Google Sees Android Surpassing iOS Developers
Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google remarked that Android is complacent about its progress and given time, it would be able to surpass Apple's iOS status in the smartphone market.
Schmidt made this remark during the LeWeb conference held in Paris. This remark was met with a moment of silence as skepticism lingered in the air. Despite that reception, Schmidt went on to explain the different factors on why he made this kind of remark. According to the Executive Chairman, "unit volume, Ice Cream Sandwich, lower price, and more vendors" contribute to making this claim as a logical conclusion for Android's place in the market. The smartphone market has so far been receptive of Android-based smartphones but if compared with Apple's iOS, it still has a long way to go. One major factor which could contribute greatly with Android's success would be the interest from programmers and developers. So far, Apple is still the top priority of programmers and developers worldwide.
The launch of Android 4.0 or better known as Android ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) will help the company in obtaining their goal for market dominance. Schmidt mentioned that "Ultimately, application vendors are driven by volume, and volume is favored by the open approach that Google is taking. There are so many manufacturers working to deliver Android phones globally. Whether you like Android or not, you will support that platform, and maybe you'll even deliver it first." Aside from unit volume, Schmidt also remarked that Android's principle of "open approach" would be more favorable in attracting more developers for their OS. Alongside this principle is the availability of other Google features like Gmail, Google Apps, Google+ Google Music, and Google Maps. Schmidt described this strategy mentioning that "All the interesting new applications are going to be some combination of social, mobile, and local and it's not a fad. Social, local, mobile has been true for humans for at least 10,000 years, so I don't think it's going to go away any time soon." As of the moment, there are approximately 200 million Android phones in use and 55,000 new Android phones are being activated in a daily basis. Despite the high volume of Android phones, Apple is still reaping bigger revenues in the smartphone market.
One of the most common criticisms that Android has received since it was release was that Android copied iOS features. This was brought up during the conference and Schmidt declined to give any comment on that issue and instead stated that "Android was founded before the iPhone was."