I’m sure many of you still remember the rather absurd lawsuit that Apple brought to bear against Samsung. Apparently, they were concerned that the consumer was having trouble discerning the difference between a drawn-out patent battle where Apple claimed that Samsung ripped off a whole host of features from its market-leading iPad, up to and including “rounded corners.”
While Apple won the battle on U.S. shores, it lost in several other nations all around the world, including South Korea, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Commentary on the sorry state of American patent law aside, the echoes of that lawsuit have lately gotten me wondering…what exactly is the difference between iPads and Android tablets? Obviously, if Apple brought such a cumbersome lawsuit to bear against a former hardware partner, it thought there were enough similarities between the two products.
So…with that in mind, how exactly does one differentiate between the two?
Note that I’m going to be carrying out an objective comparison. I’m not going to favor one device over the other. We’re interested in the difference between the two, not which one is ‘better.’
Android vs. iOS
Well, the most obvious distinction between the two different breeds of tablet is that they use different operating systems. Android tablets run on Google’s java-based Android operating system, while iPads run on the C++/Objective C-coded iOS.
Believe it or not, that in and of itself isn’t actually as much of a distinction as one might expect: you might be surprised to hear this, but interface-wise, the two operating systems are actually close to identical. While the two interfaces are noticeably different from one another, in terms of usability, they more often than not tend to be virtually identical (at least in the top devices).
The chief difference actually lies with the apps available on each platform. iOS tends to function more easily with Apple software such as iTunes, while Android is more closely tied to Google’s various services than its rival OS. While a few variations on the interface do exist within Android based on device, as a whole there’s not a lot of difference.
Obviously, we’re going to have to dig a little deeper.
Openness vs. Control; Unification vs. Fragmentation
Honestly, this is the penultimate difference between Android Tablets and iPads. Every other difference is secondary: the whole debate between Android vs. iOS often tends to come down to a single argument: openness versus control. Apple’s operating system is closed and proprietary, Google’s system is free and open-source.
Consequently, Google doesn’t exert a great deal of control over Android, allowing users to freely and readily ‘root’ their devices and customize them in ways beyond what might have originally been allowed. It’s also free for developers to use and tweak as they see fit. The fact that Android isn’t a proprietary system means also that there’s a considerable degree of platform fragmentation where Android tablets are concerned. Just about anyone can make a ‘droid tablet, while iPads are one-of-a-kind. While this does mean you have a great deal more variety when it comes to hardware choice, it also makes the lives of application developers considerably more difficult. On Android, you have no guarantee your app is going to work on every tablet on the market.
Plus, you’re bound to wind up with a few lemons.
Contrast this with iOS, which is a closed, proprietary system – one over which Apple holds a considerable degree of influence. This may sound like a rather unattractive way of doing business, rather than Google’s apparent “do what you like” policy, but it actually does have a few advantages of its own (these will become clear as we move forward). The unified infrastructure of the iPad means that Apple can more readily offer support for technical issues and exert more control over its brand, while app developers can sleep secure with the knowledge that if they develop an application, it’s going to work on every iPad that goes to market.
The iTunes Store vs. The Android Marketplace
Interface-wise, the differences between the iTunes Store and the Android Marketplace are mostly aesthetic. As with the hardware, the primary difference between the two hearkens back to the “openness vs. control” dichotomy.
Much like iOS itself, the iTunes Store is a tightly-controlled, highly-regulated environment. Apple dictates which apps actually make it to market, determining on a case-by-case basis whether or not a developer is violating their application store’s terms and conditions. While this does make it somewhat more difficult to put out apps for the platform (the approval process can take a while, particularly if your app gets rejected for some reason), it also means the iTunes Store is virtually virus free. Sure, a few pieces of malware might slip through the cracks here and there, but as a whole, it’s safe.
The Android Marketplace, meanwhile, doesn’t have an approval process, nor is it the only means of obtaining apps on Android. While this does mean that you have a larger variety of applications, it also means that you’re going to need to exercise a great deal more care in what you download. Malware is much more prominent on the Android Marketplace, simply by its open nature, while third-party app stores can hide a whole host of nasty surprises behind their digital shelves.
Flash Support
Last, but certainly not least, iOS doesn’t actually offer native flash support, while Android offers both Flash and HTML5.
Steve Jobs back in 2010 gave a fairly detailed explanation for his decision not to allow Flash on iOS, including differences in philosophy, security and stability concerns, interference with application development, and a lack of touch-screen support. What this means for iPad users is that a wide range of content will be unavailable to them, while Android users will suffer from no such difficulties (though, as Jobs pointed out, most of this Flash content is readily available in a new, more modern format).
Conclusion
So at the end of the day, the main difference between Android and iOS lies in the fact that one’s open-source, the other isn’t. Every other difference: from the various hardware variants of Android Tablets, to the store, and arguably even Flash support can be linked to this.
As such, it ultimately doesn’t really matter which of the two you use – it’s just a matter of preference, truth be told. Neither is really all that superior, as both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses.
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You forgot to mention the beauty of how iOS mesh with the iPad and its applications. Unlike the crazy world of android and its hit and miss upgrade path.
You well know that android devices could be left running an old android version because the makers of androids phones and tablets ( Samsung anyone? ) don’t care about users just about the next hardware release. So your shiny six months old tablet could be left out of the next google upgrade because by then, Samsung has introduced another half a dozen models.
Samsung strategy: spaghetti tablets. Throw and hope one sticks. And after more than a dozen tablets brought to market, Samsung market share is a “grand” +-4%. Even lower than the kindle fire with just two models. For your information, last year Samsung introduced over 30 phone models, Apple, 1. And still Appe gathers 74% of all profits. Not a bad business model I suppose.
Face this fact. There is a core of buyers, small, that buy android. The other 95-98 %, are what I call price buyers. They prefer an iPhone or an iPad, but when they will give you one for free, they take it. I have done that myself.
In the UK, Samsung throws in a galaxy tablet when you buy certain phone and plan. Still, that has not helped Samsung tablets market share. Or the spiff, cash, Samsung is paying phone and tablet salesmen all over the world to push their products. If you ask anyone in the third world, and that is what everyone is talking about for new growth nowadays, what phone or tablet they want, they will tell you iPhone, iPad. Go ahead, do some traveling instead of writing just behind your desk, check it for yourself.
So in fact, there is a lot more that differentiate the iPad and android tablets. Customer service, steady upgrades, non-early obsolence due to years of support, superb resale value, you can finish it for me…but android has none of that. And last, manufacturers integrity.
Apple does not have to bribe anyone for their products to sell.
Samsung has neither the financial nor the political power Apple has, and I believe that’s the only reason why people buy more Apple than Samsung. Not because the former is any better than the latter. Acting as a patent troll has also helped Apple at maintaining its market supremacy.