Which Competitor will be the "firefox" of smart phones

[addaminsane]

...I know its a wierd title that might not make alot of sense. What i was thinking of is how "Firefox" as an internet browser rose up to compete and dominate other browsers.

The relevance of this question is in the now dominant i-phone. I think that the billion downloaded apps milestone simbolizes i-phone taking over the smart phone world. And legitimately so, as you can do so much on the device...it's bad ace.

So what does the future hold for other smart phone companies. I can't imagine right now how anyone can actually gather the resources to build up all of the features and add ons that the i-phone has at this point in time.

This is kind of a weird question. I'm not real sure how bad of an effect a phone monopoly would cause. I mean people only use digital products that continue to improve and be the best...So its not like apple's current innovation will allow them to quite producing quality. At the same time i guess alot of phone companies could go out of business if everyone gets an i-phone. Then the bad effect of the monopoly would be that the phone provider could determine service prices...

I don't know i just thought i'd submit this thought and see what people who know alot more about the subject have to say.

[ZiggyPastorius]

Good god, I hope the iPhone doesn't become the Firefox of smartphones...if it does, we'll have a very unoriginal, mediocre smartphone that is constantly incorporating brand new features of other phones shortly after they're innovated by someone else ...

[addaminsane]

i didn't mean iphone becoming firefox. i was referring to another company trying to start gaining ground. Some people compare phones on their sites for the sake of reviewing crap and hoping to make money from it but we all know that iphone is way above everything else right now.

but with all of the ground iphone has gained over everyone who will be able to come up from behind and compete like firefox did in the browser world.

*note - i know that casual internet browsers may not even know what i'm talking about with firefox but the truth is that most webmasters and web designers give alot of praise to firefox as the best browser.

[clevin]

current smartphone IE is still Blackberry.

iPhone is in the position of smartphone firefox now

but if you want to think iPhone is in the position of smartphone IE

then I say the upcoming smartphone firefox is

the PRE, my next smartphone.

[addaminsane]

current smartphone IE is still Blackberry.

iPhone is in the position of smartphone firefox now

but if you want to think iPhone is in the position of smartphone IE

then I say the upcoming smartphone firefox is

the PRE, my next smartphone.


I do think you're blackberry IE comparison is interesting!~

About the PRE, hmmm, looks like they copy i-phone look while managing to look less trendy. I have a hard time believing i might here a majority of people saying "PRE is so much better!"

Mainly because of iphones apps, look, and the fact iphone is household name now.

[akm3]

Sorry, no matter how we mash it the analogy just doesn't work.

[clevin]

I do think you're blackberry IE comparison is interesting!~

About the PRE, hmmm, looks like they copy i-phone look while managing to look less trendy. I have a hard time believing i might here a majority of people saying "PRE is so much better!"

Mainly because of iphones apps, look, and the fact iphone is household name now.
its better than iPhone, IMHO, true desktop level multitasking is just too good. plus non interruption multiple work-flow...

[iphones4evry1]

its better than iPhone, IMHO, true desktop level multitasking is just too good. plus non interruption multiple work-flow...

So, do you think the Apple engineers are learning from the Pre right now ?
(that question could lead to hundreds of answers, but what's the first thing that comes to your mind?)

[clevin]

So, do you think the Apple engineers are learning from the Pre right now ?
(that question could lead to hundreds of answers, but what's the first thing that comes to your mind?)
sure, but i always think apple engineers are weak, (personal opinion). its not like they can do what they want to.

I think OSX fundamentally is too large and complicated to run decent multi-tasking on a handset without causing problems. and Apple is unable to slim it down. It apparent is proven when apple itself said they are unable to make it work without resulting in ridiculous battery life on iPhone, I suspect there are huge stability issue as well.

So yes, ideas are there, apple just couldn't make it. They obviously learned it, since they have been obviously trying.

PS. there is another way, which I suspect is what apple is doing now, is simply wait for the more powerful hardware to appear with decent price. such that the current big OS can be run without much change. Of course, that means users have to wait 1 to 2 years and old handset wont be able to handle to iPhone software 4.0? 5.0?

[Consultant]

its better than iPhone, IMHO, true desktop level multitasking is just too good. plus non interruption multiple work-flow...

Palm Pre: The Emperor’s New Phone
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/01/12/palm-pre-the-emperors-new-phone/

[LizKat]

Keep an eye on Moto. The ZN300 thing they just brought out is not it, but at least it's evidence they have finally snapped out of their torpor long enough to have a cuppa java and notice that phones are computers now. I would not count them out even if Wall Street has already done so.

[zap2]

Bad comparison IMO

Never has an hardware maker had the market IE did on the desktop(I'm looking from post netscape days)....yes, BlackBerry is a big player, but so is Nokia(out of USA)...Apple, HTC, Samsung, etc(we know the big players) are all making the market far more split then the browser market is today

[clevin]

Palm Pre: The Emperor’s New Phone
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/01/12/palm-pre-the-emperors-new-phone/
its impossible to convince me with anything written by top notch apple fanboy whose name is Dan and running a fake news analysis website.

I have yet to see him utter a single word of appreciation about any non-apple products. read his site often, you might wonder if apple actually created the world and invented everything.