5 ms·

Yawn, Google Introduces iPhone Clone

25 points by sid- 17y ago

philk 17y ago
A couple of things in that article stood out as particularly flawed: "Meanwhile, Apple is getting ready to announce an entirely new iteration of its iPhone in three weeks — the tablet — that will likely make every other player in the market look like a laggard — again." The tablet is aimed at a different niche than the "mobile phone/mp3 player" space. Very few are going to buy a tablet and ditch their phone. "Why didn’t Google subsidize the Nexus One so it was half the price of an iPhone, instead of the same price?" Perhaps because they like making money?
- bugs 17y ago
  Perhaps because they like making money? It is probably more likely that they don't see apple and the iphone as a direct threat and are instead trying to corner the market on the other three major phone networks in the US.
- wildjim 17y ago
  You could also argue that the tablet market is already interesting despite Apple -- e.g. Lenovo's Skylight, ChromeOS, other Android tablets (e.g. Archos') and even Nokia's venerable N800 series. And that's ignoring fully Windows/Linux capable systems like Samsung's Q1's, and Viliv's range.
  - philk 17y ago
    True. Although if Apple produces as much of a leap forward with its tablet as it did with the iPhone it'll probably make most of the existing market look archaic.
davidw 17y ago
Sort of like "Yawn, Microsoft introduces clone of Mac called 'Windows'". But with less evil and more open source.
- blintson 17y ago
  No, with more evil. They introduced open source so Intellectual Ventures could sue the writers for patent infringement.
pyre 17y ago
I really hate these arguments. The argument basically comes down to this: No one should make *any* smartphones unless they can immediately top the iPhone. If you can't top the iPhone on day one, then just don't bother competing at all. It's one thing to call out hype. It's another thing entirely to say, "X is over-hyped therefore it shouldn't exist." > But it’s still effectively tied to the smallish T-Mobile cell phone network. No it's not. So far as I can tell, you can use it on AT&T's network. The only catch is the you can't use AT&T's 3G with it. But this seems to be a one or the other choice. AT&T and T-Mobile apparently use different frequencies for their 3G (T-Mobile's is non-standard), and no one seems to be putting out phone that support both (in my limited research on the topic). This leads me to believe that there must only be chips that support one or the other. In that case, there's no pleasing everyone. If you choose AT&T, you'll piss off a bunch of people, but you'll also piss off a bunch of people if you choose T-Mobile. > And the Nexus One lacks the convenience of being connected to iTunes. So... the only phone that will ever appease you will, by definition, need to be an Apple-branded phone. > The Android app store is a fifth the size of Apple’s. It's the quality, not the quantity of the apps that matters. Comparing on size alone is useless. There have been a number of articles on the number of crappy and rehashed apps that get poured into the AppStore marketplace by people hoping to use the shotgun approach to AppStore success. And how exactly is Google supposed to remedy this with the launch of a phone? Make the phone iPhone-compatible and hack their way into AppStore access? > Meanwhile, Apple is getting ready to announce an entirely new iteration of its iPhone in three weeks — the tablet — that will likely make every other player in the market look like a laggard — again. This is the stupidest thing I have read lately. > Why didn’t Google offer a phone with both a GSM and a CDMA radio that would work on any U.S. cell phone network? It's not that simple. See the GSM 3G comments above. I thought that there used to be GSM/CDMA chips. Maybe they were part of that whole Qualcomm lawsuit a few years ago?
- storborg 17y ago
  "The only catch is the you can't use AT&T's 3G with it." That would effectively cripple the phone. So while it may be possible to use on other networks, it's really only practical to use on T-Mobile.
  - 17y ago
mrbad101 17y ago
I'm really really excited to get mine. I've had the 3g Iphone for almost 2 years now, and I cannot wait to stop using it. Maybe its just the developer inside me screaming, but I cannot deal with Apple and how they deal with the guys who are really making the iphone popular -- the programmers.
gnoupi 17y ago
I guess one just had to make his "counter-article" to the flow of "wow, amazing google phone!!" we see recently. Of course in itself it's pretty much only a rant, with fallacious arguments, but it fulfills its goal of generating a lot of "how can you say that it's stupid" answers. I mean, I even clicked on it just for the sake of the title, like probably many did. Mission accomplished, so, people click and react on it.
Tichy 17y ago
It's a smartphone. They existed before the iPhone. Even app stores existed before the iPhone - at least in Europe, some companies made millions by selling J2ME apps for "classic phones". They discredited themselves by exploiting gullible teenagers, but still. For all I know, they might still be raking in the big money - they certainly still do TV ads. What exactly makes a phone an iPhone clone?
- gnoupi 17y ago
  The iPhone is a smartphone with a touch screen, The Nexus is a smartphone with a touch screen, Therefore the Nexus is an iPhone :)
third 17y ago
Gotta admit. I want one, not because I see it better than X, but rather because on it's own it's an awesome phone. I just had hoped that it would be released with a version compatible with AT&T's 3G network. HTC is manufacturing a CDMA capable phone, and do make phones for AT&T so why not produce a second GSM version compatible with AT&T? Unless AT&T works hard to get a very nice android phone soon, I'm likely to switch carriers.

25 points by sid- 17y ago

philk 17y ago

A couple of things in that article stood out as particularly flawed: "Meanwhile, Apple is getting ready to announce an entirely new iteration of its iPhone in three weeks — the tablet — that will likely make every other player in the market look like a laggard — again." The tablet is aimed at a different niche than the "mobile phone/mp3 player" space. Very few are going to buy a tablet and ditch their phone. "Why didn’t Google subsidize the Nexus One so it was half the price of an iPhone, instead of the same price?" Perhaps because they like making money?

bugs 17y ago
Perhaps because they like making money? It is probably more likely that they don't see apple and the iphone as a direct threat and are instead trying to corner the market on the other three major phone networks in the US.
wildjim 17y ago
You could also argue that the tablet market is already interesting despite Apple -- e.g. Lenovo's Skylight, ChromeOS, other Android tablets (e.g. Archos') and even Nokia's venerable N800 series. And that's ignoring fully Windows/Linux capable systems like Samsung's Q1's, and Viliv's range.
- philk 17y ago
  True. Although if Apple produces as much of a leap forward with its tablet as it did with the iPhone it'll probably make most of the existing market look archaic.

davidw 17y ago

Sort of like "Yawn, Microsoft introduces clone of Mac called 'Windows'". But with less evil and more open source.

blintson 17y ago
No, with more evil. They introduced open source so Intellectual Ventures could sue the writers for patent infringement.

pyre 17y ago

I really hate these arguments. The argument basically comes down to this: No one should make *any* smartphones unless they can immediately top the iPhone. If you can't top the iPhone on day one, then just don't bother competing at all. It's one thing to call out hype. It's another thing entirely to say, "X is over-hyped therefore it shouldn't exist." > But it’s still effectively tied to the smallish T-Mobile cell phone network. No it's not. So far as I can tell, you can use it on AT&T's network. The only catch is the you can't use AT&T's 3G with it. But this seems to be a one or the other choice. AT&T and T-Mobile apparently use different frequencies for their 3G (T-Mobile's is non-standard), and no one seems to be putting out phone that support both (in my limited research on the topic). This leads me to believe that there must only be chips that support one or the other. In that case, there's no pleasing everyone. If you choose AT&T, you'll piss off a bunch of people, but you'll also piss off a bunch of people if you choose T-Mobile. > And the Nexus One lacks the convenience of being connected to iTunes. So... the only phone that will ever appease you will, by definition, need to be an Apple-branded phone. > The Android app store is a fifth the size of Apple’s. It's the quality, not the quantity of the apps that matters. Comparing on size alone is useless. There have been a number of articles on the number of crappy and rehashed apps that get poured into the AppStore marketplace by people hoping to use the shotgun approach to AppStore success. And how exactly is Google supposed to remedy this with the launch of a phone? Make the phone iPhone-compatible and hack their way into AppStore access? > Meanwhile, Apple is getting ready to announce an entirely new iteration of its iPhone in three weeks — the tablet — that will likely make every other player in the market look like a laggard — again. This is the stupidest thing I have read lately. > Why didn’t Google offer a phone with both a GSM and a CDMA radio that would work on any U.S. cell phone network? It's not that simple. See the GSM 3G comments above. I thought that there used to be GSM/CDMA chips. Maybe they were part of that whole Qualcomm lawsuit a few years ago?

storborg 17y ago
"The only catch is the you can't use AT&T's 3G with it." That would effectively cripple the phone. So while it may be possible to use on other networks, it's really only practical to use on T-Mobile.
- 17y ago

mrbad101 17y ago

I'm really really excited to get mine. I've had the 3g Iphone for almost 2 years now, and I cannot wait to stop using it. Maybe its just the developer inside me screaming, but I cannot deal with Apple and how they deal with the guys who are really making the iphone popular -- the programmers.

gnoupi 17y ago

I guess one just had to make his "counter-article" to the flow of "wow, amazing google phone!!" we see recently. Of course in itself it's pretty much only a rant, with fallacious arguments, but it fulfills its goal of generating a lot of "how can you say that it's stupid" answers. I mean, I even clicked on it just for the sake of the title, like probably many did. Mission accomplished, so, people click and react on it.

Tichy 17y ago

It's a smartphone. They existed before the iPhone. Even app stores existed before the iPhone - at least in Europe, some companies made millions by selling J2ME apps for "classic phones". They discredited themselves by exploiting gullible teenagers, but still. For all I know, they might still be raking in the big money - they certainly still do TV ads. What exactly makes a phone an iPhone clone?

gnoupi 17y ago
The iPhone is a smartphone with a touch screen, The Nexus is a smartphone with a touch screen, Therefore the Nexus is an iPhone :)

third 17y ago

Gotta admit. I want one, not because I see it better than X, but rather because on it's own it's an awesome phone. I just had hoped that it would be released with a version compatible with AT&T's 3G network. HTC is manufacturing a CDMA capable phone, and do make phones for AT&T so why not produce a second GSM version compatible with AT&T? Unless AT&T works hard to get a very nice android phone soon, I'm likely to switch carriers.