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Comment by niccolop | Hacker News Reader

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niccolop·

I suppose this isn't at all surprising based on the iPhone/At&t tie up.

It would be interesting to compare other countries where carriers haven't locked up the iPhone (e.g. UK or France).

No doubt android is an excellent platform, but the barriers to obtaining an iPhone seem relatively higher than android.

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> No doubt android is an excellent platform, but the barriers to obtaining an iPhone seem relatively higher than android.

That's a feature of Android, not something that just happens because of factors outside the control of Apple or Google.

Actually, it is something outside of the control of Google. Admittedly, they made the right choices to allow the OS to spread (I was going to say easier, but really they allowed it to spread at all). This didn't mean, however, that anyone else was going to pick it up and use it.

Picking up Android is only a matter of how open and capable it is.

Developing your in-house mobile OS is not easy or cheap. Companies like HTC/Motorola can't compete with Apple/RIM/Nokia only on hardware quality.

Most phones are Java ME enabled for that reason, but it's a shitty platform and everybody knows it.

The big story in the UK over the last week has been phenomenal Android growth (up 350% in a single quarter). Obviously it's growing from a smaller base, and I don't know how close it is to catching either iPhone or iOS in installed base, but the trendlines look good for it.

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