A political decision that was bad is keeping on giving.
Apple victory was given to them
North America is accustomed to overpaying for their mobile phones and services so much that they can get the most expensive device for next to nothing because they sign a 2 year contract with a telecommunications provider who's plans are nothing short of gouging.
Now the real question is, how come no one is competing with iPhone dollar wise? I would love to see someone come out with a top-end $900 Android phone that is as stunning as an iPhone. It seems Android hardware vendors are more tuned in to bloating the OS with gimmicky features rather than creating tier 1 hardware.
However, even those great phones still have the problem of having to compete against one another, and there is very little differentiation since Google owns the experience. I get some key innovations on Moto X that I don't get on iPhone (the ability to redden the screen at night is key for me, plus nice things like automatically detecting when you're driving so incoming texts and voice calls are read to you), but Moto X still has to compete with other high end Android devices so they are limited in the premium they can charge.
Not all people, I could easily afford an iPhone yet I stick with my Nexus 4 (which is currently Android 5.1.1 and noticeably quicker than 4 was on the same phone), it does everything I want from a smartphone and was a third the price of the equivalent iPhone at the time.
The selection is low, but the Nexus lines have served many well. I'm super excited to see some new phones later this year. (i hope)
I prefer Androids for 2 reasons:
1. Unlocked bootloader 2. Root 3. Screen size
But the fragmentation of the ecosystem since 2.2 still hurts (and seems like 4.2 is the new gingerbread)