What Will The Verizon iPhone Mean For Android?

Will Google's Android operating system suffer from Verizon's recent iPhone acquirement?

AT&T's exclusive-until-now agreement with Apple has meant that tech-hungry Verizon loyalists turned en masse to Android and Blackberry devices to cater to their smartphone needs. Recent figures have shown Android making rapid gains in market share in the past six months, mainly at the expense of Blackberry.

The pricing and specs of Android smartphones are comparable with the iPhone, but the battle between their respective fans often seems to have more to do with subjective factors and personal preference than actual technical superiority. Both phones perform similar functions involving music, wireless internet access, and applications, though proponents of either will gladly nitpick about the specifics.

Many suspect that the addition of the iPhone to Verizon's roster will steer new buyers and upgrade-eligible customers away from the Android. Some believe that the Verizon iPhone may steal away around two million Android phone sales in the coming year.

"A lot of the people who are buying an iPhone would have bought an [Android] if it weren't available," said Charles Golvin of Forrester Research. "The reason they will is because basically, they wanted the iPhone but they weren't willing to give up the Verizon network so they're just going to say, 'Now I can get what I really wanted.'"

But Verizon's new iPhone will not run on its much-vaunted 4G network--that honor will go to Android-powered phones. Still, some believe that the Verizon iPhone may steal away around two million of Android phone sales each year.

Why was the iPhone left off the new network?

"The first generation LTE chipsets force some design compromises. Some of which we would not make," Tim Cook of Apple said at the press conference announcing the phone, possibly referring either to increased battery consumption needs or size constraints.

More pressingly, Cook iterated Verizon's desire to get the iPhone out to eager customers as soon as possible. "Verizon customers have told us they want the iPhone now," he said.

With AT&T smirking at the expected network slowdown Verizon could incur now that the iPhone has hit the 3G waves, the possibility of the 4G iPhone should not be out of the question.

"If Verizon can convince Apple to accelerate its incorporation of LTE, the carrier will be able to deliver a significantly accelerated iPhone experience to more customers than its competitor," Golvin said. "And attract a significant number of the first wave of buyers, including the Apple acolytes."

Verizon customers: vote in our poll about your feelings on Android vs. iPhone below!

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Comments

[slappymagoo]

05:28 PM on 02/18/2011

While I don't doubt that iphone will likely be the most popular phone on Verizon by year's end, an iphone would have to (at least) have drag-n-drop, expandable memory and swappable batteries for me to consider switching. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[menschmaschine5]

02:30 AM on 02/04/2011

There may be a noticeable shift in market share in the short term. In the long run, though, Android will be just fine, and in fact, unless Apple changes its business model (which is the same business model that almost drove them out of business many years ago), Android will dominate in the long run. Android has gotten really good in the past year (since 2.1). Where do you think it'll be a year from now? Android is quickly making Apple's phones look outdated, and will continue to do so until Apple changes. New high end Android phones offer more for the same price - or less. The HTC Thunderbolt will come pre-loaded with a 32 gb SD card, in addition to 4G capability and all the other advantages it has. And you can bet it'll be cheaper than the 32 gb iphone. Dual core, 4G Android phones are just around the corner, while I doubt Apple will release a 4G phone for a couple of years yet.

Apple products are in style - they're the tech of the moment, a status symbol. When tastes change, people will go to the superior technology, not last year's fashion accessory.

[zelduh]

10:18 PM on 02/03/2011

Rumors of Android's potential demise have been greatly exaggerated.

[Nick Montana]

04:20 AM on 01/13/2011

Android will do just fine and grow, the brand-new phones that debuted at CES are ahead of the game with LTE network compatibility and the best technical specs superior over the iPhone, as well as the most innovative and impressive such as Motorola's Atrix. The other side of the coin is that AT&T has begun to embrace high-end Android phones as a prelude to losing their iPhone exclusivity, and the other two carriers are selling a lot of decent Android phones such as the Galaxy S series and EVO. Verizon hasn't even needed the iPhone since the rapid success of Android, and Google is getting much better with their platform with each Android version.

Sure, a healthy number of people will go with the iPhone if they've been on Verizon for a lot of reasons, but the manufacturers have embraced Android and are building top-of-the-line phones with the best technology on all fronts: Super AMOLED+ displays, dual-core processors, 1GB of RAM, 4G (LTE/WiMAX/HSPA+) compatibility, HD video and HDMI output, etc. Android isn't going anywhere but up, as it should, it's an open-source OS supported and built by a technology giant called Google.

[Joseph Bethea]

11:09 PM on 01/12/2011

wont work with verizons 4G network unless the control freak redesigns it

[will357]

10:17 PM on 01/12/2011

Been with T-Mobile 5+ years owned a G1 and now own a Nexus One...love my Android phone but I own an IMac.

[Anthony Gritzmacher]

04:09 AM on 01/13/2011

I feel you, I have used the iDont and it doesn't compare to the awesomeness that is Android and my Nexus One

[zelduh]

10:20 PM on 02/03/2011

We have five Macs in the house. I have an Android phone and I will not part with it.

[LiVeEye]

06:20 PM on 01/12/2011

Well we will see what happens, I am starting to notice more people creating viruses for android os, apple never has that happen. I think android may be to open source for its own good

[menschmaschine5]

02:06 AM on 02/04/2011

You're exaggerating. I've heard of 2 viruses that have popped up for Android, and I've been paying pretty close attention since I got my Droid Incredible in July. To get either virus, you'd have to be downloading stuff from pretty sketchy Chinese sites. Plus, Lookout Mobile Security is an excellent, free app that manages to have minimal impact on system performance. Android has little to worry about in terms of viruses.

[Mark2100]

05:36 PM on 01/12/2011

Why would anyone want to be censored by steve jobs?

[AJ Horowitz]

04:12 PM on 01/12/2011

Anyone who has used Android for an extended period of time would never switch to iOS. Many of my friends on AT&T have switched over to Android after playing with my phone. Android might not be as much of a "status symbol" as Apple, but it has so many options and free applications that it wouldn't make sense to give it up. New users might want the iPhone, but I just don't see current Android users flocking to iOS like people say they will.

[zelduh]

10:21 PM on 02/03/2011

precisely.

[trojoe]

01:56 PM on 01/12/2011

Over the years I've had an iPhone 3GS, a blackberry torch, and a nexus one. The clear and virtually unopposed front runner is the nexus one. Android simple has more features than any other mobile os on the market.
Case and point: the huffpo "story" about how iPhones are getting hotspot capabilities. lol. I've been hotspotting *for free* since 2009.
If you're interested in ways the android os surpasses every other mobile os - pick one up. Try it out for a week or two. If people would actually use all the OS's before forming opinions about them, I think they'd be surprised at what they've been missing.

[JasonMcl]

02:34 PM on 01/12/2011

"If people would actually use all the OS's before forming opinions about them, I think they'd be surprised at what they've been missing."

Definitely asking too much...

[Centient]

03:13 PM on 01/12/2011

Of all the early Android phones the N1 really was the OS's best ambassador. I'd say that was pretty much true until the EVO hit. Now there are lots of good Android phones available.

I like my iPhone, but what I see coming from Google is pretty exciting.

[SuperBenFranklin]

12:32 PM on 01/12/2011

I'll never understand whay anyone would want a phone with an operating system made from advertising company (Google)

You can never trust what information about you they are selling as you use it.

[JasonMcl]

02:12 PM on 01/12/2011

Good thing Apple doesn't do anything like that or allow it to happen.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-05/apple-sued-over-applications-giving-information-to-advertisers.html

Oh... nevermind...

Apple gathers data just like Google does. Only Apple is making you pay a handsome price first. Furthermore unlike Apple, Google makes all of the information it has gathered viewable to the account holder.

The data that Google gathers is used for automated advertisements to you and to spot global trends. What is new and popular (and thus marketable) can be instantly quantified by Google based upon what people talk about and where they go on the internet.

There is no money to be made by individually monitoring Joe K User but if you take a collection of millions of people and find out what they are into and why, then you have something worthwhile to sell.

The article above is a lawsuit filed against Apple in response to third party app developers being able to gather and transmit data without the user ever knowing.

This is a stark contrast to the Android system, where an App has to ask for specific permissions in order to gather any information from your phone. An Android app cannot so much as read your SD card without you authorizing it to do so.

[Jim8]

07:38 PM on 02/18/2011

Sometimes, just for fun, I search for a Hawaiian vacation, then wait to see how long it takes to start getting ads for Hawaiian vacations.

[michaelmarian]

02:12 PM on 01/12/2011

and i guess you trust apple. I trusted Apple for years. Same experience. When I had Macs inevitably I hit a wall cause Windows made way more headway into the Internet. I was basically forced to switch to Windows. Then my iPhone 3G which I loved for about a year before it just was getting annoying slow. I was always waiting for them to come out with Flash. Day never came. Switched to Android and after a week of culture shock was blown away by the expansiveness and power that Google wraps into everything. People think Apple are the innovators. Duh! Google has been entirely revolutionary. Apple's rein will be short cause of one simple fact.They don't write many good applications. That's left up to Google and Adobe to name a few. People need to think a bit more

[Centient]

11:57 AM on 01/12/2011

Of course iPhone on VZ is going to cut into Android sales. The idea that the iPhone has found its way to every person who wants one already is naive. Of course it won't doom Android. The idea that Android users are simply iPhone lovers who settled b/c of network issues is naive. Both Android and Apple will be fine, and as smart phone consumers we're all better off for this move to VZ.

I think the real story here is how this will effect W7 and RIM. Leaving those two to duke it out for 3rd place. BB is something of a mess right now, and W7 really doesn't need Apple showing up on other networks while it's still trying to establish itself.

[michaelmarian]

02:19 PM on 01/12/2011

But also remember that Apple was near dead and left for dead in the nineties. Microsoft helped bail them out with 300 million. So don't count Microsoft out. They were originally the great innovators bringing us personal computers en masse. They are getting good now that they have strong competition. Apple is pretty limited in their thinking overal if you consider everything. People are dazzled by their few shiny products. Ask yourself however, who writes all the great applications? Apple can't touch Google or Microsoft for that matter. They make nice shiny things. People also forget that it's the iPod that was the breakthrough but not cause of the device but because Apple which on this point deserver tons of credit, carved a beautfiul deal with the record industry.

[Centient]

03:00 PM on 01/12/2011

I'm not sure how Gates offering Apple $300mil years ago speaks to MS current position in the market.

IMO CES was a good example of where MS is right now, and right now MS isn't sure where they are. W7 phones were almost non-existent at CES as all the manufacturers were featuring some form of Android based systems. Ballmer talked extensively at CES about everything he's talked about extensively in the past. Spoke tablets and basically had only guts to show everyone. No new OS to flaunt. Oh, and the 360 w/Kinect is doing great! That was the extent of MS's keynote speech at the CES. Not impressive for leading tech giant.

MS isn't falling off a cliff or anything, but it's hard to say what the company is all about right now. My guess is that they'll take the XBox strategy with the W7 phone (blow tons and tons of cash on it) to keep their name in the smart phone market and then hope they can pick up some steam down the road. This may or may not work out for them.

I'm not an Apple apologist, but I think you're really selling them short here. Your argument is that they're essentially fueled by hype and that they've just dazzled folks into buying stuff. That seems like a really, really dumbed down view of the company.

[JerseyPhoenix]

11:47 AM on 01/12/2011

I would love an iPhone. I am with Sprint though and don't plan on going anywhere. My experience with them has been great for the last 7 years. I am thinking of going for the EVO on my next upgrade.

The iPhone 5 may change my mind, though. : )

[vind]

11:44 AM on 01/12/2011

You couldn't pay me to use an Apple product. I'll be sticking with Android all the way.

[Dameocrat]

11:36 AM on 01/12/2011

all the refurbished androids will be good for those of us who could not afford one. I hope verizon allows us to purchase one without a new contract. I am in the middle of my contract with one year left to go and an env3.