What is an IPhone Killer?
This phrase has been thrown around a lot by people, especially in the recent weeks with the launch of the Google branded, HTC built Nexus One. In the run up to the press conference for the launch of the phone, what with the well managed leaks of images and videos of the Nexus One, expectations ran high. Rumors flew thick and fast around the internet, of possible carriers, prices and features for the new phone.
However, when the phone was finally launched, people were eager to criticize the phone as being a letdown, a disappointment. Sure, It has a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, by far the most powerful chip powering any phone today, has a pretty sleek and light design, and the sporting the latest version of the Android OS, but it just wasn't an IPhone Killer.
One major complaint that a lot of people seemed to have was the lack of multi-touch, although they don't realize that Apple has multi-touch technology patent locked in the US, which means that anyone wanting to use multi-touch in its phones would have to receive permission from Apple, probably on payment of a massive fee, to do so. And lets face it, you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past decade to believe that Apple would license out this technology, even for a fee. Lets face it, the IPhone is their cash cow, and they aren't gonna do anything that could take away from it.
Also, my main question is, what exactly do people mean when they say IPhone Killer? Seems to be, they want a multi-touch phone, with a huge app store, availability on all carriers, both CDMA and GSM, all for a low low price of about 300$ or so. Are these people living in a dreamworld? Yes they most certainly are.
Lets face it, until Palm manages to challenge Apple's patent on multi touch, and this is probably gonna take ages, multi touch is out. A low price of 300$? Lets face it, sure Google is a massive search company, who has so many free offerings, but it is still, in the end, a corporation which needs to make a profit, and no company is going to sell a high end smartphone at a loss. An app store bigger than Apple's? Give it time, it will happen. The iphone and app store have been out for a long time now, and that alone guarantees that they will have a far larger catalog. The Android market has far easier acceptance, and its gonna get there, just give it some time, and i say this as a Computer Science major, the android is far nicer to develop for.
And for those people who need some convincing, check out this site
http://www.billshrink.com/blog/nexus-one-vs-iphone-droid-palm-pre-total-cost-of-ownership/
In fact, even thats off by a little, because if you were to buy the Nexus one upfront, you save even more money. You want a phone which costs 300$ only? While the Nexus one isn't there yet, it will save you upwards of 500$ over the standard 2 year period, and this is with the basic plan required. Go higher up the plans, and you save even more.
Lets face it people, both the Droid Eris, and the Nexus One are capable of taking on the IPhone, they offer you the kind of freedom that those poor suckers stuck on IPhone contracts can only dream of. And they will save you a lot more money, just have some faith and patience.