COMMENTARY | For the last year or so, the biggest selling point Android phones had versus the iPhone is that they're big; they have big screens, big processing power, and big RAM chips and flash memory. They also supported Adobe's mobile Flash plugin, while the iPhone did not.
But Adobe just gave up on mobile Flash. And a big part of the reason that Android phones pulled so far ahead is because component shortages delayed the iPhone 4S' launch by half a year. Once it was released, it blew away all Android phones in raw benchmarks, and even most Android tablets. And while the Galaxy Nexus and other phones of its ilk may be able to pull ahead soon, the fight to compete with the iPhone on specs is one they can't win in the long run, because ...
Some specs are worthless
Or else worth less than you thought they were when you bought your phone. An example would be the huge screens that most high-end Android smartphones ship with. Bigger is better, right?
Not so fast. Have you ever tried to use a 4.5 inch screen one-handed? The iPhone's 3.5 inch screen hasn't changed in size since its launch, and it's also -- coincidentally -- just the right size to touch nearly all parts of it using your thumb. Flash? It's never been a good idea for Android. And what about 4G wireless radios? They're fast, but they're part of the reason that Android phones get horrible battery life (and need to be so huge).
Apple can compete harder
Apple is not a monopolist, of the sort that Microsoft was in the 90's. It's more like a monopsonist, which is a word meaning it buys up all of certain supplies for itself. Its tremendous success lets it work with tremendous economies of scale, so Apple can simply out-produce anyone else on the market, or even sue its competitors out of existence. There's not much you can't do when you've got more cash on hand than the federal government.
If Apple wanted to, it could beat any Android phone out there for any spec that it wanted to. So why'd Apple let the iPhone 4 get so far behind before replacing it? Because when it comes to competing on specs, Apple knows that ...
It doesn't work
Apple sells more smartphones than any other manufacturer, and makes more per smartphone sold than anyone else on the market. And that was basically the same before the new iPhone 4S came out. Apple probably could've kept selling last year's iPhone 4 until 2012.
You may like or hate Apple's designs. I'm personally an Android fan. But the biggest reason Apple captures so much profit share, besides the positive feedback loop from its past successes, is because Apple's designs delight customers. No amount of gigahertz or megabytes will change the fact that for most people who can afford it -- at least, from what the market is showing -- an iPhone is simply a better phone.
The Upshot
You can call Apple's designs a triumph of form over function, and its success purely a function of marketing. But Android gadgets' commercials create fantasy scenarios with spaceships and cyborgs, while Apple's clearly demonstrate what the iPhone can do and how people enjoy using it.
Apple's products speak for themselves. Android smartphone manufacturers could learn from them.
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