Samdroids

For the past few months, I was carrying the T-Mobile version of the Galaxy S II, the Samsung phone featured in this awesome commercial that I can't stop watching and laughing at.

A few days ago, my friends at Google sent me the new Galaxy Nexus. So I switched, which is super easy if you use Google's cloud services. Just pop the sim card in the new phone, login with your Google credentials and all the magic happens over the air.

The two phones are very similar. They both have huge beautful screens. Reading on them feels like reading on small tablet. I prefer the menu buttons at the bottom of the Galaxy S II, but that could just be a matter of getting used to the different ones on the Galaxy Nexus.

I prefer the Nexus series because they come with a clean build of Android on them without any carrier add-ons. But I was able to reconfigure my Galaxy S II without too much work.

I would highly recommend either of these samdroid phones. They are both awesome. The ad says it all in my mind.

#Web/Tech

Comments (Archived):

  1. Bendrappla

    I need to decide in the next 3 days what is my next smart phone – iphone 4s or Galaxy…. Someone told me about the iphone that once you try, you are never going back. What is your experience? 

    1. fredwilson

      i’ve used an iphone a few timesandroid is more meit’s a personal decisioni’m a geek. i want a phone i can hack.

      1. matjen

        Fred given your multiple posts on this topic and stated desires I wondered why you never had the T-Mobile G2x?  It seemed at the time to be the perfect fit for you.  You influenced me greatly and it is one of the reasons I picked it up when it came out and dumped my AT&T iphone 3GS.  Love the phone except for the battery.  Just wonderin’

        1. fredwilson

          I just missed it I guess

      2. kenberger

        The biggest pull of Android is “let 1000 flowers bloom”. The hardware industry around this has truly blossomed, and there are extremely frequent and diverse product releases to suit most every need. iPhone couldn’t be more opposite, regardless of how nice whatever their 1 current phone model is.The second pull (for me) is the openness and hackability. The difference between “jailbreak” and “hack” follows the difference in violence between those 2 words. Apple takes a “don’t fck with the blackbox” approach, much like SJobs advocated for the Apple product line for a long time. Android is much more geek-friendly, there’s plenty you can do with the accesible Linux system even without rooting.

    2. andyswan

      I’ve tried iPhone twice.  Went back twice.  But that was mostly due to AT&T dropping every call.

      1. Rohan

        Huge difference on better networks! 

      2. Dave Pinsen

        That experience probably varies geographically. I’m using AT&T with mine and get better reception now than I did with my old Nokia with Verizon.

      3. panterosa,

        No Kidding on the annoyance. The droppage is huge around Union Square (where I live), which makes no sense at all.But I can’t be bothered to switch. It’s a phone after all.

      4. candice

        This past mardi gras one very common “costume” was someone trying to get a connection on an iphone.   Nola gets an extra half-million or so people a couple of weeks out of the year and AT&T croaks.

  2. Dave Pinsen

    I got a an iPhone 4S recently for business reasons, but that is a great commercial. Some Apple adherents weren’t too happy about it when All Things D blogged about the commercial a couple of weeks ago.

  3. JimHirshfield

    Auction off the older phone?What do you do with all your “old” handsets?

    1. Dave Pinsen

      There’s a company for that: Gazelle. There are probably others too, but I’ve seen the commercial for that one.

      1. JimHirshfield

        Thx Dave. Checked it out. Not sure how they’re different from selling myself on eBay or Craigslist.

    2. fredwilson

      My friend Jimmy is getting the galaxy s 2He is still on blackberryConverting one at a time!

      1. JimHirshfield

        For a second there I thought this Jimmy was gettin’ some bling bling.boo hoo. 🙁

      2. Kyle S

        Fred, could you give one to the CIO of my company?  We are a BB-only shop, in large part due to a huge outage caused by a small number of iPhones who updated to iOS 3.0 the day it was released (there was a bug in the release that caused the phones to spam our Exchange servers with requests until they died). So we remain wedded to BB architecture for its “outage free reliability.” Heh.

    3. jason wright

      Ebay.

  4. RichardF

    Love my Galaxy S2, it’s awesome, haven’t got around to rooting it yet.  The hd video on it is amazingIt’s completely converted me to android, so much so that Santa is bringing me a Galaxy 10.1 tab.

    1. Mark Essel

      Are there decent tablet apps now?

      1. RichardF

        For what I’m going to use it for Mark (consuming) I think there are enough. I wish Flipboard was on Android but I don’t see that happening for a while yet.

        1. Mark Essel

          No doubt Flipboard will cross the chasm. If not there will be plenty of rich html5 browsing webzine apps to fill consumer demand. I’m a sucker for a sweet UI.

          1. William Mougayar

            I just downloaded Flipboard on iPhone & they nailed it. It’s bee yoo tee ful.

        2. Aaron Berlin

          Not too long ago, All Things D leaked news of a Google “Flipboard Killer,” the launch of which was supposed to be imminent, but has yet to materialize.  But, yes, there are lots of great Honeycomb/ICS tablet apps.

          1. RichardF

            I hoping that it is on it’s way.  I use feedly to access google reader at the moment on my pc and mobile, I haven’t seen what it looks like on a tablet.

          2. Aaron Berlin

            And… there it is.

      2. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        ANDROID FOR PEOPLE THAT NOT CARE ABOUT APPS.

  5. Dennis Buizert

    Currently stuck with my HTC  Desire. And I have to say switching from Samsung to HTC was a big mistake. HTC releases so many phones per year that their support drops real quick and they forget about it. The battery on this phone is so bad I am glad when I reach about 9 hours of use on it. My younger brother has the SII and I wish I would have it. It is so much better. Sadly carriers here in NLD drop a ton of random crap on the phone. And removing stuff could result in loss of warranty. I love the commercial also, I have seen it a few times and it shows how simple something can be to get back at a company like Apple. Reminds me of the BMW vs Mercedes commercials from way way back. 

  6. Milan Mody

    Waiting for the 32 gig Galaxy Nexus to release in India. Anyone know if i can load stock android on galaxy s2 ? 

  7. William Mougayar

    Of all the key factors vs. the iPhone, the one factor that’s Apple’s weakness is price. Yet, a high-end Android is still about the same price as an iPhone, right?. On distribution, software apps, features, marketing, it’s a horse race more or less.So why aren’t iPhone-comparable Androids cheaper? If they were, I think they would capture even more market share.

    1. fredwilson

      An unlocked new iPhone (unsubsidized) is something like $700 at apple.com An unlocked new Galaxy S 2 is less than $400Big difference but you are still rightWhen Samsung can put out an unlocked phone like the galaxy s2 for less than $200 its game change

      1. Christopher McManus

        Hardly anyone buys phones unsubsidized.  From the consumers’ standpoint, the iPhone and Galaxy are the same price. The risk is that the carriers will see less value in Apple over time and be un-willing to shoulder the higher phone costs and lower margins vs. Samsung. As long as this market dynamic holds, Samsung can’t win on price.  The iPhone 4S will migrate down to $0 on contract. 

        1. ShanaC

          If we can get to $100 we can get customers to go unsubsidized.  The question is how.

          1. jason wright

            Huewai, that’s how. It’s coming next year with much cheaper smart phones.

          2. William Mougayar

            I tried their 200 $ Android last year just out of curiosity to see what u get for that much. Crappy low quality doesn’t begin to describe it. They’d need to leapfrog their products. They are giving Cisco good competition in the enterprise market, but consumer is another ball game.

          3. ShanaC

            But they can’t crappy, as William says. I think the pricepoint is doable in noncrappy, I just can’t tell you when

        2. fredwilson

          i guess i am in the 1% in more ways that onei never buy anything other than an unsubsidized phone

        3. FAKE GRIMLOCK

          THIS WHY CARRIERS SELLING OLD MODEL IPHONE LIKE HOTCAKES.CONSUMER THAT NOT CARE ABOUT PRICE BUY 4S.CONSUMER THAT DO BUY OLD ONE. FOR THEM IT STILL BETTER THAN DROID AT SAME PRICE.FOR WIN NEED DROID THAT DRAMATICALLY BETTER THAN NEW IPHONE, SAME OR LESS PRICE.NOT SEE THAT HAPPEN EVER.

      2. Mark Essel

        I looked into this and it was around $550 at Best Buy, same on Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/Samsu…

      3. Reddy_s

        IPhone GROWTH RATE  is reaching saturation point in US  if we take next 3 to 5 year time horizon.  Here I list couple of reason why Apple Iphone growth is in trouble  for next 3 years.1/ I would argue Apple IPhone thrived last 3 years due to lack of worthy alternative , Given Android caught-up in features and quality phones Iphone Edge is fast eroding.2/ World wide Symbian 16.9% Smart phone market(as of today) share will convert to MS Windows phone market share in  2 yearas  given  Microsoft tieup with NOKIA Share of worldwide 2011 Q3 SMARTPhone SALES to end users by operating system, according to Gatner.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…Android:   52.5% Symbian:  16.9%RIM :         11% apple IOS:   15% Microsoft:     1.5%3/ Iphone penetration is minimal in China  and India ,  the two major mobile fast growing countries due to the price sensitiviy of these markets.   NOKIA,  Samsung , LG , HTC , BlackBerry carry close to 70% market share in both China and India.   Majority of them are still FEATURE phones in INDIA and CHINA ,  in the coming  2 to 3 years all these fearue phone will be convered to ANDROID and WINDOWS ( by NOKia ) Phones .  India/China Combined market 3 years fron now looks some thing like this:  Android: 50% , Widows: 20% , Apple: 8%   4/ Here is the sample of  ANDROID phones that are selling in INDIA there days. This web site is like ‘Amazon.com of India ‘    http://bit.ly/uc5M6NSamsung Galaxy Y S5360   Price: $145 ( no Contract unlocked phone ) , look at 4.5 Rating of 630 people , highly Rated product . If you read reviews you realize how much people love these BUDGET AnDROID phones.  – Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS  – 2 MP Primary Camera  – 3-inch TFT Touchscreen  – FM Radio  – Wi-Fi Enabled

    2. FAKE GRIMLOCK

      IT SIMPLE.APPLE GIVE BILLIONS TO FACTORY TO BUILD NEW FABS, LOCK IN NEW TECHNOLOGY.RESULT IS APPLE GET CUTTING EDGE MANUFACTURING TECH YEARS BEFORE ANYONE ELSE, AT CHEAPER COST.THAT MEAN COST TO BUILD PHONE AS GOOD AS IPHONE IS HIGHER FOR EVERYONE NOT NAMED APPLE.ONLY WAY TO MATCH PRICE OF IPHONE IS USE LOWER QUALITY PARTS, OR MAKE LOTS LESS MONEY.

      1. LE

        I’ve wondered a bit about that meme about Apple and their factories (that you refer to). About buying machines buying up inventory etc.. I’m wondering to what extent it’s FUD aimed at their competitors to keep them out of the game or instill fear. “ONLY WAY TO MATCH PRICE OF IPHONE IS USE LOWER QUALITY PARTS, OR MAKE LOTS LESS MONEY.”Getting a story planted like that and giving it lift isn’t that hard. (I mean if you were developing a new weapon system wouldn’t you want your enemy to think it was 15 years in the making? You wouldn’t want them to think that you had come up with it in 6 months or anything, right?)

        1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

          IT BACKED BY FACTS. IF WHAT TECH NEWS, STORIES ALL THE TIME ABOUT APPLE INVEST IN NEW PLANT OR LOCK UP COMPONENTS.ALUMINUM UNIBODY PROCESS FOR AIR, MACBOOK GOOD EXAMPLE. APPLE INVEST LOTS TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE, NO ONE ELSE ALLOWED TO HAVE FOR FEW YEARS.FOR SOME REASON DISQUS NOT LET ME POST LINKS. CAN FIND WITH GOOGLING.

          1. LE

            “NOT LET ME POST LINKS” No, I know about all those stories. And I’m not saying they are not true or that there isn’t some truth in them. I just mean I am always skeptical of ulterior motives. (Similar to ways of doing hacking with social engineering you set up the victim by distraction etc.)While keeping in mind what happened many years ago with Francis Gary Powers and the U2, after hearing that the Drone was shot down over IRAN I still think it could just as easily been a setup to leak misinformation on the drone technology device into the hands of the enemy. Or a virus (ala centrifuge hacking etc.) trojan horse (physical like the real thing) All I’m saying is it’s possible. (Sure and I know we lost a heli on the invasion for Osama but how do we know that didn’t have a purpose either?)I mean you would think there would be some kill switch to blow it up, right? http://www.nytimes.com/2011…

  8. Rohan

    ‎’Don’t let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.’ | Eckhart Tolle–No comments on the post since I love the seamless phone of my iPhone and I tend to be more a life  ‘geek’ than a tech geek (Definition of geek: http://www.alearningaday.co… )And, with my life geekiness in mind, I hope you enjoyed the quote. Have a great wednesday! 🙂

  9. Martin De Saulles

    I agree that the Galaxy SII is a great phone. Do these large screen smart phones make 7″ tablets redundant? I still use my iPad2 but not sure I can see a use for smaller screen tablets when a phone has a 4.5″ screen.

  10. jason wright

    I have an ‘Amoi’ handset – don’t ask.In Japanese it means something like ‘joyful’ or ‘lovely’.

  11. leigh

    Fav line in commercial:  I could never get a Samsung.  I’m creative.  — Dude your a barista.  

    1. fredwilson

      First time I saw this was in a movie theaterI almost spit out my diet coke when the barista line cameIt says everything I have always felt about apple fanboys in three short words

      1. RichardF

        engag.ed

      2. panterosa,

        I almost spit out my chai right now! And I’m an apple girl.My BF races his droid against my iPhone, it’s a tie over time.(like when my wasband and I used to race the take out guys from two restaurants….)I think ‘barista’ is the new dis.

      3. Mark Essel

        Crafting fine beverages is a distinguished field, don’t discount the value of a well crafted coffee, or the wisdom of a good bartender.I’m thankful for Androids, Blackberry was terrible competition.

        1. William Mougayar

          I’m going to conduct my own survey & next time I’m at a coffee shops, I will ask the barista what smartphone they have.

          1. RichardF

            I’d make sure you ask the barista after he has given you the coffee if I were you 🙂

          2. leigh

            ha! having worked in the service industry through my teens and twenty what i’ll say is, never piss someone off who is touching your food.

          3. JLM

            Have you read The Help?  Or seen the movie?

          4. leigh

            No.  I was forced into watching cowboys vs. aliens just last night instead of the Help (don’t ask)Why?  I’ve heard it’s great but honestly don’t even know what it’s about really.

          5. David Petersen

            Baristas tend to be poor.  So I’m guessing whatever phone is cheapest.

          6. panterosa,

            Why not ask GRIMLOCK? Maybe he can tell which phone barista has after he eats them. 

          7. William Mougayar

            Lol

          8. JamesHRH

            He spits out the Samdriods and swallows the Apples!

          9. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            ME TRY NOT TO EAT HUMANS WITH IPHONES.NEED HIGH QUALITY BREEDING STOCK FOR NEXT GENERATION OF DINNER.

        2. Rohan

          Agree with you 100%.It’s an art. Like most other things done insanely well. 

        3. panterosa,

          Yes there are beverage people for whom it is a talent and an art. For the rest, the overwhelming majority, it’s a paycheck.

          1. Mark Essel

            I could say the same of every profession.

      4. kidmercury

        the real travesty is that you paid some preposterous price to go watch a movie (thanks to dollar devaluation) and are treated like a captive audience subjected to commercials. granted, this one actually had humor value, but most don’t. the movie experience is ripe for disruption. 

        1. ShanaC

          Why?  Why are we all so against ads?

          1. SubstrateUndertow

            Because they are a seriously annoying form of environmental pollution!Everything they supposedly help pay for is ultimately paid for indirectly by all of us.Sooner or later they will be dis-intermediated.

          2. matthughes

            I’m against bad ads.I love great ads. 

          3. ShanaC

            we need more out of our online ads

          4. matthughes

            I couldn’t agree more.Online ads are a wreck.

          5. ShanaC

            They’re getting significantly better. Creative after all this time still isn’t used to the web, alas. That is also getting better, but not as much as targeting. (now if only targeting thought I was female and not male…need to read more girly fashion sites again to keep ads in balance)

          6. kidmercury

            it’s more so the mentality and approach that i’m against. a movie trailer is an ad but i love those. seeing an ad for AT&T……that’s not what i paid for. i don’t entirely blame the studios though, it is largely a by-product of a broken economy (like reduced quality of source material, and smaller packaging, in food product)

          7. LE

            “that’s not what i paid for”It reduced the price of the movie which you were watching to less than it would be without.  

          8. LE

            A few thoughts.1) Traditional media has a “last man over the bridge”  attitude so they might be inclined to rile people up against any new form of advertising that might chip away at the existing forms which they benefit from. (I could actually argue either side of this so I’m just throwing it out as a possibility. After all they certainly did much for the adoption of the Internet, right?)2) People are narcissistic and think it’s all about them. They don’t believe they should have to have any sacrifice even by having to watch an ad if it benefits someone else (even though it benefits them in many cases.). Look at @kidmercury:disqus comment above “the real travesty is that you paid some preposterous price to go watch a movie (thanks to dollar devaluation) “. I mean imagine they are really raking it in in theaters and soaking everyone (not the case the popcorn and ads keep the prices more reasonable then they would be without.) 3) We tend to grandfather in existing forms of advertising as being ok. Example: to this day many web designers put links on pages they design and people accept that as “the way it’s done” because they’ve seen it elsewhere. It’s an ad, right?We used to distribute a coupon book on college campus’s in the 90’s. Many students found them valuable and used them and loved that it saved them money. Other students made snide comments that it was a waste of paper that we were killing trees or something like that. Of course there was no waste in the beer cans and bottles that they drank from, right? They couldn’t see anything from someone else’s perspective. 

        2. fredwilson

          you gotta get there early to get a good seat. at least they entertain you.

          1. Mordy Kaplinsky

            Good to see entertaining and relevant commercials at a movie theater. In all my years I just sat through them as the evil prerequisites to the real thing.

      5. ShanaC

        Why aren’t more people technology agnostic?  What is it about apple that makes people say “it is the best”It may not be the best for your needs.  That is why plurality of choices are so important.

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          What is it about apple that makes people say “it is the best”Whether that is still true is a matter of opinion for sure but there is certainly a fair amount of objective historical inertia to that perception.

        2. Bill Houle

          I totally agree Shana, but it is not quite so unilateral. There are just as many “fandroids” arguing the other way, as there are “fanboys” bowing at the Apple altar. “Personal computing” evangelism is a very interesting phenomenon, and there is a reason the debates are often equated to religion. Funny, I never get into a what-is-best argument over my car or TV. People need to realize that there really is no “best”, only “best for you”. There are no absolutes when it comes to personal choice. And thankfully, we have those choices available; we are grateful for the competition.

          1. LE

             “Funny, I never get into a what-is-best argument over my car or TV. “People use to do that back in the day though. Ford vs. Chevy truck. Mustang vs. Camaro. vs. Firebird.  There were drag races over at the seedy part of town.

          2. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            FIREBIRD IS HOT CAR YOU WISH YOU HAD.CAMARO IS CHEAP SLUTTY CAR YOU END UP BUYING INSTEAD.MUSTANG IS SPUNKY BEST FRIEND SHOULD HAVE GONE WITH IN FIRST PLACE.

          3. ShanaC

            People still do drag race (I know a former drag racer)

          4. JamesHRH

            I grew up in a place and time where your truck said A LOT about you.In the 1990’s, when I was selling ads to the largest single site GM dealer in Western Canada – based in Watrous SK, pop. 2000 ( they sold trucks all over the place, it was an awesome operation ) – I had the following conversation with the Dealer:Me – ‘Jeez, to a non-truck driving, city-boy doofus like me, those new RAM trucks are nasty looking. Lots of sizzle there.’Gerald – ‘Yeah, but you would still be driving a Dodge.’Case closed.

          5. fltron

            Nicely said.

          6. ShanaC

            Right. And I think it would serve personal computing better if we stopped the fanboi/fangirl ism and did start talking about real personal needs. I think it would drive a lot better UX in both software and hardware, especially in modular software and hardware.

        3. gorbachev

          “What is it about apple that makes people say “it is the best””It makes you feel like you’re part of the hip clique. It’s just like in high school.

        4. Tom

          Being technology agnostic doesn’t mean you should be blind to the differences between products because of what logo’s on the back. The whole pro-Apple / anti-Apple discussion ignores that. Not buying an iPhone because it’s an Apple product is just as silly as buying it because it’s an Apple product.I carry both an iPhone and Android because of work. I like both phones but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t pick one as the (currently) better option if I had to. The logo on the back doesn’t change how the screen on the front succeeds in doing its job.

          1. ShanaC

            Of course, but this attitude doesn’t drive phone buys.

        5. LE

          “Why aren’t more people technology agnostic?”Apple is great but it also has much to do with “satisficing”.http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…For example, maybe not so true today but some time ago you couldn’t go wrong by simply buying a Sony. You would overpay a little but they made good products (and still do but there is more competition) and if you went with the Sony you didn’t fall to far.Added: It’s efficient to use this strategy. Maybe the best hotel in a particular place isn’t a Four Seasons or Fairmount but it makes for a quick decision – a known entity.

          1. JamesHRH

            I agree. The fanboy thing is overblown. I am a fanboy of Apple market position. ‘Turn it on and it just works’ I believe @fredwilson has said.Apple is now the 1990 version of IBM, except it’s consumers who feel ‘you never get fired for buying IBM’.The hipster doofus Apple fanboys exist, but my non-hipster household has 2 iMacs, 1 MacBook, 1MacAir, 2 iPad 2s, 2 iPads, 4 iTouches and probably 6 iPods lost in drawers somewhere.My 6&9 year olds have been iPads users since they came out.But Samsungs are better because they have big screens? That does not even register with our house.

          2. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            ME, GRIMLOCK, HAVE IPHONES, IPADS, MACS.DROIDS, WINDOWS.FIRST SENTENCE IS ONES THAT WORK, KEEP WORKING.BOTTOM SENTENCE IS OPPOSITE.

          3. ShanaC

            Fanrobot

          4. Susan Rubinsky

            I like what you said about the 1990’s. There was a time, in the 1990’s, that every time I opened an image in Photoshop, my MAC crashed. I had both PCs and MACs and PCs won the 90’s. Apple won the 2000’s. Nobody knows who is going to win this decade. But it is highly unlikely that Apple will because disruption will happen. They must make extreme organizational change if they are to make it to the next level. Maybe with Steve gone, they will be able to make that transition. Or not.But if you made a graph of the lifetime at top for each new wave of technology, you would see that Apple has already has lost momentum AND that no technology/company ever stays at top forever. So, from a numbers perspective, it’s highly unlikely that Apple will stay at top.

        6. David Petersen

          Consistently good experience that is simple & easy.  No research.  No learning new systems.  Just buy the latest Apple product and it’s guaranteed to be excellent.Too much choice is not always a positive: http://www.ted.com/talks/ba…

      6. leigh

        Been thinking about this all morning.Apple used to = people with passion can change the world.Now the backlash.Apple = pretentious idiots who don’t know a good product and good value from badJobs was such a born marketer – he would have known how to counteract these seeds of discontent – but without him gone?  All the things that are the negatives for Apple (expensive, closed systems, fanboys) could start to turn the ship a little.  No one stays on top forever 😉

        1. fredwilson

          as alex turner says in my favorite arctic monkeys song”bring on the backlash!”

          1. testtest

            arctic monkeys are all good.”bring on the backlash!”

          2. David Semeria

            Who the fuck are the Artic Monkeys?

          3. David Semeria

            — which, to avoid any confusion, is the name of the song.

        2. awaldstein

          Hi LeighCertainly agree that no one stays on top forever. That includes Apple of course.But did I miss the beginning of the backlash? Was there a memo that I missed and everyone else got? If numbers and profit are the first indicators, I’m not getting something as all reports speak to them blowing away all estimates. Help!

          1. leigh

            Yeah, but remember, lots of people buying that last product that Jobs was involved with so the numbers are a bit skewed.  But I think i’m not really talking facts here.  I know a lot of fanboys and girls.  My entire industry is filled with ’em (as you know).  I have seen this very very subtle shift happening in the way that people speak about Apple as a brand and their relationship to it….a little more critical.  A little bit more defensive that they aren’t fanboys or girls.  I’ll bet you in three years, Apple backlash is going to be a Techcrunch headline.  I’m so confident in my prediction, I’m willing to put $5.00 down on it. :)responding to @fltron below: Don’t think Steve Jobs would argue with me that marketing and building the Apple brand has been absolutely key to their success. He only ever had one Agency and one brand partner in Lee Clow at TBWA.If building better products had anything to do with who ended up on top, Beta would beat VHS, digital tapes over DVDs etc etc etc.http://www.youtube.com/watc

          2. awaldstein

            Bet accepted.–I’ll gladly buy you a glass of wine next time you are in NYC regardless.But…I think something else is happening here that is more than just a Jobs/evil closed empire thing.Apple redefined and erased the line between tech and computers and CE.Remember when Sony was cool. Panasonic even a little. They’ve ridden their own wave of being the only CE brand in the world really. And they are getting even larger.Somewhere in that size, that enormity, the personal nature of the brand will capsize.I think its inevitable and part of the gestalt of brand life itself.When they no longer feel personal and special and part of me, they’re on the slide.

          3. fltron

            To argue that the numbers are somehow skewed because Steve Jobs died, and people want to buy the last product he’s involved in, is having your blinders on. Did Apple ever need this help to have record quarters and profits? That’s just silly. I don’t disagree with you that there’s a forming backlash and that Apple is being tested with commercials like this Samsung one, but stop making excuses for Apple’s success. It’s not marketing, it’s not because Steve Jobs died, it’s because they make products people appreciate. 

          4. panterosa,

            Arnold, I’m replying to your comment below but there was no reply option (too far down the disqus chain…)I would actually hope for Apple to become like IKEA – ubiquitous, affordable design easy to use, etc. That they change the ratio from high design exclusive edge fan boy look to simple, accessible, easy to use CE. More selling for less than less selling for more.

          5. awaldstein

            Really interesting. I don’t see this coming though.With the ongoing evolution of behavior and technology, I can’t envision it becoming a platform like utility. Things are changing too fast for it to plateau and remove itself from the competitive race.And honestly, if I look at the use of technology over my life, there is definitely way way more selling for way less.It was unimaginable what I can do with a smart phone in my hand, sitting in Bryant Park with free wifi.Without romanticizing it, this is really a wondrous reality. The empowerment is poetic. The possibilities ooze optimism. And access is pretty democratic.Thanks much for sharing for thoughts.

          6. panterosa,

            I’m not sure we actually disagree here, except on the timing.

          7. JamesHRH

            Sadly, the key to Apple becoming IKEA is cloud services.iCloud is poorly thought out. It is Partly Cloudy in Cupertino. And the transition from Mobile Me ( especially for Family Pack customers ) is gruesome.Personal experience here, obviously. When iCloud is a dashboard that connects my media to my devices, it will rock. It just may never get there…..

          8. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            EVERYONE LOVE TO PRETEND THEM BIG BY NIP ANKLES OF SOMETHING BIGGER.

        3. testtest

          an example of their marking prowess is the fuss around siri. microsoft has had a similar feature for over a year:http://www.thewindowsclub.c…apple created the ui of the future. microsoft created an easter egg.

          1. leigh

            and this is why i’ll always have a job bc perception is reality 🙂

          2. testtest

            yes.i’m a fan of marketing. often it’s underrated in tech circles imo. 

          3. fltron

            And they’re identical. See how similarly they work:http://www.youtube.com/watc…You would have thought Apple copied Microsoft’s idea word for word. 

          4. testtest

            siri came out on top in that video imo. i was hoping for more similarity so i could rip in to apple a bit.oh well.good video anyhow, fltron.

        4. FAKE GRIMLOCK

          BEST WAY TO MAKE PEOPLE HATE YOU IS WINNING.

      7. LE

        “felt about apple fanboys”I mean in no way shape or form can you deny the user experience between using a windows machine and a macintosh. I’ve used everything(Dos, windows, unix, linux, Mac since the start, Solaris, and one of these http://www.columbia.edu/cu/… )  But I also interact with people who are the general public. And Macintosh (as well as iphone) is suited for the general public  No question about it.  I’ve got enough to do.  I don’t need the satisfaction of conquering a bad UX. Just yesterday I went to shut down my new laptop running windows 7.  It gave me a message saying not to shut it off until it was done installing 14 updates. Seriously? Wait until you’re done?And this is windows 7.  That’s just one example of why apple has fanboys.And just try to spend money on advertising at google adwords vs. say, federated media:https://advertisers.federat…Is it the best bang for the ad buck? Doesn’t matter if you are selling to end users. It’s easy to use and they can understand it enough to give you money. 

        1. leigh

          I would never use a different computer. I’m working on my air as we speak and it rocks my world. but, i don’t think the iphone is that great of a device. It’s cluncky to type and do email – i send really ridiculous emails all the time bc of stupid auto correct, but if i turn it off, i takes me hrs to type a short note. I find the battery the absolute worst and connection issues with new networks. I hear Siri is going to change my life and truthfully i’d like a friend i can control but seriously thinking of switching to Android next go around.

        2. JamesHRH

          What Fred and most ‘anti-Mac fanboys’ miss is a very simple fact: I don’t want to know how it works.

          1. fredwilson

            i love my mac toothis isn’t about the macit’s about the ugly cult that runs around insulting everyone that doesn’t belong to the cult

          2. Austin Clements

            Let’s be serious here, Android owners are becoming that very same cult.I think both iPhone and Samdroid have their strengths and merits, no point in preaching that either one is so much better than the other that people should switch. It’s like trying to convince a coke drinker to switch to pepsi (or vice versa).Either way that was a great commercial.

          3. JamesHRH

            Thanks – that makes more sense.

          4. danbuell

            Or the guy who antagonizes them to drive web traffic to his site…

          5. fredwilson

            i could give a shit about traffici do care about freedom to innovate

          6. danbuell

            That’s fair, I can’t tell you why you do what you do, only you would know that… Some people buy iPhones and have a great user experience, some don’t, some buy the phones and become trolls on the Internet, some are more silently passionate. I feel like you can’t look at the iPhone App infrastructure and decry lack of innovation, that seems ill placed but I’m not here to twist your arm or make you feel differently, I just like reading your stuff and sometimes disagree with you, sometimes more harshly than others. As a general rule, I think it’s mean-spirited to isolate any group and stereotype them – the advertisement does this lightly and it’s pretty funny but when you start labeling people and calling them names because they have a different opinion than you do, that’s bullying but it is your house and you do have the right to do whatever you wish but I just wish you weren’t so caustic about it sometimes. My 70-year old mother in law loves her iPhone, she’s definitely not in a cult, it is easy for her to understand and use, it’s opened up a world of video chatting with her grandkids, shopping lists, etc. that just wasn’t there a year ago. Fred, that’s not evil an when you start hurling your bombs (even tiny ones) at these people I guess I feel compelled to tell you to knock it off and that you’re better than that…

      8. fltron

        “Ultimately, application vendors are driven by volume, and volume is favored by the open approach Google is taking. There are so many manufacturers working to deliver Android phones globally,” Schmidt said. “Whether you like Android or not, you will support that platform, and maybe you’ll even deliver it first.” – Eric SchmidtStealing that line from Marco Arment’s blog. Android is not the nice guy open platform. Just like Apple isn’t really for the barista-types even though they pretend to be, while making billions in profits. (Quote found via)http://www.marco.org/2011/1…

      9. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        THAT SAD.

    2. William Mougayar

      That line & Ad are telling about the segment they are going after- the ones who would otherwise buy an iPhone. Why aren’t they going after the men in suits that have a BlackBerry in their pocket? That segment is weaker for attacking it seems. Or is it because enterprise security & IT grips are too difficult to dislodge? Has anyone heard of Enterproid where you can slice your mobile device between work & personal?

      1. RichardF

        They are also going after people like me who didn’t want to get hooked into the apple upgrade path.

      2. awaldstein

        Building a brand by defining what your not is a challenge. It’s one of those places where selling and branding diverge.In a perfect world they are the same.

        1. JamesHRH

          Well said. Sales guys love this ad. Marketers do not.It does not effectively attack the Why ( easy to use ) that attaches consumers to Apple. An ad like “I’m a PC” did just that – and you never really heard people quote tag lines from them ( or the best lines ). All those ads did was point out that PC ownership sucked.Apple will hold it’s growth curve until using Apple products starts to feel like PC or Android. Which is why iCloud is such a huge strategic liability for them: the service is very hard to simplify

          1. awaldstein

            NIcely said.And of course, great Apple ads, had few if any words on them at all.The iPod dancing silhouette billboard and TV launch ads were as brilliant as advertising can be.I just ran out and bought one. So did everyone else cause the ad and the product was all about me.

          2. Rohan

            AGREE

      3. ShanaC

        I thought the goal was to get people who don’t want apples for whatever their reasons.And IT is loosening up.  People want to be productive, and IT has to respond.

    3. Rohan

      awesome line. saw this on fred’s short form blog the other day. replayed it twice!

    4. LE

      “Dude your (sic) a barista”Well the commercial was good and it was funny. But it should be no surprise that many people who wait tables and work as barristas are creative types “starving artists”. I’ve had conversations with many barristas and asked them what they do. Many are in school for creative pursuits (interior decorator, graphic artist, acting to name just a few). Not that I want to use this as peer reviewed proof but here is some backup:http://answers.yahoo.com/qu…More:http://en.wikipedia.org/wik

      1. leigh

        My teenager daughter is in our local arts high school and wants to be an actress. I’m teaching her community management and she’s already doing it for my ovarian cancer awareness project. I keep telling her – pays well, flexible schedule and you can do it from home. Way better then being a barista! 🙂

        1. LE

          “I’m teaching her community management”I think that’s great. One of my pet peeves is otherwise intelligent parents who let their kids go for the low hanging fruit of jobs instead of guiding them into something more challenging. 

  12. andyswan

    12 months ago I bought an HTC Evo (android) and committed to COMPLETELY IGNORING every new phone until I am personally unhappy with the ability of the one I have.  Not jealous of new features….just wanting/needing a new phone to use.  Swan’s last stand, as it were.I was in the phone vortex of death.  Now I am happy and free. I lived to tell my tale, and now I guide ye out.

    1. William Mougayar

      Yup. Android’s Achille’s heel is the disorganization of its marketplace. If Google took a more active role at orchestration, that would help.

      1. David Petersen

        “I have an evo, I am ready to move.  I get random reboots occasionally.”That’s a bit of a heel as well.

    2. Mark Essel

      But the latest model allows you to live stream a cat scan of your innards online 24 hours a day x 365.25 days a year, that cautions others nearby when you’re in dire need of a bowel movement. Be considerate, and upgrade your phone today.

      1. Susan Rubinsky

        love this line  “The new device will also be available in blue.”

    3. ShanaC

      I have an evo, I am ready to move.  I get random reboots occasionally.Though this may be a function of me hacking my phone and needing a new memory card (always running out of memory)

  13. Mark Essel

    I sampled a few of many many android phones a couple of weeks ago. The big difference was UI. I’m hooked on the iPhone, the default Android apps and fonts felt less polished.I only use my phone for calls over wifi, does Android have google talk baked in for free Google Voice calls? If not, why not? Still waiting on the commoditized data phone.

  14. laurie kalmanson

    the hats. the fashion fashion fashion…. and i am late for getting my kid ready for school now.

  15. Mark Essel

    Side note: Flipboard just released a slick iPhone app to compliment their iPad app. Love the magazine interface to my feeds and social channels.

  16. jason wright

    Did Google buy Motorola just for the patents, or does it have plans to make its ‘own’ handsets?

    1. William Mougayar

      Yeah. Good question. Still waiting for that breakthrough iPhone killer product. But they will walk a fine line for not pissing off Samsung etc.

  17. jason wright

    I thought the flow of the ad was predictable. These agencies need disrupting.

    1. William Mougayar

      Exactly. My first thought after 3 secs was – it’s not an iPhone/Apple ad, but trying to look like one. Apple owns cool. Still tough to dislodge.Androids should try to own something else. It’s all about “Positioning: (which is) the battle for your mind.” (also the title of one of the best books on marketing)

      1. SubstrateUndertow

        “It’s all about “Positioning: (which is) the battle for your mind.”You’re probably right but I’m hoping there are still some disruptive innovation surprises hiding just outside the box.http://www.glasbergen.com/w

    2. Rohan

      Agree. While it made me laugh, I wish they didn’t make ads by trashing competitors.I find it to be  low level humor. I’d much rather buy into an idea of ‘why’ android is cool (a la Simon Sinek http://www.youtube.com/watc…

  18. Chris Moyer

    Something I don’t seen talked about is the growing cost of switching. By that I’m referring to the 100+ apps (and probably $200) on my iPhone. Switching to android involves finding and downloading/buying many and finding replacements for others. And then there’s things like Dark Horse comics where I have a paid comic collection and no adroid app yet.Anyways, I honestly think that commercial is hilarious, but as a developer who has done android and iPhone work, it sort of turns me off Samsung. Seems like a low blow… But I’m sure it’s probably effective for them. (and in reality, I probably wouldn’t be put off a Samsung device if I was at the store and it appealed to me the most. )

    1. $3236

      You hit the nail on the head.  Apple is all about creating switching costs from their products and eliminating switching costs from PCs.  First, hook you in with an iPod Touch so you want the phone or iPad; at the same time it easier to buy or switch to a Mac because you have all this other Apple gear.

      1. JamesHRH

        We went right up the hook ladder – it was so brilliant I knew it was happening and really didn’t care!iPod / Touch / iMac / MacBook / iPhone / iPads / Air

      2. Susan Rubinsky

        You’re right. They do try to hook you. I’m still trying to figure out how to get off my iPod Touch after one of the iTunes upgrades deleted all my tunes, playlists and album covers. I had an old backup but what a chore to get it going again. Then the new software upgrade took each song out of it’s album (for about a quarter of the albums) and I just don’t have time for reorganizing it and I sure as hell don’t intend on wasting time reorganizing it on Apple which may screw me over again with a future upgrade. Plain and simple, I want my music separate from my device.I also got a bad device shipped to me from Apple — it never worked out of box and they had to ship me a new one. I’d definitely say I should have take that as a sign.So, while I used the iPod Touch as my PDA for about 9 months (I had a Palm before that the lived for almost 10 years if you can believe that), I jumped at the chance to have the Droid. Everything does just work. I have several companies I’m a partner with and I spearheaded an effort to get everything up in Google Business which just rocks. From one device, I have access to all calendars, contact lists and email for multiple companies. And I haven’t even put any purchased apps on it. This is powerful stuff for business people.I can’t even imagine what a hassle this would be on an Apple device. It hurts to think about it.

    2. Mark Essel

      Which do you prefer developing for more?And do you prefer objective c or java (both way too verbose imho)?  I was hoping MacRuby would catch on like wildfire. I think I can use jRuby on the android side, or python/etc.Too bad javascript(coffeescript) and html(5) aren’t enough to build native apps. PhoneGap?http://www.youtube.com/watc

      1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        TITANIUM FROM APPCELERATOR LET YOU BUILD NATIVE APPS WITH JS.SOME OTHER ONES OUT THERE TOO.

    3. awaldstein

      Samsung? Sounds like a manufacturer, not a brand that I can find someway to fix some problem when stuff breaks. This ad, while super clever, is to drive sales not build a community around a brand.Nothing wrong with that, just what it is.Apple knows why their customer loves them. Ease of use, Empowerment. Productivity. Support. Cool.Cost aside (and that’s a big one for many of course), for the non geek (which is the mass market) using Apple products across the line is easy. Great marketers who understand that the product is nothing more than what the customer feels about it.

      1. LE

        I would like to add to your dead on thoughts the following on the choice of the name “android”.”Android” is a terrible name to associate with this product. It evokes exactly the wrong feeling in the general public which should be simplicity and ease of use. It does not roll off your tongue. It really sucks.  It’s no excuse that they bought the company which had that name. Change the name. This is not a star trek episode. (Windows, while lipstick on a pig was a great name, right?)”Android” is not a good name for as you say “the non geek “. In a sense it shows how a company is driven by the values of the leaders. At google everything is about hiring the smartest with those ridiculous tests they give. Everyone is cut from the same bolt of cloth. And that cloth is engineering. While that cloth is good for the engineering part it’s not for everything else in a company.  Homogeneity, as with raising kids is not good in a company. (Better to have a creative parent and an engineer than two engineers in my view.)Here’s an example of a good name, courtesy of Steve Blank (I worked at SuperMac at that time and worked on a affiliated product with both end users and dealers. But I think the name stands on it’s own):A view (edit: video) board called “Video Spigot”. It just rolls off your tongue.http://steveblank.com/2009/…Here is what Supermac competitor Rasterops (I also worked for Rasterops) called (one of) their board(s):”Rasterops 24MxTV”http://lowendmac.com/video/…Naming matters.http://www.namelab.com/clie

        1. Shawn Cohen

          Speaking of names, Verizon was smart to name their phone the “Droid.” It’s hard for me not to mentally associate any Android branding discussion w/ those ridiculous commercials.

        2. Miles Burnlong

          I have to respectfully, but vehemently, disagree. The 5 syllable “video spigot” does not at all roll off the tongue. Further, (NSFW) “spigot” sounds like a mashup of “spic”, “nigger”, and “faggot”. No way I would approve this abomination for a product that I’d be associated with. That said, the rasterops one is even worse.

          1. LE

            Wow that’s quite a  Rorschach test result you have there.

          2. JamesHRH

            I think this is a poor example and I don’t like Spigot.But your mash up is wild – never saw that.

        3. FAKE GRIMLOCK

          ME, GRIMLOCK, AGREE WITH EVERYTHING IN THIS COMMENT.

      2. jason wright

        Samsung – sounds German with the right accent and tone. Zamzung ! Schnell !!

    4. ShanaC

      I think this issue is going to go away as web apps take over and screen sizes/pixel densities are standardized.Many of people’s favorite apps mentioned here are available as web apps already.  if I could figure out how to use them more efficiently vis a vis battery, I would.  It is easier, frankly.Mobile search will get better.  So will mobile apps on the web as mobile search gets better.

    5. Mordy Kaplinsky

      The cost of switching was something that Apple created with the app store so that these “Baristas” have to defend their abusive relationship with their iPhone.  They purposely did not allow apps to offer platform agnostic subscription or purchase options.Though to be honest, it’s not like switching from Android to an iPhone is much different.How’s that for an evil empire?

      1. fredwilson

        I’m not the only one who thinks apple is evil!

        1. Mordy Kaplinsky

          But what beautiful evil 🙂

  19. tyronerubin

    deleting comment by editing comment, not sure how to delete comment

    1. Rohan

      hehe

  20. markslater

    Its amazing that we are having this conversation. 5 years ago we were all conversing on here about the BB – the bold i believe – and how amazing it was. if there is ever a more clear case of a very successful company completely jumping the shark it has to be BB. 

    1. jason wright

      I’m thinking Microsoft might by RIM.

      1. Tom Labus

        No need to.

      2. SubstrateUndertow

        What do they get ?

        1. jason wright

          More control.Apple, Google, and Amazon have. FB will probably go this way too after its IPO.

  21. Reykjavik

    I find it culturally interesting that when Fred writes a pro-Android post, all the vindictive Apple fanbois don’t come out of the woodwork to flame him (which happens on every other site that broaches the topic). Perhaps it’s the even-handedness of discussions and high level of knowledge of commenters around here that keeps them at bay.

    1. Mark Essel

      Hmm, they usually come out in droves to poo poo. But by now the pro Android fanboy force is quite large.Still feels eerily similar to Republicans vs Democrats, where you lose either way. We need some decent competition outside of the two main mobile OSes, but to accomplish that developers will require rich html5 apps that can work and run anywhere instead of developing for X different platforms, artificially constricting additional app markets.

      1. andyidsinga

        Im hoping win8 will be some decent competition on the tablet side ( even though i love the apple products). Been playing around with it and really like how they’ve made html / javascript / css first class consumers of their new windows runtime.im not an ms fanboi but not a hater eiither 🙂

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          I think you’re right. The live tile approach is a very deep well of interface possibilities.For my money MicroSoft has been a lot more creative here than either Google-Android or Samsung.Heres hoping Microsoft is not too late to the party and can properly focus its mountain of resources.

          1. Tom Labus

            They’ve already righted the ship with Mango.They are alive and back from the dead.

        2. Tom Labus

          These battles are just starting.8 for tablets will fly in the Enterprise.

      2. kidmercury

        IMO amazon is the third party…..the ron paul of the smartphone wars…….built atop an open source OS that progressive geeks and cheapskates love….yet still offering the tight integration that non-hackers want…….

        1. andyidsinga

          argh –  I totally brain farted on Amazon when I started thinking about win8.In tablets I would put Amazon ahead of XYZ android.I’m really curious about the fire and how programmable it will be for tinkerers.

          1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            FIRE WILL BE ZERO PROGRAMMABLE.IT PURPOSE IS SPIGOT.TURN ON, OUT COME AMAZON CONTENT.ANYTHING ELSE JUST MINIMUM TO STOP CONSUMER NOTICE WHAT GOING ON.

          2. LE

            “ANYTHING ELSE JUST MINIMUM TO STOP CONSUMER NOTICE WHAT GOING ON.”Exactly. (Reminds me of McDonalds healthy menu.  It gives them “plausible deniability” for American’s eating habits by offering choice.)

          3. andyidsinga

            that stinks now doesnt it 🙂

        2. JamesHRH

          Breadth & depth kid – set him up with his favorite bevy ‘tender!

      3. ShanaC

        Windows (I can’t believe I said that) Maybe windows is the bull moose party?

        1. Tom Labus

          Only they have a big war chest unlike TR.

    2. William Mougayar

      Fan-boying or -girling anything is a form of tech extremism. Not needed, not wanted.

      1. kidmercury

        i disagree. it is a form of tech extremism, but if you enjoy antagonizing people, it can be loads of fun for the whole family!

        1. William Mougayar

          You know we’ll call you on it if you cross the line 🙂 It’s fun depending on what side you’re on

          1. Rohan

            Always relative…

        2. SubstrateUndertow

          What a great sense of humour.Thanks of the chuckle!

      2. Mark Essel

        I’ll try not to become a fanboy of engag.io.But when you help clean up my segmented social inbound, it’ll be tough not to be.

    3. Rohan

      He’s done a great job with building the community. I remember asking him once what the guidelines were.. since I had a bunch of people screaming at me after a gates/job post went viral on hacker news.And he said the following (roughly) – 1. Call out bad behavior and support those who do.2. Encourage good behavior.–Intuitive, but still important to do consistently.Over time, I guess it results in something pretty amazing. Lots of learn..

      1. ShanaC

        Those two statements have been the MOST IMPORTANT thing I learned here.  Also among the most difficult. I was interviewed earlier today – comments are the bane of most people in the media’s existence because they refuse to get dirty.  problem is, media changes are going to force them to get dirty, and it isn’t clear at all, beyond those two maxims, how to clean up the mess.I hope for Mainstream Online Media it gets better.

        1. Rohan

          Interviewed regarding what? Is the interview up? 🙂

          1. ShanaC

            I’m starting a company related to ad tech.  I had met someone in a starbucks who is writing a play about news creation and data for I believe the philly fringe. We got to talking about what I do (daytime a lot of web analysis/freelancing, nighttime company), and he wanted to interview me for research purposes.  So it isn’t a public interview.  Just an interview.Yes, I’m weird in that I actually talk to random people in a starbucks.

          2. Rohan

            Aha.And not weird. 🙂 I’d do it as well once in a while. 🙂

          3. ShanaC

            I do it regularly. You never know where someone is going to end up. Plus people are facinating

          4. Rohan

            Can relate!

    4. Dave

      “Perhaps it’s the even-handedness of discussions and high level of knowledge of commenters around here that keeps them at bay.”Perhaps it’s that, or perhaps this post from last year has something do with it:http://www.avc.com/a_vc/201

      1. JamesHRH

        Thanks for the link back Dave. A quick perusal generated this JLM nugget, in reference to how much fun the Apple culture is, for him:’I want to mix the Kool-Aid’.Now that’s funny.That’s how I feel about AVC.

    5. fredwilson

      they just aren’t here yetgruber hates on me every chance he gets

  22. baba12

    Mr.Wilson may like his Android based phone and there are others who like their ios based iphones. Personally I stick to the WebOS based palm pre and the HP Touchpad. WebOS when it was developed by Palm was and is way ahead of it’s time, they have not done a good job of marketing and selling to the developer and consumer.I say they are ahead of their time because in a 18 months or less you will see almost everything on the web (mobile or desktop) will be based on HTML5 and Javascript.Yes you will have your server side heavy lifting done by Java, Objective C, C++ etc but on the front end it will all be HTML5 or later and Javascript.When that transition is complete it would be good for developers as they will not have to port their applications for specific platforms. All the applications running on the WebOS are using this method already.As a developer it is easier to develop for the WebOS platform but since there is this issue around how many apps are there on the platform it has not caught on.It is funny when you join a video library it is always important to be made aware of the 60k titles the store may have even though 99% of the customers may care about the 200 odd titles. It is the same with the app store, Apple & Android will claim to have several hundred thousands of apps in their market/stores but essentially only a small percentage of them get downloaded more than say 100 times.I will wait to see what HP does to screw WebOS up, it is a great platform but has been screwed by poor execution. Android maybe something that is good but definitely it is not great it is more like 80grid sand paper compared to  WebOS at 220grid sand paper. No neither of them is not at 600 grid yet.

    1. Rohan

      I used to love my Palm Treo 650! Brilliant phone, that! 🙂

    2. SubstrateUndertow

      Mother nature says your wrong.Building out a platform that runs against the inherent propensities of its own substrate is, in the end, futile. It is like running against the wind.Thats why capitalism is so resilient. It runs with the wind. It surfs its own substrate, the penny in the currency of all human affairs, autonomous self interest.Long live distributed redundancy in complex system.DNA we salute you!

  23. Elia Freedman

    Personally, I don’t see it as an issue of iOS versus Android. To me the issue is carriers. Fred, you said it: “I prefer the Nexus series because they come with a clean build of Android on them.”I respect Apple for standing up to the carriers and not letting them gunk up the experience. And I respect Google for doing the same with the Nexus line. I wish the other device manufacturers would do the same. I know there are a lot of people that like to “hack” their devices. I’m not one of them. I want my products to just work. I don’t want to mess around with settings and try to figure out formats and all that crap. I just don’t have time for it anymore.The fight in the smartphone wars will be over “it just works.” The ones who like to play around with technology are already in.

  24. Mike Kijewski

    The entire ad is built around the idea that users care about bigger screens and “4G.” Apple has proven that the #1 issue in tech consumers’ minds is user experience. And there is still no better phone UX than an iPhone. When there is, I’ll switch.

  25. Alex Murphy

    The point about the 4.3″ screen being like a small tablet is spot on!  The difference in screen space is pretty significant.bionic is great too, razr looks good.  All is nice.As if we didn’t need more fuel for the fire, I think that the functionality, speed, and feature set are simply accelerating our collective move to more mobile devices.It will be interesting to see where Apple goes next.  I think samsung has a real chance to over take them in the barista crowd. 🙂

  26. Dave W Baldwin

    The screen experience is crucial with the advent of true choice of ‘push and pull’ or interface via voice. The vehicle with bigger space to ‘push and pull’ in a game/vid or whatever with the getting to that space being simply a command will command longer attention (shelf space) span.As far as the curiousity re BlackBerry users hanging on to them reflected in the comments, they will begin to switch out next year in the second/third quarters in a bigger number going big moving into 2014.  Will be interesting to see where they land. 

    1. Rohan

      A lot of them are corporate. So, it will depend more on those running the IT.If Windows phone does a couple of good iterations, I would bet on them.Outlook and exchange server integrations should be a big win. 

      1. Dave W Baldwin

        Agreed. That brings the discussion over to the 3 Towers.  Many think of brand names, Apple vs. Google with the third being whomever.  The 3 Towers are actually OS’s with the appropriate vehcile(s) to connect the dots (users, curate, storage, minimization and so on).Apple will be making the push as well as Google.  The third will be the collaboration that builds to the short future landscape.

        1. Rohan

          Very interesting, Dave. 3 towers discussion? (Please excuse my ignorance!)

          1. Dave W Baldwin

            Sorry.  I did a lengthy Twitter thread back when.  Had a good time with a fellow going by @darksidegeek:twitter .The thread was just an experimentation of mine seeing how folks looked at things regarding the coming ‘battle’.Comes down to, yes we can see the ‘walled’ (Apple) vs. the ‘open’ (Android) thinking that Micro has to put their handset out there… but Micro can do something with an OS that can be placed in someone else’s handset.But for now, the battlefield is being redrawn as we change the way the user communicates command/intent to the transmitter.

          2. Rohan

            Aha. Okay makes sense.

  27. Rohan

    Nice note on this topic by Charlie – http://diggingintwo.blogspo…–We’ve gotten to a point in the tech world where you can get decent design, great performance, and good enough for a pretty cheap price. I’m considering a free Android phone to replace my broken iPhone. But I’m also thinking about simply fixing it.The fact is that hardware and software have finally reached a point where the incremental increases in performance and usability no longer have a dramatic impact. The speed increases are no longer perceptible to humans in most cases.We’ve reached the performance plateau, where it no longer makes a lot of sense to buy the latest and greatest, because last year’s model–or the year before that, or the year before that–is good enough.Which is an interesting and dangerous place for the industry to be in. So what’s next?–What’s next indeed?I agree with some of this and disagree with some of this.. and LOVE the question.

    1. SubstrateUndertow

      Performance Plateau ?Only until Samsung comes out with their next – iPod  / iPhone / iPad-  market disruption break-throw product!

      1. Rohan

        Let’s see. 😉

        1. SubstrateUndertow

          Yes you are right. I did forget one thing.;-)

          1. Rohan

            Hahahaha 😀

    2. ShanaC

      I don’t think we are at performance plateau, particularly when it comes to battery life.  I also think that if we radically upgrade processing/memory, despite ui size constraints, we’ll have a totally different model of web apps that we can do.

      1. Rohan

        Battery – completely agree.

        1. ShanaC

          🙂 This is what you think about as a technologist who occasionally carries phone plus batteries in tiny purses.

  28. Brad

    Love your anti-apple slant. I use all things apple because they work seamlessly and I do not have to “hack” anything. It is funny how apple is the microsoft of the 90’s, people love to hate it.But the commercial is awesome and explains so much with so little.

  29. Christopher McManus

    Brought to you by the company that dumped the 7″ Tab on un-suspecting consumers this year.    The one with essentially zero tablet business today.  The one that is pretty screwed going forward with the launch of the Fire  Yeah, go Samsung!   You show Apple!  

    1. markslater

      what has that got to do with the phone? i am an iphone user – but have friends with the samsung – its a great phone. lest your history of apple EPIC FAILS is weak.

      1. Christopher McManus

        I believe consumers will increasingly buy into an eco-system.  Whether iOS, Andriod, Windows.  And, I believe that they will want their content purchases to run across their multiple devices  That currently puts Samsung at a disadvantage on the tablet front  That is my point  

        1. kidmercury

          not necessarily. samsung could provide the hardware to amazon who in turn could manage the ecosystem; in this scenario, goog, amzn, and samsung are all potential winners, provided everyone can agree on how they want to split the pie. apple can never play this game because of their philosophy. 

        2. markslater

          OK – yep you are probably right!

    2. kidmercury

      don’t forget the one that also outsells apple in the smartphone hardware business. #ohsnap 

      1. SubstrateUndertow

        That being said, Samsung may be a  very high quality manufacturer but it has absolutely no track record of disruptive innovation.Samsung needs to put its innovation where its mouth is.The moment of truth is coming for Samsung.Do they innovate and produce that truly market disrupting Smart-TV or do they wait for Apple to show them the way in a market place they have virtually owned for years?Will this be Samsung’s RIM-moment or will they put Apple it its place?Like Rim, Samsung has had a very long head start!Did I hear someone whisper Google-TV?

        1. kidmercury

          depends on how you are defining disruptive innovation. samsung has found its place in the value network of many disruptions (tablets, television, mp3 player, etc)

          1. SubstrateUndertow

            Nice try!But I think you know what I mean?

        2. Susan Rubinsky

          Apple was not first to market. First there were portable transistor radiosThen there was Sony WalkmanThen there was NapsterThese three things setup the groundwork for allowing everyday people to understand that they could take their music anywhere and it could be in digital format.Apple just had the vision to understand the best way to put it all together and give people something they were already prepared to want.I personally hate that quote from Steve Jobs about people not knowing what they want until you show them. I think people do know what they want, in general, and that market forces are continually evolving and showing us slivers of the future. It’s up to people to envision how to pull all those slivers together into one pie. Steve’s product was the one he envisioned and a lot of other people liked it too. But people wouldn’t have been as receptive to it if other innovations hadn’t already occurred that acclimated them to the general idea in the first place.

    3. ShanaC

      Yes, but I lust after the transformer more than the ipad.  Dude, that thing is sexy.Tech sex appeal isn’t owned by anyone – and creating it is part of the fun mystique of all of this.

  30. Guest

    Oh boy!This is like finding out that your dad thinks that jerry springer is quality television. You want to tell him that it is not, but you don’t want to hurt his feelings.Fred, I am posting here anonymously so that I can keep in tact my chances of ever getting you to invest on my company :)Seriously though, this commercial is flat out bad. First, from a stand point of advertising, this commercial fails big time, it criticizes the very same people that is trying to win. It only arguable point is that the phone has a larger screen and it is lighter (while we all know it is a matter of time when a lighter, faster new thing comes out). It uses stereotypes in a way that is not funny or elegant. This is just from a pure advertising point of view.The actually writing of it is also allover the place. They did a nice job in the casting but where this commercial also fails in my view is where they call them selves the next big thing. Really really in bad taste.Again, this is just a one man’s opinion which is why I think the actual tv version of this ad is much effective:http://www.youtube.com/watc…because it leaves out the gossiping parts and it condenses it’s message to the core product benefits.All that aside, I would have preferred to see a show more and talk less type of commercial. Apple-like, where you actually let the device speak for it self rather thanbragging and hoping people will take their word for it.

    1. fredwilson

      i agree that the shorter version is betteri couldn’t find that on youtube this morningand i do not take people’s comments against them when making investment decisionsthe fact that you would even think that means i am not doing a good enough job explaining how i think and behave on this blog

      1. Guest

        Thanks Fred, I was being a bit paranoid thats all.I think you do an amazing job at being transparent here and I should have known better 🙂 An apple fanby here 🙂

      2. LE

        “the fact that you would even think that means i am not doing a good enough job explaining how i think and behave on this blog”Well there are three possibilities though. One is that someones comments against you could give them a better chance of getting funded. The other is “no difference” or “less of a chance”. It would seem to be a safer strategy to post anon and go for the sure thing rather than double down. Personally I don’t see anything that “guest” wrote that would make him/her look bad so it is a little gun shy.

      3. JamesHRH

        JLM’s fault – I haven’t seen him use the word salon in 3 months!

    2. jason wright

      Say it as you see it, and push back.

    3. LE

      I don’t think it’s bad (for the reasons you are raising) because it heightens interest in something that is off the radar for many of the people it is targeting. With that any interest created is good interest. Same strategy for a different product you could be correct of course. In this application I think it’s fine. Especially if it creates controversy.One of the most effective (insulting) ads of all time (quoted by Ronald Regan in an address):http://www.youtube.com/watchttp://www.youtube.com/watc

    4. Aaron Klein

      Yeah, I think the best thing you could do for your investment chances is to have the bar proprietor call bullshit on you a few times and see how you handle it. 😉

  31. kidmercury

    in the smartphone/tablet game, apps are the new carriers — in that they will subsidize the hardware/OS and have their junk pre-installed (i.e. case in point — how amazon is selling kindle tablet at a loss)

  32. Tom Labus

    I’m waiting for the NOK Mango phones. They should be in the US shortly.My experience with Mango has been real good and feel they are going to major player in the smartphone/tablet/unknown wars which are just beginning.

    1. ShanaC

      They have a fabulously innovative design.  But I don’t feel lust.Do you think Microsoft/Nokia can create lust?

      1. Tom Labus

        Yes, I’m fired up about their prospects.This Mango team has somehow escaped the usually MSFT madness.

        1. ShanaC

          Mango to me still lacks the sexy ripeness of a real mango

      2. laurie kalmanson

        reminds me of when the vaio laptops first came out; they looked cute but, alas, they ran windows

        1. ShanaC

          Same feeling

      3. jason wright

        If they employ the right people they might. Ives and Jobs did a great job. The next great industrial designer may make his/ her reputation working for Microsoft.

        1. ShanaC

          I hope so. Microsoft has made get strides in ergonomics of peripherals. I never understood why they didn’t take the bull by the horns with computing, and especially now with Mango/phones

  33. matthughes

    Getting picked on for liking Apple is like getting picked on for liking chocolate, or the Yankees, or vacations to Hawaii…It really just doesn’t hurt that much.Sticks and stones. 😉

  34. Ryan Tanaka

    The Apple = Creative thing was a conscious effort on the part of the company’s branding strategy, which seemed to have worked well.  (“Think Different”, “Cool Mac Guy vs. Boring PC Guy”)  It has less to do with the product itself but how it makes people feel while they’re using it.The irony in this is that for creative types, who typically don’t have a whole lot of money, they would probably be better off getting something cheaper that offers more bang for the buck.  But maybe a lot of people like that sort of thing, dunno.The interesting thing about the “Mac vs. PC” ads is that both parties actually seem to enjoy it — PC users don’t seem to mind being the “boring” guy who gets stuff done and keeps thing running.  The emo kid on the right side doesn’t really come across as being all that great either, if you ask me.

    1. laurie kalmanson

      status of social objects > money

    2. fltron

      Agreed on your last point. That’s because Apple made fun of Microsoft, not its customers. PC users aren’t generally Windows fans (or at least I haven’t met many?) and they’re willing to have a sense of humour about Microsoft. This was especially true during the Windows Vista launch. The Samsung commercial is clever, but the fault is it goes after Apple customers. That might sit right with someone that has pre-disposed views on Apple users, but it also alienates potential customers. Reality is, like you said, most people that fit the Apple ‘stereotype’ can’t afford Apple. Apple continues to price its products toward a higher-end audience that can afford to pay. iPod and iPhone’s are ‘affordable’-sh but they’re a luxury item. 

      1. JamesHRH

        This is also true. Sales loves going after the ‘other guys’. Another point as to why this is a sales ad & not a marketing ad.Barkeep – another one to this end of the bar!

  35. hypermark

    To me, the whole attributes versus outcomes gestalt of Android marketing is a head-scratcher, and feels very dated — ala feeds and speeds. I love my iPhone, and Apple products in general because I like the user experience and outcomes that they facilitate. I don’t get into the dogma of open vs. closed because it’s all relative; a false dichotomy.I look at this stuff the same way that I choose a great meal. You choose the execution of the recipes and the overall dining experience over the raw ingredients (obviously, the quality of those ingredients matter). My quibble with Samsung, and Android in general, is that despite the logical promise of letting a thousand flowers bloom, it all feels more derivative than game-changing. I would just love to see **someone** execute something that stops you in your tracks.Strangely, that feels like Amazon, who will inevitability co-opt Android, and fork it into something that is proprietary, integrated and curated — just like Apple.

    1. LE

       “obviously, the quality of those ingredients matter”For the longest time computers were marketed based on the ingredients. That’s now happening less and less. Specs are not the driver of purchases that they used to be.

      1. hypermark

        A side note re Android v. Apple marketing, is that the vision espoused in Android commercials is that we want machines to do our bidding as robotic extensions of ourselves, whereas Apple marketing is predicated on the ideal that our devices are the most personal expressions of who we are, and through the outcomes that they facilitate, make us more human.I am NOT saying that either narrative is 100% realized and true; just framing the underlying message, and why it’s so consistent to focus on display sizes and processor speeds for Android, and songs that make you dance, and conversations that make you smile and feel connected for Apple.

        1. LE

          “that our devices are the most personal expressions of who we are, and through the outcomes that they facilitate, make us more human”Not to be cliche but of course regular people buy benefits not features.  I would venture to say that techies buy features primarily. Specs to them are cool and loved just for that irregardless of benefit. You see this with programming where they try to fit something onto one line of code as “elegant” and worth the effort even if there is no clear end benefit over three lines of code (this has gone on forever).Grandparents of course could easily be sold a computer just for this one benefit:http://grandparentstlc.com/

          1. hypermark

            Right, but in the realm of smartphones/app phones, there is a whole group of folks that are upgrading from feature phones (e.g., my parents, my travel agent) and as such, they don’t know what they don’t know. For them, the overwhelm by specs strategy is just confusing enough to get them to buy IF the price is right. After all, it’s the same way they bought their feature phone, PC, TV and toaster oven.That’s the genius of Apple Stores, the neighborhood church spreading the good word through teach, touch, feel.

          2. LE

            @hypermark:disqus  -“For them, the overwhelm by specs strategy is just confusing enough to get them to buy IF the price is right. “Agree – obfuscating and making people feel stupid if they don’t understand how something works, works with a large portion of the population that doesn’t want to ask questions and seem, well, stupid. In addition to tech people, lawyers are good at this as well. It holds people at bay. (Differerent but similar – Realtors using standard form contracts that are less questioned than a custom contract “it’s what everybody else uses it must be ok” etc.)

  36. testtest

    i’m moving over to samdroid. been an iphone junkie for a while now. since i’ve grokked apple devices it’s time to feast on some droid goodness. 

  37. K_Berger

    I switched from Blackberry to the Galaxy S2 (Sprint) a few months ago.  Very pleased although I do think the screen is a little too big for my liking.  Trying to hit the menu button while holding the phone with one hand is a little painful.On the other hand, I strongly discouraged my tech-challenged mother from getting one.  I told her to get the iPhone because it all just works together better.Voice control is a perfect example.  I’ve been playing with it this week and it appears I have three choices: Voice Command, Voice Talk, and Voice Search.  It seems some of that is Google, some is Samsung, and Vlingo is in there somewhere too.  They all mostly work the same but they are launched at different times in different ways.Siri just works.  Push the one button and don’t think about anything else.  Sometimes having choices, especially when it is not well-managed, is too much.  The iPhone just works and works well.  Perfect for Mom but not for me.

  38. jason wright

    Is it true that once you’ve bought an Android handset you’re locked-in to it’s loaded version of the OS, with no possibility of upgrading to any future OS releases (like to ice cream sandwich)? 

    1. fltron

      No, mostly. Because of the variation of hardware and customized software by the carriers, the upgrade path isn’t always clear and so you may or may not get the next upgrade. And that upgrade might come immediately, or take a few months.Your best bet is to buy one of the popular phones where there’s better support, or get the Nexus. Even the original Nexus lost its support from Google fairly quickly, but last year’s Nexus is getting Ice Cream Sandwich so you’re more assured of an upgrade path. Just not guaranteed one. If you buy the cheap $0 phone or $100 phone, you’re in more danger of being stuck. The only gotcha to this is Android 3 wasn’t widely distributed, and so a lot of Android 2.x users were left in the dark. Things are looking better with Android 4. Basically a list is released, and your phone is either on it.. or it’s not.

      1. jason wright

        Thanks. Appreciated.

  39. Alper Akgun

    Galaxy Nexus is a very clever move for Samsung.  I am looking forward to get one,. The ad is cool .

  40. laurie kalmanson

    i think they are not so much mocking apple fans to convert them as trying to appropriate the coolness apple holds and ascribe it to their brand for those who aren’t yet apple users but might behere’s how i’m imagining the creative brief on this spot: not so much, “switch from apple” but more “if you are in android/pc/non-apple land but concerned that you are losing cool points, look, this is cool, as well as meeting your other needs that make you better than those apple people even if they are cooler than you are.”none of which has anything to do with actual qualities of either os or product — it’s “just” marketing

  41. David P.

    Owning a 

    1. jason wright

      Is there more to that?

  42. David Petersen

    I find the general positivity about Android on this blog confusing.  My personal experience with an Android device was awful.  That was 18 months ago and I imagine things have improved.  Still, virtually every time I run into a civilian (non techie) using an Android phone he/she has something bad to say about it — various bugs, rebooting, battery life, etc.I can’t live without a physical keyboard and so I currently use the iPhone 4/Blackberry combo.  Can’t wait until I can move until a one phone world, and likely that that will be on an Android phone.  I’m having trouble finding a good reason to take the leap of faith at this point.

    1. fltron

      I think you just need to know what to buy. It seems that if you go into a store and get the Android phone they push on you, you’ll come out disappointed. If you know what you’re getting into, and spend $300+ on the phone, you’ll have a better experience. People buy crap like the HTC Thunderbolt because of great ads and end up having 6 hours of battery life and a crummy UI experience. So within a group of people, you’ll have drastically different experiences because of all the variety.

      1. LE

        “I think you just need to know what to buy. It seems that if you go into a store and get the Android phone they push on you”Not that there aren’t drawbacks to the iphone of course but you don’t have that problem when walking into an Apple store and buying an iphone. And let me state the obvious. Whose fault is it that crappy phones are being marketed and sold? Is it the fault of the consumer who is supposed to know (someone reading a blog like this by the way, not exactly clueless) better? Or, um someone else? Like the mfg, the retailer, the employee?”People buy crap like the HTC Thunderbolt because of great ads”Ironic given the fact that many of the replies here are talking about the great ad.

    2. fredwilson

      i find the general positivity about iPhone confusingtried it twicehated it both timesto each his own david

  43. Mordy Kaplinsky

    I just wish someone would make an Android phone with a good portrait keyboard to take on the blackberry.For those of us who use our phones primarily for messaging the blackberry still has no equals.  Apple insists on no physical keyboard at all while the Android’s with physical keyboards are nearly all landscape keyboards requiring flipping on the phone to use it.I am waiting for something like the Dell Venue which has the full screen for the application experience, but also has the best interface for the messaging experience. http://www.dell.com/us/p/mo…

    1. fredwilson

      Yup. Huge oppty. RIM is there for the taking

      1. Mordy Kaplinsky

        I’m sure there’s a reason we are not aware of that none of the hardware guys made such a phone. I have to believe that these guys of some siginificant experience and know what they’re doing.

  44. Jamie Lin

    Wait until you see the 5″ Galaxy Note.  I think that’s an even better form factor — still fits in your palm and pocket while the screen is humongous compared with iPhone.  Great typing and watching experience on them.  I think 5″ is gonna be another force in the marketplace next year.

    1. Mikegre

      I have the Galaxy Note. Prior to getting it a few weeks ago, when I left the house, I’d put my Nexus S and my Galaxy Tab in my pocket. Now…it’s just the Galaxy Note. I love it.

  45. britt

    Is it one of the EU GSM versions or a Verizon device?

  46. Pete Griffiths

    Yeah – make us all jealous why doncha?

  47. danbuell

    There are originators and imitators I guess. Put an iPhone and this one in front of any person and ask them which they really wish they had. My guess 80% of them say iPhone all the way. Fred has blinders on. I waited in line to buy U2 tickets once, guess I could have gone to some local bar to watch some half rate cover band. I’ve never waited in line for a phone though and I still think the iPhone kicks butt!!!

    1. fredwilson

      and i think U2 sucksto each his own Dan

      1. danbuell

        Hi Fred, I give you that, I’m not a big Arctic Monkey fan but I don’t have a blog trashing them and you don’t usually post negative U2 posts so maybe this is something more than whether or not you like the device?I understand why Samsung took a comical but stereotypical look at Apple’s users, what else are they going to do, it is a desperate Hail Mary to try to claw away some market share from that of which they tried to clone but let’s not kid ourselves,  they would die to have people standing in line for hours to buy their product, it’s the ultimate marketing success but I’m not sure what drives your passion against Apple given your appreciation for commercial and innovative success?  I do dig what you say RE U2 and respect that you can choose what you want to use and what you say on your blog and appreciate that you encourage contrary comments…

        1. fredwilson

          Cm on. Jobs copied too. Everyone does

          1. danbuell

            Agree…

          2. fltron

            I dislike rehashing this argument but I haven’t had it here so why not…The question is, if Apple had never made the iPhone, would Android look more like a Blackberry or the current design? I’m betting on the Blackberry, but that it would eventually have turned into something similar to the iPhone. Jobs (well, Apple really, I dislike credited Jobs for everything Apple does) advanced the phone 5+ years as evident by how long it’s taken for the competition to catch-up. That doesn’t mean you need to buy Apple or that Apple is justified in suing everyone, but it does mean it’s important to give credit where credit is due. There’s this culture of excusing Apple’s success to ‘they copied’ or ‘it’s all marketing’ and that’s the wrong attitude to have. Those things are partially true, but Apple makes products greater then the sum of of its parts. And that’s what Android is missing. 

          3. fredwilson

            android might be missing something for youbut it’s the iphone that missing something for mei’ve tried both and i vastly prefer android

  48. Jon Michael Miles

    I have a Samsung Droid. I like their OS interface, but the battery is pretty bad. Barely a day.I called and complained to Verizon and they are sending us pre-owned but certified Razrs. If the Galaxy Nexus was available I’d go there most definitely!

  49. howardlindzon

    This should drive $goog stock much higher if the general market holds the line

  50. John Revay

    Great ad – surprise, relevancy, emotionFred – I would have guessed you carried an iPhone (NYU/Poly talk – it looked like you had one, you comment that you use a iPad,  when at the AVC/Donors choose event – I thought I spied Macs in the partners offices, use of airplay etc., only tip off on droid use was chrome browser)I use to be a huge MS fan (office, exchange, IIS, sql etc –  my sense was that it all worked (or that it was a work in process in the right direction) – well in hindsight it at least had common branding).  MS continues to be the biggest looser at least for now.This blog often talks about – quick, easy, friction less – I have watched the Steve Jobs keynotefrom the last WWDC several times & through out his talk he had this theme of “it just works” especially when talking about iCloud.Perhaps you are a big user of Google docs, assuming you still could access w/ an IOS phone.  I have been thinking about building a social app for way too long….that said I constantly try and see what device my perceived target audience uses – and it appears to be the iPhone (guessing 10 to 3). It may be of function of where I live – or some other demographic.I think you sold some Samdroids today or perhaps opened some minds.

  51. matt

    this is the new “1984” ad, now that Apple has become the establishment. 

  52. Kevin Pillow

    When I see the headlines reading that Apple is trying to block Samsung device sales in the United States and places abroad like Australia, I see how Apples culture is changing a bit. Protectionism never seems to end well for the perpetrators.

  53. Mikegre

    I’m using the Galaxy Note. Got it from the UK a few weeks ago. Google it.

  54. Remi Cossart

    Well done commercial.  Though the implicit irony here is that the anticipation surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) is exactly what the ad is making fun of.

  55. Reddy

    IPhone GROWTH RATE  is reaching saturation point in US if we take next 3 to 5 year time horizon.  Here I list couple of reason why Apple Iphone growth is in trouble  for next 3 years.1/ I would argue Apple IPhone thrived last 3 years due to lack of worthy alternative , Given Android caught-up in features and quality phones Iphone Edge is fast eroding.2/ World wide Symbian 16.9% Smart phone market(as of today) share will convert to MS Windows phone market share in  2 yearas  given  Microsoft tieup with NOKIA Share of worldwide 2011 Q3 SMARTPhone SALES to end users by operating system, according to Gatner.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…Android:    52.5% Symbian:  16.9% RIM :         11% apple IOS:   15% Microsoft:     1.5%3/ Iphone penetration is minimal in China  and India ,  the two major mobile fast growing countries due to the price sensitiviy of these markets.   NOKIA,  Samsung , LG , HTC , BlackBerry carry close to 70% market share in both China and India.   Majority of them are still FEATURE phones in INDIA and CHINA ,  in the coming  2 to 3 years all these fearue phone will be convered to ANDROID and WINDOWS ( by NOKia ) Phones .  India/China Combined market 3 years fron now looks some thing like this:  Android: 50% , Widows: 20% , Apple: 8%   4/ Here is the sample of how ANDROID phone that are selling in INDIA there days. This web site is like ‘Amazon.com of India ‘    http://bit.ly/uc5M6NSamsung Galaxy Y S5360   Price: $145 ( no Contract unlocked phone ) – Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) OS – 2 MP Primary Camera – 3-inch TFT Touchscreen – FM Radio – Wi-Fi Enabled

  56. Mike328

    What exactly is the purpose of this post? You brandish this tasteless commercial, why? To feel a little better about your convictions? Respect your readers.

    1. fredwilson

      i have low self esteem. i do it to feel better about myself. i hope you understand.

    2. Alex Murphy

      Probably just to piss you off Mike 328.  You seem angry.  You might feel better if you watch some old spice commercials instead: http://www.youtube.com/user…

  57. Bruno_dR

    Fred, it is been more than 10 days with your new Galaxy Nexus. Love story? Better than the S2? You take lots of pics for tumblr, any difference between the two?I am worried the S3 is around the corner and 16Gb won’t be enough (in the UK, the GSM version is 16Gb only for now…).Maybe you already have in mind a post as a review tho…Many thanks!

    1. fredwilson

      i like it betterice cream sandwich is better, although there are some things i like less about the new OSi love the camera. it’s awesome

  58. andyswan

    Ya I’m kind of starting to feel the same way about apps.  The truly disruptive ones will come to me.  Otherwise I feel like I’m sorting through a bin of Fruit of the Loom and Hanes T-shirts getting picky over tag placement and shades of white.

  59. fredwilson

    Samdroids are the dells of this market. The galaxy s2 vs the iPhone is the comparison you want to do

  60. Rohan

    Very true! I like it for the same reason! 🙂

  61. ShanaC

    Why isn’t there hardware innovation leaking down to consumers anymore.I read that we’re getting closer to better, cheaper, smaller memory.  Interesting chip design for processors too.  New material choices.  So nu, why are we all not caring.it sounds to me that in the next ten/twenty years, big things will happen with computers that weren’t available before, and that our conception of all hardware is the same will revert back to the way it was in the early 90s where suddenly hardware was a big deal.

  62. LE

    “From the outside there appear to be hundreds of different models with small marketing bound tradeoffs that are hard to decipher, that I would need to spend a whole afternoon digging through it all to figure out what phone is best.”Agree. The reason for this is that the people coming up with the choices are very familiar so it doesn’t seem intimidating to them at all. They are comfortable with it, their brain can put everything into unique chunks and process (similar to how the brain doesn’t have to do much work to remember an area code like 800, it’s not three numbers it’s one number basically).I recently had to buy a windows laptop. I managed to narrow things down to Acer. Then I had to decide within acer. Here is just *one* of the acer lines, aspire:http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US…Look at all the models. And this is just one acer category. Simply amazing.And look at the names “AS7750G-6662” “AS7750-6423″There are 66 models on that page alone for just one line.66!I learned very early on in business (and by the way this is one of those things they don’t teach in business school and if they do it’s not the same as learning it first hand) that you can’t give people more than, say 3 to 5 choices (number varies with situation and product of course).  And if you do give them many choices you point them in the right direction and tell them where they want to be. To much choice creates paralysis.

  63. awaldstein

    I think true generally as well.  And a redefinition of what marketing’s job is.It’s not the customers job to search and shop. It’s the product and companies job to find you and make it easy.

  64. jason wright

    Speaking of which.http://www.avc.com/a_vc/201…This thread, now closed (when do avc threads close – are there standard ‘opening hours”?), touched on many aspects of the aas, but I was thinking about it again earlier this week. I wonder if there’s an overall strategic function of the store that hasn’t really been considered, that Apple might be using it to marshal the world’s resource of independent web developers to consume their time, creativity, and resources as a preemptive defense against the risk of this ‘army’ going mercenary and building stuff for either themselves or others that might eventually result in startups, products, and services entering the market that eat in to Apple’s core.

  65. jason wright

    A week? I must think faster. Thx. 

  66. fredwilson

    30 days

  67. RichardF

    I held onto my 3G as long as I could because I felt it was good enough but with each release of IOS it seemed to slow down or certain features of IOS were excluded from it and then, more frustratingly certain apps couldn’t even run properly on it.  At that point it was no longer good enoughThat was the point at which I looked at the iPhone 4S vs Galaxy S2 and not being an Apple fan I couldn’t discern any benefit in being tied into the Apple ecosystem.

  68. markslater

    there are 500,000 apps in the app store. I have 12 on my phone. Someone will come along and build one app that aggregates thousands of these useless point solutions that have been built. Solve for: user story with app:customer support? ordering? build connectivity app with end points.

  69. Mark Essel

    I began using ibooks/kindle much more after I upgraded to a 4 (with the resolution change). But before that I was already reading most on it while out walking (good but dangerous combo if done in Manhattan).

  70. panterosa,

     At some point, good enough is in fact good enough. AMEN.

  71. Mark Essel

    Unfortunately, you’ll be tied into the Android ecosystem. How cool would it be if you could choose any mobile OS and couple it with just about any hardware, and run any mobile app?Mobile virtual machines, and rich mobile web apps… hopefully coming to a theater near us soon.

  72. Rohan

    iPhone 4 was much much much much better than 3g.Don’t know about the 3gs yet. It was my 2nd apple product after an iPod. Love it!

  73. andyidsinga

    we still have the iphone 3g phones too. and even thou the I love the mechanical durability i have similar frustrations about the ios upgrades that are effing things up. – anything that touches gps hangs the devices for several seconds. – never happened with the earlier 3.x versions of the os.

  74. Mark Essel

    Is there anything salvageable? Their client/contact list?Big slow companies take a long time to shift, they can likely milk them for another 5-7 years but after that I don’t see a future for RIM.Who would gain the most from acquiring them? Apple, or Samsung, or Microsoft?Bonus points for the imagery.

  75. RichardF

    I’m hoping HTML5 will free me from apps.

  76. Rohan

    Microsoft. I think.Windows phone can win big with large corporates. IMHO

  77. ShanaC

    QNX is really powerful, and frankly it would do a lot better than say Windows for programming odd stuff like ticket buying machines (currently on windows for the LIRR)

  78. Rohan

    Nicely put! We’re all fighting for ‘attention.’Love it.

  79. RichardF

    yes it is (we have one in the office for testing)  and we also have quite a few macs but like I said above it appears to me that it is an Apple strategy to make hardware obsolete through the issue of software updates.  (I’m aware that Microsoft have attempted this as well but had to back down because of the huge numbers of XP operating systems on office pc’s)

  80. RichardF

    it’s the fact that there is no easy roll back that really pisses me off.

  81. Rohan

    Yeah. Windows operate on very different principles. Results going to be very different as a result, I guess..

  82. FAKE GRIMLOCK

    THAT FUNNY.ME AMAZED OLD IPHONE 3 CAN STILL BE UPDATED AT ALL, GIVE APPLE HUGE CREDIT FOR IT.PHONE OS IS VERY TIGHTLY INTEGRATED WITH HARDWARE. BE ABLE TO USE NEW OS ON VERY OLD HARDWARE IS SERIOUS ENGINEERING.AND SERIOUS GIVE A DAMN ABOUT OLD CUSTOMERS.

  83. LE

    ” it appears to me that it is an Apple strategy to make hardware obsolete through the issue of software updates”Not sure I fully agree with you on this, Richard. I have (as only one example) a Powermac g4 in the office which I use to run OS 9 (under Mac OS X 10.4.11) so I can run an old version of Pagemaker (which dates back from the early 90’s).  The intro date on the machine was 1999, 12 years ago approx. The last OS to run on that machine (if you don’t need classic)  was 10.5 which was introduced in Oct, 2007 (that’s 8 years later).  Snow Leopard 10.6 was introduced in 2009 – that doesn’t run on that machine but they still supported updating (and still do) 10.5 to this day. I don’t think that’s to bad.So the machine had up to date OS essentially from 1999 to 2009. And actually longer since it is still being patched. (10.5).That’s 10 years at the minimum.http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…Windows XP was released in 2001http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…http://www.everymac.com/sys

  84. ShanaC

    Do you think we are going to have the dellification of phones, where they become access terminal for smaller computer tasks (as in small computers, not small tasks)

  85. William Mougayar

    There’s a market for that, right? I think they call Bring Your Own Device BYOD.

  86. SubstrateUndertow

    It seems to me that the tricks-of-the-trade for slicing and dicing our new cloud data-modelled everything are quickly becoming commoditized.The innovative blue-sky is to be found in the distributed array of transparent front-end-data-hopper hardware components required to streamline the flow of all that real-world micro-data into our cloud data-modelling mega monster.Monsters, Inc.II – Plot Line

  87. FAKE GRIMLOCK

    INNOVATIONS IN HAMMERS PRETTY EXCITING FOR FIRST FEW HUNDRED YEARS.THEN KINKS GET WORKED OUT. SAME TRUE FOR EVERYTHING ELSE. EVENTUALLY HUMANS GET IT RIGHT. THEN IT GET BORING.

  88. ShanaC

    Agreed. I still find it surprising that we don’t get excited about the enterprise side. we know it trickles down. it shows us some potential futures

  89. ShanaC

    You don’t think the idea of nanocomputing is exciting?I’m a puny human, and I think it would be awesome to have little nanos in my blood helping my T-cells do stuff. I’m not made of metal like you, so I wear out easily.

  90. JamesHRH

    Agreed.See earlier discussion re: arguing over cars. Its gotten right, all cars pretty good, boring.

  91. FAKE GRIMLOCK

    IT NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.IS ISSUE WITH HEAT.

  92. RichardF

    There comes a point at which the phone should not be able to be updated.IOS 4 should not have been available to upgrade or there should have been an official 1 click roll back solution.

  93. RichardF

    hmm… your making think that all the requests for new machines and licence upgrades by the designers in the office were not legitimate 🙂