iPhone became a hit they changed the interface to look like the iPhone.
Android multi-touch is not nearly as good as the iPhone. It is slower and does not scale as well when tapping to read text.
The iPhone walks all over Android when it comes to media syncing and usage. Not even close.
The inability of Android to install apps on SD or other memory is shocking in 2010. Looks like this will finally be fixed with Android 2.2.
iPhone apps look better, are more consistent, and more full featured than their Android counterparts. A big reason for this is lack of space to run apps until 2.2 hits.
The Android app store needs work. Lots of garbage in there and spam.
The 1st iPhones were not great for business use but they are now. Android isn't even trying to work with corporate IT and you will not see Android phones in large corporations until they fix their Exchange integration. remote wipe, and potential security issues because of the way OS, Apps, and data are sandboxed.
Most people don't care about the interface baubles foisted on Android by the many manufactures attempting to look different from others and find them annoying and in the way. They also point out even more how bad the stock Android interface is.
If I could get an iPhone 3GS on Verizon vs the Incredible now I would get one in a heartbeat. Plus the new iPhone will be out next month and Android will be playing catch up again.
Googles only interest in Android is in monetizing the personal information and activities of its users and trying to get eyeballs on ads. Not surprising that this does not engender a premium hardware/OS experience as the iPhone does.
For those who believe the Android is open source fairy tale try contributing to that source. Google isn't interested in talking to you. Not all of the OS is open source anyway due to reliability and regulatory concerned around cell devices.
If the iPhone didn't exist then Android would be king of the hill against Blackberry and their archaic OS, and Windows mobile with an OS that has always sucked. But the iPhone does exist and the next version will open the gap even wider against Android. If the iPhone gets on other carriers it will stunt Androids growth severely. look at Europe where many countries have the iPhone on multiple carriers. Android has not achieved nearly the same success in those countries as in the U.S.
One last thing is since I have had the Incredible and been reading various Android forums I am amused to find how many Androids users are obsessed with the iPhone and whether Android is 'better' or not. Be happy with what you have and if you are going to rant about the iPhone and Apple at least know what you are talking about.
I respect Android for what it is but much prefer the iPhone. I love the fact that Android exists because competition means a better product on both ends.
