And exactly how is there a fragmentation problem with Apple? They are shipping 3GS for free WITH iOS5.
And look at any iOS device and they pretty much look the same and run pretty much the same.
i would be interested to see numbers from apple's app store or from web browsing usage on the breakdown of ios usage in the field.
probably much harder to do from web browsing usage then the app store though.
Go grab four or five leading Android handsets from different carriers/manufacturers and they all have huge differences in the skins on them-- and I am NOT talking about the small minority of rooted/custom rom users.
probably for the same reason that hp, lenovo, dell et al put their layer of bloatware on pcs. to distinguish from similar items in the market.
this is the wide open world of unix (really linux) under the covers. having an open platform, or at least much more open than apple is, comes with a price.
since the basics work on all phones about the same it isn't that difficult to transfer knowledge from x 2 y unless your working on them at the customization level.
I don't think the lack of conformity is anywhere near as big an issue as it's made out to be. since android leads the world market, and maybe the u s market, I'd have to say that the market agrees.
Yeah, the basics of Android are the same, but the Launcher apps and notification bars demonstrate huge differences. Add Ice cream sandwich to the mix and we will now have three operating systems (froyo, gingerbread, AND ice cream sandwich) running on different devices.
And only one of them runs at a time on a phone. maybe once tegra3/kal-el hits we can spawn virtual phones with multiple os versions.
having used multiple revs (eclair, froyo, gingerbread) it isn't that big a deal to switch between them.
AND its not a "this is why Android wins" argument, as I am sure Apple feels like it is losing the war, after having sold what, 4+million devices last weekend?
for both android and ios net new activations is critical. replacing a 4 / 3gs / 3 or a hero with a galaxy s doesn't change market share.
4 million units is impressive and apple is great at building hype for their fans.
-- its a problem that Android has as a result of the open source nature of the OS. Not saying that is bad, but for the average end user it can be VERY confusing.
again I'll say in my experience the differences in usability between the mobile versions and their skins is no big deal.
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