Google Drive has Scary Terms of Service

Google Drive launched not too long ago. The service is a searchable Dropbox alternative. It can search through your uploaded documents, even find text in scanned documents. But, there's one huge caveat, and it's why I won't be using the service (and neither should you). The terms of service. You know, that long list of legal text you don't read and click agree to, regardless of what it may say. Most of the time, they're innocent, but Google has once again gone back on their mantra of "don't be evil". Lesson learned, if they need a mantra like that, they're probably up to something.

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More Proof Android is a Stolen Product

I've posted before about how Google wasn't working on a touchscreen smartphone until Eric Schmidt laid eyes on the iPhone. Google took the idea of an app centric touchscreen smartphone from Apple, and ran with it. Needless to say, the people at Apple who worked hard over a few years on the design for iOS and the iPhone weren't too happy.

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Walter Isaason: Steve Jobs was Furious with Google

Yesterday, Larry Page, current CEO of Google, claimed that Steve Jobs was not actually mad with them. In fact, he said the whole "thermonuclear war" against Android was "for show". If you wanted another definition for scumbag, here's one: "man who tries to put words in a dead man's mouth". But hey, he could be right, no way to prove him wrong, right?

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iOS Gaining Marketshare Rapidly

iOS is still the top mobile operating system, as the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch are incredibly popular. But, when only considering smartphones, Android holds the number one spot. But, its time at the top may be coming to an end. Recently, Nielsen revealed in a survey that the iPhone made up 43% of all smartphones. This is s huge gain in marketshare, as the iPhone only held 32% of the market last year, and even less in years before. Android took 48% of the market this year, and Blackberry took up 5%, The rest is defined as "other" by Nielsen, although its probably primarily made up of Windows Phone 7.

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Google Makes More Money from iOS than Android

Google doesn't make money directly from sales of iOS devices, however they do make money from ad revenue and the use of Google maps in the iOS map app. As it turns out, the revenue they get from ads displayed on iOS devices, their iOS apps and Apples use of Google maps for the map app greatly exceeds the amount of money they make from Android. In fact, for every dollar Android makes them, iOS generates four dollars for Google. In other words, from a financial perspective Google would be smart to stop Android development and instead focus their efforts on improving their iOS applications. If they could increase use of their iOS apps, they'd be able to cover all the money they made off Android..

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Why Android Tablet Apps Suck

As if it wasn't bad enough for Android tablets. They already have far fewer apps than are available on iOS, but add on the fact that, according to PC Magazine, the apps suck. Sascha Segan, writer for PC Magazine, explained why the iPad is a clear winner in the app wars, and why they gave the iPad the honor of top tablet.

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Google+ Is Dead

I haven't even looked at my Google+ page in a while. When I just went, I saw nothing but blog posts from my own blog and a few others. It looks like news organizations are the only ones still using the service. Google+ has some great features, but creating a brand new social networking site is apparently more difficult than it seems. For potential users, it's like starting a new save file in a video game after playing for hours on end, there's just too much to leave behind. Despite the fact that I liked it, I'm not going to lament its passing. After all, while Google did do more to protect user privacy against other users, they still use user data as a product. The old saying regarding private data: "if you're not the customer, you're the product" was pretty much made for Google and Facebook. 

So, should we mourn the eventual death of Google+? Not really. Especially since Google's new privacy policy was designed to allow them more access to your private data across services. Google's not going to give up on their social network, but it's quite obvious that users have. 

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Just Another Reason Developers are Frustrated with Android

The above chart could require some explanation. What you have on the Y axis is the percentage of users who are using that version of their operating system. In general, adoption of a new operating system grows, then shrinks after the next OS is released. You can see a perfect (and nearly parabolic) example of that with iOS 4. It rose to nearly 100%, and then started dropping after the release of iOS 5, which has been growing even more rapidly than iOS 4. Their study only caught the drop of iOS 3, as it doesn't go that far back.

The other operating systems on there? Those don't look too clean, and there's a reason for that. Android devices don't see the same update process as iOS. On iOS, when it's updated, all iOS devices that can run the latest OS get it on release day. But for Android, users have to wait for their manufactures to create their own version of the OS. Worse yet, they're motivated to do just the opposite, forcing users to buy the next phone if they want an upgrade.

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Apple Ditching Google Maps Right Now

In Apple's new iPhoto app, you can take a look at the location your selected photo was taken on a map. If you've used iPhoto, you might have noticed that the maps look a bit different. That's because unlike previous mapping solutions built into iOS, the maps don't use Google Maps. Instead, they use OpenStreetMaps, and Apple's own map tile images. OSM provides great map data, and Apple apparently has their own, great looking map tile images. With just these two things, Apple could completely ditch Google Maps in iOS. Not only that, Apple has acquired Poly9 and C3 Technologies, enabling them to create amazingly detailed 3D maps that not even Google can offer. I'm sure Apple's looking forward to the day when they don't have to use their copycat competitors mapping service anymore.
via TheNextWeb

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New iOS Apps Outnumber Android 3:1

The App Store is bigger, and now it's growing faster too.

Flurry posted a study about the growth of new apps on iOS and Android. They found that during last month, there were three new iOS apps for every new Android app. iOS already has a lead over Android of over 150,000 apps, and now it's growing faster than Android as well. Consumer and developer interest for Android has been dropping for some time, and now the numbers are starting to reflect that. But why has Android interest been dropping?

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iPhone Holds Resale Value Best

Apple products always hold their resale value longer than their competition. Macs have been the biggest example of this. Sure, the price of a Mac may be a bit higher than competitive hardware, but they always have better features, and the resale value for an Apple computer is always much higher than the competition.

Turns out the same is true of the iPhone. Better quality, looks, longevity, and features will do that. Android phones are often out of date within a few days of release, let alone a few months down the road. Because of Android fragmentation, you can expect not to see many updates on even a newer Android phone. This lowers resale value considerably. Add into the fact that Android phones don't look as good as the iPhone, making them less desirable in general, and the fact that fact that Android phones are far more generic, you can bet that Android phones are going to be valued far less than iPhones 18 months after the purchase.

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Will Siri Change the Search Business?

In 2010, Steve Jobs was venting about the way that Google had copied iOS for Android. He said that Google's "Don't be evil" mantra was "bullshit". He also pointed out that Google had gotten into the phone business, Apple didn't get into the search business, that they had broken the trust between the two companies, not the other way around. 

Fast forward to late 2011, and Apple has, in a way, gotten into the search business. No, you can't search the web from Apple.com, but you can search the web with nothing more than your voice using Siri, and that's going to change a lot. 

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iOS Marketshare Increases at the cost of Android

Between Quarter 3 2011, and November, Apple saw a 17% increase in marketshare, up to 43%. Android marketshare has decreased by 13% in the same time period, which leaves Google's OS at 47%. Mind you, this is only cell phones, it's not including all iOS devices. All other mobile operating systems showed a decrease in marketshare during the time period.

These results don't even cover the increase in iOS marketshare over the holidays. On Christmas day, iOS saw 4.2 million activations, 1.6 million more than Android activations. Although, it's uncertain just how many of those iOS devices were iPhones.

Still, as you can see from the graph above, the trend is clear. iOS is becoming more popular every day. 

via AppleInsider

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.06% of Android Users on the Latest Version

Android fragmentation is a serious problem for Android users. It's one of the bigger reasons for Android's lack of big app developers. It's also the reason few people run the latest version of Android. Many Android devices are outdated at launch, and even those that aren't don't expect them to be running the latest version of the OS a year after release. Compare that to iOS 5, which still works on the 2+ year old 3GS.

Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android, is currently on .06% of devices. That's 6 in 10,000 people. Most Android users are actually using a version of Android 2, which is two generations old. In comparison, one month after iOS 5 was released, it was on 40% of iPhones, and even available on the much older iPhone 3GS. Thanks to Android fragmentation, you're guaranteed to be behind the technology curve, either as soon as you buy the device, or soon after.
via Gizmodo and cnet

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iOS Beats out Android this Christmas

On Christmas day, Apple saw 4.2 million new device activations. That's a whopping number of new customers on just one day. Android saw 2.6 million device activations on Christmas. That means this Christmas, iOS saw 1.6 million more new users than Android. 

Of course, this only accounts for Christmas day activations. I know many people were probably too busy with their families on Christmas to activate their new devices. Still, it's a good estimation of holiday sales of iOS and Android devices. 

via AppleInsider

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Apple Granted Patent that will Hurt Android

Things aren't looking so good for Android. Many of the features of the OS were originally suspected to have been copied from iOS. Android was very different before the release of the first iPhone. Also, Google's Eric Schmidt was a board member at Apple, and had an early look at the iPhone. It has been reported that he then went back to Google to get them working on a touch based version of Android, with plenty of features inspired by the iPhone.
Now that Apple's patents are finally getting approval, they're building up an arsenal to use in legal battles against Android manufacturers, and even Google itself.

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App Store Downloads Exceed Android Marketplace Downloads

It's a well known fact that the number of apps on the iOS App Store far exceed the number of apps on the Android Marketplace. But are users downloading those apps, or are they mostly not worth downloading?

As it turns out, iOS users really love the App Store. The App Store sees more downloads for the iPad alone than all Android devices on the entire Android Marketplace. The iPhone accounts for 4 times more downloads from the App Store and all the Android devices download from the Marketplace. With all those active users, it's no wonder most developers prefer iOS.

The iOS App Store is larger, growing faster, and iOS users download far more apps than Android users. On top of that, the App Store doesn't have malware or security issues, as the Android Marketplace does. All things considered, the App Store is better than the Android Marketplace in almost every way, both for users and developers.
via MacObserver

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Why Android Feels Laggy, and Always Will

One thing iOS users are surprised by when using an Android device is the lag experienced in the user interface. After doing a gesture, tapping an app icon, or tapping a link, you'll notice some lag between the time the touch was done, and the action was performed. On iOS, you notice that touches are interpreted immediately. It's so quick, I've already accused my iPhone of mind reading. So why does Android lag behind, where iOS excels?

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More on Carrier IQ, the Phone Tracker

Yesterday, Carrier IQ (CIQ) was demonstrated on an Android handset. The software allowed your carrier to collect everything their users did with their phones, from sending and receiving texts, phone calls, the keys people pressed, usernames and passwords, and even encrypted searches (without encryption). You can find the original story, as well as the demonstration video here.
Now there have been a few updates to this story. Not all phones have it, some unexpected ones do, and as it turns out, Carrier IQ isn't the sole bad-guy here.

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iPhone Most Popular Smartphone

A recent study done by the Nielsen Company revealed that the iPhone is still the most popular smartphone. However, despite this, there are more smartphones running Android than iOS. This is because Apple is the only distributer of iOS, whereas Android is on a variety of manufacturers and carriers.

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