Tempting us with an Apple – One way Apple are targeting the Android user.

smartphones

Is the Apple attempt to coax Android users to the iphone/pad a bit cheeky? Using their Move to iOS for Android app, makes this now possible. The reasonable man would say Apple are just giving new or potential Apple customers an easier way to change from Android to Apple? The unreasonable man would say encroachment on the competition smacks of desperation.

Whatever the answer, it is not the only Apple made App that will be accessing their main competitors operating system as next year they plan to launch Apple music on Android. But rest assured mobile games fans Fierce Fun will provide the best range in mobile entertainment on the widest range of OSes.

Move to iOS9

The Move to iOS9 is a free download available on the Google Play store, and it makes it easier for people who want to change device to bring their data with them. You will need both an Android and iOS device to complete the switch process.

The Move to iOS App will allow the existing Android user move all their precious files to the iOS ecosystem. This will include files containing your photos, your calendar, your message files, your contacts and even your email accounts. So how does it work in practice? Your new Iphone or Ipad device will need to set up a secure Wi-Fi network when prompted by the App you can then go on to download all that precious, never to be found again data that for some reason you have been carting around on your phone for years. Yes I do that too.

So all this begs the question, why would one want to switch to Apple? Or why Apple feel they must smooth out the switching process with this new App. Just to let you know, here at Fierce Fun we ensure our mobile games run beautifully on both OSes. But in reality, the smartphone market has been regenerating itself frantically with upgrade after upgrade all through 2014 and 2015. Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung Galaxy Note 5, HTC One M9 and LG G4 are state of the art hardware and represent each of the named company’s flagship smartphone. Apple in response have given us the its new iPhone 6S and S6 Plus and a new ecosystem i0S9.

Statistics for worldwide sales on smartphones first quarter 2015 –

Table 1

Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor in 1Q15 (Thousands of Units)

Company 1Q15Units 1Q15 Market Share (%) 1Q14Units 1Q14 Market Share (%)
Samsung 81,123 24.2 85,507 30.4
Apple 60,177 17.9 43,062 15.3
Lenovo* 18,888 5.6 16,721 5.9
Huawei 18,102 5.4 13,450 4.8
LG Electronics 15,428 4.6 11,200 4.0
Others 142,335.6 42.4 111,697.8 39.7
Total 336,054.4 100.0 281,636.8 100.0

Source: Gartner (May 2015)

All do what they say on the tin, all perform little miracles for us every day that would have seemed like science fiction to us 20 or even 10 years ago. So apart from sales figures the question seems to be what smartphone pushes your buttons and not as I had previously thought, who makes the better smartphone?

What Smartphone pushes your buttons?

I have my own sentimental preference for Nokia, a Scandinavian toilet and kitchen roll maker turned tech world leader, just that alone, will always get my vote. I heard on the Grapevine that Nokia were flirting with Android systems some time ago and liked it, but since the Microsoft corporation got wind of this treachery, that little dalliance became history. Which is a pity because as I said Nokia will always have a special place in my top pocket. Blackberry also should be given our respect for holding out in the face of insurmountable odds, that is, the obvious popularity of touchscreen technology, almost the the brink of bankruptcy. A friend in Capetown informed me,  they were still moving Blackberrys in healthy numbers in South Africa until 2013, but even there, now in 2015, the touch screen has all but leveled that field. They had it all once, however they gave away their advantage, but I am glad to hear that they may have embraced Android in tandem with developing some new technology for themselves,  as to go it alone can becoming very lonely.

 

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Okay the above title is an unfortunate and bloody saying but proof of the pudding, another awful phrase is that two great tech companies fire at the same target, you and me, the customer, but come up with completely different creatures essentially doing the same thing. I speak of course of Samsung and Apple. What Apple Iphone and Samsung Android phones have shown us is that “there is more than one way to skin a cat”.Both have flagship phones that are exceptional and I could not favour one above the other. My only buying decision would be price and here Samsung win over Apple nine times out of ten.

I use a Samsung Galaxy, my partner uses an Apple Iphone, I like both, and would not care if I changed, she only likes her Iphone, she is in love with her Iphone, and would never change, even if she received a free Android. This is cultism which is an intrinsic part of the Apple brand and is to be commended but also ridiculed at every turn. I would not find it hard to switch from one to the other and have done so in the past, dumping an early Apple PC for a far better and cheaper Dell version. It is easy if you do not buy into the cult of Apple, after all they are not the Kardashians.

Summary

The devil seems to be in the detail, the small differences of functionality that may appear on the OS of your phone and not the other. But both OSes have phenomenal capability and this is a indication of how far technologically the smartphone has evolved. Our personal preferences may impact on the phone we choose, maybe because of the interplay with the phone, how it feels in the hand and where certain buttons are positioned. But also our personal preference for which company we would like to entrust our information. This will increasingly play a part in our choice.

Apple and Google seem to be two heads of the one beast but they do have different agendas and see the world through different lenses. This is something to consider when choosing your hardware and software products in phones PC or cloud services. You must ask yourself with whom do I trust with my digital existence?

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