Don't get me wrong, right now I'm using an iPhone 5. It's nice and doesn't do anything poorly. It feels solid, the battery is great, and the UI is polished. But Apple need to do more of SOMETHING... either innovate, update, or at least advertise. Because right now Android is doing more of all 3.
I used a Samsung Galaxy S3 for a few months before I had to use the iPhone 5 due to work... and wow. Apple really needs to step up their game. The Android stuff has some great UI elements in there, some nice features, and all-in-all a great phone.
I'm NOT saying Androids are better/worse than iPhones since it's so subjective. And from a physical manufacturing standpoint I think the iPhone is still better (sturdier, better battery, etc). But Google has bridged the OS gap in some places and surpassed Apple in others. Add to that they're doing more advertising
For a while, Apple was THE smart phone out there. The early Android stuff didn't really compare: the G1 was OK but lacked. The original Nexus was neat but still not there. So Apple was king.
But now... Apple needs to do more. From a UI standpoint they haven't made many huge changes since the original iPhone. The interface is still the same... a touch-screen version of some other smart phone UI's from that era. Icons that you can't just place anywhere... no movement on the screen... other neat things the Android allows apps to do.
The only major UI elements Apple added since release were really Banner-alerts and folders. Sure they upped the hardware a few times... but Retina isn't that high higher DPI than the Galaxy S3. So besides sturdy construction the only real hardware advantage the iPhone has is battery life.
And sure, to some people that's enough. The like the simple UI for various reasons. Personally, my favorite iPhone advantage is the scroll-wheel UI piece in the iPhone vs the +/- in the Android. And even with the Galaxy I didn't have Live Wallpaper enabled often.
In summary: Apple needs to do "more." Either they need to do some great UI updates, add some cool feature / apps, or they need to advertise it more. Because so long as Google is doing more in all 3... they will eventually leave Apple in the dust.
So true! Add on, the reason why Apple is loosing ground here, especially in Europe is just because of what's written here above + the cost of the devises like the iPhone and iPad. I also like those products myself, but Apple didn't come up with significant new aspects and no game changers a all.
Wth all the cash Apple has, why not doin a stunt? They can give iCloud for free with 30 gig or lower the prices of their devises drasticly and above all, stop being an arrogant player because they are simply loosing ground and that will not stop unless some drastic changes are been made.
First change, bring out that Mac Pro they "promised"....