Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) were once favorite friends. When Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board of directors, though, the gloves came off. With Apple's venerable and extremely popular iPhone selling for $99 (for the base edition), Google's "Android" phones -- made by several manufacturers and sold by many carriers -- have not matched those low Apple prices. Not any more.
Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy (BBY) is selling the Samsung Moment and the HTC Hero for $99 through December -- matching Apple's iPhone pricing for a two-year contract. That's with no rebates, either. So, the question is this: will Google's Android-powered phones start gaining traction on the iPhone? With AT&T's (T) penchant for poor service and for exorbitant calling plan prices, this may be enough to get those on the iPhone fence switching over to a touchscreen Android phone.
With all the talk of Google being Microsoft's (MSFT) biggest competitor, how about Apple? Google has said in almost every quarterly conference call that mobile was a space integral to its existence -- and with the plethora of devices running its mobile operating system coming out now, should Apple be concerned? How many more iPhones can Apple sell by adding upgrade upon upgrade and not reinventing the mobile experience yet again like it did in June 2007?
Hard to say, but Google may be Apple's largest competitor in the next few years unless Microsoft shakes up the paradigm a bit with a new mobile operating system. So far, Microsoft is way behind in the mobile space. Even as the personal computer arena continues being somewhat lackluster, the innovative competition in the mobile space is just now getting started.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2009 @ 12:25PM
Blev said...
The iPhone market dominance is safe. Apple has made the smartphone market about applications. I now have applications that I use everyday like NeuroMobile and others and would not switch to another phone even if the handset was marginally better. Until the other phones have the most popular iPhone apps available on their platforms it will be difficult for them to compete.