It may have been more rocket-propelled grenade than thermonuclear, but in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller lambasted the Android mobile operating system saying that itโs โoften given as a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isnโt as good as an iPhone.โ All together now: Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he. He’s Apple’s marketing guy.ย
His words came just a day before Samsung is set to pull the covers off its highly-anticipatedย Galaxy S4 Android handset on Thursday.
Schiller dragged up some age-old arguments in the iOS/Android debate, saying that owners of Android handsets are often using old versions of the operating system and that fragmentation in the world of Googleโs mobile OS was โplain and simple.โ
Appleโs senior vice president of worldwide marketing told the WSJ that while Apple is responsible for all of its mobile hardware, as well as its iOS operating system, various elements of the Android system are pulled in from many different companies, in his opinion making for a less satisfying user experience.
โWhen you take an Android device out of the box, you have to sign up to nine accounts with different vendors to get the experience iOS comes with,โ Schiller said. โThey don’t work seamlessly together.โ
Schiller also let it be known during the interview that research carried out by the Cupertino company showed โfour times as many iPhone users switched from an Android phone than to an Android phone in the fourth quarter,โ the WSJ reported.
He also pointed out that research firm ChangeWave had found in a recent survey that around 75 percent of iPhone users said they were โvery satisfiedโ with their handset compared to around 50 percent of Android users.
What he didnโt mention was that Android accounted for about 70 percent of handset shipments worldwide in 2012, compared to around 19 percent for the iPhone, according to IDC. The research firm has also said that it believes next year Android will for the first time overtake the iPad in terms of sales.
Of course, the fact that Schillerโs words come just 24 hours before Samsung unveils the biggest threat to the iPhone โ the Galaxy S4 โ is no coincidence. The Apple executive is out to stir things up a bit, grab some headlines ahead of Samsungโs big day and try to keep Apple in the spotlight.
[Image: Apple]
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