Android Jumps Past iOS in Overall U.S. Smartphone Usage

[TMay]

Personally, I want to know the name of the UI engineer that showed Jobs something cool enough to make him go ahead and have Apple build touch phones and tablets. That engineer is the unsung hero, the real genius.

Lots of unsung heroes, and not to downplay UI, especially in a company whose dna is built on UI and ease of use, but the standout decision is iOS as a derivative of OSX.

Whichever team or individual sold Steve on that set a future of consistent development and ubiquity throughout Apple's ecosystem, and we haven't seen all the ramifications yet.

It will be interesting to watch iOS expansion further into the iPod family and folded back into OSX for the Mac, a taste of which we are getting with Lion.

 

[G58]

The fact that Android phones are the most desirable should have Apple worried just as much as the unstoppable sales figures.

Image

What a revolting, hideous image. Two symbols guaranteed to put off any serious person: a nerdy monochromatic robot and a golden crown. Very poor taste.

 

[Thunderhawks]

What is this discussion about?

My iphone works great and does everything I want it to do.

Integration with all my other Macs etc.

If something better IMO comes along, time to switch.

Lots of unsung heroes, and not to downplay UI, especially in a company whose dna is built on UI and ease of use, but the standout decision is iOS as a derivative of OSX.

Whichever team or individual sold Steve on that set a future of consistent development and ubiquity throughout Apple's ecosystem, and we haven't seen all the ramifications yet.

It will be interesting to watch iOS expansion further into the iPod family and folded back into OSX for the Mac, a taste of which we are getting with Lion.

As the legend goes, when the engineers presented the touch type technology for tablets, Steve allegedly had the thought : We can make a phone out oft his"

We'll never know if that is just legend, but it doesn't matter as it changed everything!

Even the PC apostles had to go back to their copy boards.

 

[G58]

Spot on!

My 27" iMac is an awesome monitor for my Gaming PC, name me another monitor that will also act as a server for torrents, movies, music etc while you game on it And its so so so so so sexy!

And thier lies the problem with mac owners.... owww sooo shiny! I am better then the other guy who does not own this sexy sexy shiny machine with the apple logo... no idea what the OS is called or what features its has... but damn it is sexy... I feel so much better about myself !!!!

If this is what owning a PC does for you, maybe you should go back to school and save for a real computer.

Those that ignore history are bound to repeat it.

Apple is arrogant.

History shows that arrogant companies - that don't listen to their customers - are bound to fail eventually.

I've used Android and Windows Mobile 7 phones. I am an Apple fanboy for a few decades already, but Apple fans need to realise that, if a person who was not a fanboy used a Droid or Win7 phone, it would completely meet their needs.

Sure, arguably, I believe iOS is superior to Android - but history shows that the winner just has to be good enough, not necessarily the best.

This race will be decided over the course of a decade.

Massive companies can degrade into nothing if they don't follow the direction of the marketplace, e.g. Digital Equipment Corporation.

The same applies for mighty empires e.g. British Empire etc. No empire lasts forever.

A prime example of Apple's arrogance is its refusal to provide matte screens to the substantial minority of people who legitimately need matte screens. See the survey evidence at http://macmatte.wordpress.com You might not need a matte screen, and you might love glossy screens: but plenty of people do, such as many (not all) graphics professionals, photographers, people who suffer from eye-strain from the glare. Not all people, but many.

Microsoft went from dominant dictator to chump arguably in the space of around 5-7 years.

I would say that once Steve Jobs is forced to leave Apple through permanent ill health, Apple is zero. I'll explain why. Steve is the creative force of Apple, and once he leaves, Apple will be left with a culture of arrogance, insularity, self-important BUT MINUS THE JOBS GENIUS. In other words, Steve has sown the seeds of Apple's swift demise, even while he is there.

You might argue against what I've said, but history backs me up.

Your style is very immature, so I'm going to assume you're a child and explain some very important factors about history. You are partially right to say that "History shows that arrogant companies - that don't listen to their customers - are bound to fail eventually." But you're wrong if you think this applies to Apple. You're also wrong to assume that so-called 'evidence' of arrogance is historically proof of anything.

The example you give of alleged arrogance is the lack of matte screens on MBPs. I agree it's an issue. I wanted one. But I also had one on a previous model and it was ruined by a fool touching it with greasy fingers. So, was it arrogance or the smart thing to do to drop them?

The only things we know for sure are:

Apple's business model works very very well, in a world where the old models are currently failing.

History is a very poor predictor of the future, especially in the tech world.


Tomorrow will be different.

And if you doubt me, Microsoft's model is that of a 19th/20th century business - born out of two sham deals, destroying competition, exploiting suppliers and partners, box shifting, trading-up, volume focussed monopoly and not customer focussed. That model worked for not just decades, it worked for centuries.

But now Apple is bigger than Microsoft. What part of history predicted that?

And you'll find that Apple has a fair few very creative people, not least Tim Cook and Jon Ive. I do agree that Steve is the greatest business leader, the greatest product picker and the greatest presenter of all time. But he loves Apple. My confident hope is that he's left a legacy within the company that will prevail for a long time.

Please don't "explain" anything else to us until you've learned that it's vital to understand what you're talking about.

 

[clibinarius]

You apparently are not aware that Apple can remotely disable any program that goes out the app store that contains an exploit. Apple can shut down malware in a heartbeat were they to miss something during their vetting process.

When you're sleep deprived at 1:30, and dealing with fanboyism, you're bound to mix a bunch of statements.

If you honestly think a walled garden could keep you permanently safe and Apple can press a button, go ahead. I wasn't referring to the App Store. Have you ever seen a Userland Jailbreak? What if the hack arrived via internet-not implausible-and after being a jailbreak did what it wanted?

Look-I have a Playstation 3. The Network's bloody hacked. The network's down, and its not clear when its coming back. Credit Card information was possibly breached. And that was a walled garden. Your idea that anyone in a walled garden is safe is actually blindly optimistic and based on the assumptions:

No one will be able to remotely hack a smartphone made by Apple, ever (See: JailbreakMe, a benign and voluntary version of such an exploit).

No one will ever be able to hack Apple if they get mad at them (See: Playstation Network is STILL down.)

Shocking as this might sound, I do like Apple. Its just...I'm done posting. The lack of reality with the Apple haters is bad enough-its really nowhere near as bad as fanboys who put their fingers in their ears and say "Steve Jobs said this, and Steve Jobs is never wrong."

Besides, if you think companies never fail, allow me to find some AOL stock to sell you.

 

[Rafterman]

Who cares. I was at a cell phone store yesterday and saw all the shoddy looking android designs. They all look like Frankenstein phones if u ask me. If the sheeple wanna get sold on shoddy Android phones, by shoddy used-car-salesmen-types, then that's kind of not surprising. If I wanted to be just like every other drone out there I'd also be using a Winbloez PeeCee.. lolz Sheeple will always be Sheeple. nuff said

You do know that's exactly what Android people say about Apple "sheeple", right?

 

[MacManTexas56]

Those that ignore history are bound to repeat it.

Apple is arrogant.

History shows that arrogant companies - that don't listen to their customers - are bound to fail eventually.

I've used Android and Windows Mobile 7 phones. I am an Apple fanboy for a few decades already, but Apple fans need to realise that, if a person who was not a fanboy used a Droid or Win7 phone, it would completely meet their needs.

Sure, arguably, I believe iOS is superior to Android - but history shows that the winner just has to be good enough, not necessarily the best.

This race will be decided over the course of a decade.

Massive companies can degrade into nothing if they don't follow the direction of the marketplace, e.g. Digital Equipment Corporation.

The same applies for mighty empires e.g. British Empire etc. No empire lasts forever.

A prime example of Apple's arrogance is its refusal to provide matte screens to the substantial minority of people who legitimately need matte screens. See the survey evidence at http://macmatte.wordpress.com You might not need a matte screen, and you might love glossy screens: but plenty of people do, such as many (not all) graphics professionals, photographers, people who suffer from eye-strain from the glare. Not all people, but many.

Microsoft went from dominant dictator to chump arguably in the space of around 5-7 years.

I would say that once Steve Jobs is forced to leave Apple through permanent ill health, Apple is zero. I'll explain why. Steve is the creative force of Apple, and once he leaves, Apple will be left with a culture of arrogance, insularity, self-important BUT MINUS THE JOBS GENIUS. In other words, Steve has sown the seeds of Apple's swift demise, even while he is there.

You might argue against what I've said, but history backs me up.

why does someone have to be a "fanboy" to enjoy good quality products? everything in their ecosystem "just works". My parents who are in their 60's just got iphones about 3 months ago.

I have not had one single call yet of how do i do this, how do i do that. On any other phone? I get those calls a few times a week. Same goes for them once they switched over to an apple laptop. I rarely get a call from them on how to do something on their computer. Them doing anything on a PC laptop and i expect a call and a good 30 minute walkthrough of how do they do it.

Before apple, i used to be a huge fan of Dell. Quality was decent and the prices were super good. Then i started to notice a big trend. Coupons and discounts would come out all the time and prices changed daily. Nothing was a standard set price and if you called back in to try to get a refund on the new advertised price they would not give it to you. They were and always will be in the practice of acting desperate one day for a sell and raising the prices or lowering the prices a few days later. I got tired of their pricing games so quit spending money with them.

Yeah apple prices are high, but i've never had any issue and i've been using them 100% since 2004-2005.

Obviously apple did some research and probably learned that 95% of people don't order Matte screens. Why spend the money and have stock on hand for those screens if only 5% of people are going to order it? They've obviously marketed all their machines to the masses of what most people want as they sell like hot cakes and are standard configurations.

Microsoft is a chump? What operating system dominates the corporate world and most computers out there?

 

[steadysignal]

Some will be bothered about IOS not being the most dominant. I personally don't care, I just want the best mobile OS.

let it drop to second while the fragmented droid market continues to be "open"

all i want is for the phone to work. and on ios, it does for me.

 

[MacManTexas56]

When you're sleep deprived at 1:30, and dealing with fanboyism, you're bound to mix a bunch of statements.

If you honestly think a walled garden could keep you permanently safe and Apple can press a button, go ahead. I wasn't referring to the App Store. Have you ever seen a Userland Jailbreak? What if the hack arrived via internet-not implausible-and after being a jailbreak did what it wanted?

Look-I have a Playstation 3. The Network's bloody hacked. The network's down, and its not clear when its coming back. Credit Card information was possibly breached. And that was a walled garden. Your idea that anyone in a walled garden is safe is actually blindly optimistic and based on the assumptions:

No one will be able to remotely hack a smartphone made by Apple, ever (See: JailbreakMe, a benign and voluntary version of such an exploit).

No one will ever be able to hack Apple if they get mad at them (See: Playstation Network is STILL down.)

Shocking as this might sound, I do like Apple. Its just...I'm done posting. The lack of reality with the Apple haters is bad enough-its really nowhere near as bad as fanboys who put their fingers in their ears and say "Steve Jobs said this, and Steve Jobs is never wrong."

Besides, if you think companies never fail, allow me to find some AOL stock to sell you.

LOL you are comparing apple to AOL?? When every other company was innovating and coming up with ideas, AOL was still relying on their ONE product and that was their only focus. My parents still use AOL...they still have it in their brain that it's the only access to the internet. I've tried to get them to switch email, but they won't. From what i've seen, AOL hasn't changed in many years. Heck, you can't even auto forward their email to another email address.

You are comparing a 1 product company to Apple that has dozens of innovative products??

 

[G58]

Some of your arguments are not completely without merit. But I am no Apple fanboy, and I have owned 4 Android phones. I have sold/returned every one of them. Why? Because the experience sucks compared to IOS.

And the irony of the whole "open" thing from Android is that it has allowed the carriers and hardware manufacturers to conspire against the end user just like they did in the feature phone dark days before the iPhone came along. Say what you will about Apple's "arrogance" and the walled garden, but the fact is that Apple drew a line in the sand that no other hardware manufacturer had done before. They told the carriers, "This is the user experience we want to provide our customers, and you are NOT going to bastardize it with your side deals and self promoting apps." The last Android I bought (and it will be the last one I buy) was littered with Yahoo apps that I could not remove unless I was willing to completely wipe the OS and start from scratch. Yahoo is like a cancerous tumor to me, and I will not have it polluting anything I own. Android fanboys like to talk about the whole "Well you can root your phone." and "But the hardware on the Androids is just bitchin'." But I, like so many don't want to root my phone to get the nasties off of it. I just want it to work, without feeling like I have to wash my hands every time I put it down. And dual core processors, Gigabytes of memory, ports out the wazoo are meaningless when the user experience is more frustrating and less pleasant. Android's biggest advantage right now is the fact that they're the Chrysler of cell phones. Selling flashiness over quality experience, and trying to put one in everyone's pocket. It seems to be working, for the time being when it comes to pie charts and bar graphs. But keep in mind who's making all the money. $24 billion last quarter alone.

Some of your predictions might come true. Only time will tell. But you also must consider that lessons learned come into play here. And Apple has learned some lessons from their experiences in the 80s and 90s. There are also some long term strategic moves being made by them behind the scenes that will affect the outcome years from now. There are advantages to having the biggest stack of chips at the table, if you know how to play your hand.

The boys at Google are pretty ingenious engineers, but Apple has shown a much better track record in capturing the consumer's imagination in the last 10-11 years. Google continues to create some wonderful technology in their labs, and struggle to bring it to market in a graceful way. Apple creates great products, and they get people to line up to buy it.

I would add to that: Apple have got where they are today by making lots of "long term strategic moves ... behind the scenes" for well over a decade now. Remember they were working on iPad before iPhone. iPhone was announced in 2007. iPad was l announced in 2010. This means iOS was called iOS within Apple for at least 5 years before it was changed from iPhone OS. What this tells us is that the planning and development process inside Apple has a very long tail indeed.

All of Apple's competitors are trying to catch up with what Apple announces. But that means, while this state of affairs continues, we know two other very important things about the future. These competitors aren't bothering to innovate or develop product paths of their own. So no matter what Apple announces and releases [because the two are synonymous in Apple's case]. it will always be the latest thing. Therefore whatever the competition announces and/or releases [here the two are very definitely NOT the same thing], will be at least 12 months [or a product development or historically, a re-development cycle] out of date.

Ignoring this is making a lot of people buy into the Android dream. But in reality it's a nightmare no sensible business or person would willingly engage in - if they knew the extent of the issues.

My own prediction is that the fragmentation will continue. The only real hope for Android would be if Google learned to do customer focus, withdrew Android from all the OEMs but one and sold direct. But that's against the ethos of the open idea, anti-competitive, legally suicidal, and would an idea too late. Indeed they tried it with the awfully badly named Nexus one and failed miserably. So of course it won't happen.

Market share will continue to drive down prices, and of course quality. The result of this will be OEMs failing to recoup dev costs and ultimately, inevitably some will fail.

Out in the Win mob world, Nokia will rue the day they let the Trojan Elop in the door, never mind their second deal with Microsoft. Their previous one didn't lead to anything. Even though Symbian had virtually died of serial neglect already, MS still felt the need to kill it off. This is more evidence of the Ballmer solution, as deployed for Yahoo - concrete lifebelts for drowning men!

 

[MH01]

Geez you can't put a foot wrong on here

I know he's the CEO. lazy typing on my point. I'll be sure to have my lawyers proof my post from now on

he he he yeah its brutal over here on macrumors One small mistake can cost you, good luck in future posts.

 

[jamesryanbell]

Here comes the biggest jerk post ever.

GOOD. I don't want iOS to be the "most used". Anything that's top tier should be a smaller percentage. "Most people use (insert something here), but only a select few GET to use (insert the best thing here)."

Sounds about right.

 

[alhedges]

Apple owns the segment of the smart phone market they have targeted. They really have no desire to compete for smart phone buyers that buy Android phones because they are "free" or as cheap as a dumb phone. These users are the sort that use a smart phone to call, text, visit Facebook and play Bejeweled or Farmville. For these users, and there are some on this forum thread, an Android will do all they want it to do just peachy.

This is nonsense.

If this is true, why does apple sell a $49 smartphone? (And even have bogo offers in other countries?)

And you do understand that Android phones are smartphones, right? That they come with 2 year contracts and data plans and cost $80/month? And that they cost as much as iPhones?

This stuff about the iPhone being for elitists is just so much garbage (and, happily, it's not Apple's business plan).

The iPhone is a mass-market smartphone that is aimed at average smartphone consumers. It's not like a mac. It's like an iPod.

It will succeed or fail based on its appeal to the average, regular smartphone consumer.

And these car analogies are way off base, too. Android is not a Kia and i0S is not a Ferrari. Android is a Honda Accord LX, and iOS is a Honda Accord SE.

Don't get me wrong, the SE is still the better car. But it's not spectacularly better, and both cars are basically in the same category. But Apple is going to have to work hard to stay ahead...the fact that they are extremely profitable now is great. But whether they will continue to be as profitable if they only have 10% of the phone market is extremely doubtful...which is one reason why market share matters.

 

[gorgeousninja]

Apple is arrogant.

I am an Apple fanboy for a few decades already,

I've used Android and Windows Mobile 7 phones.

Sure, arguably, I believe iOS is superior to Android - but history shows that the winner just has to be good enough, not necessarily the best.

A prime example of Apple's arrogance is its refusal to provide matte screens to the substantial minority of people who legitimately need matte screens.

Microsoft went from dominant dictator to chump arguably in the space of around 5-7 years.

I would say that once Steve Jobs is forced to leave Apple through permanent ill health, Apple is zero. I'll explain why. Steve is the creative force of Apple, and once he leaves, Apple will be left with a culture of arrogance, insularity, self-important BUT MINUS THE JOBS GENIUS. In other words, Steve has sown the seeds of Apple's swift demise, even while he is there.

You might argue against what I've said, but history backs me up.

Oh boy let's see what we've got here then...

'Apple is arrogant'.. While you are fully entitled to have such an opinion. I really cannot think of why you would think that apart from purely misguided preconceptions. If by Apple not selling 'matte' screens is arrogant, then Google must be arrogant cos it doesn't make phones..it's a business decision. If photographers, etc are really are so desperate to have one then they would surely purchase one from another store resulting in a loss of revenue to Apple..not exactly 'arrogant' is it?

'I'm an Apple fanboy for decades already'.... Sorry don't believe you are 'decades old' let alone being a fanboy for that long. Oh and the definition of a fanboy is someone that always praises a product/company no matter what..So, you're a boy, yes, fanboy, no.

'I've used Android and Windows Mobile 7 phones'.... For someone who just stated that they are 'decades old', you fail to mention any OS from more than 5 years ago giving further evidence that we are dealing with a minor.

'Sure, arguably, I believe iOS is superior to Android - but history shows that the winner just has to be good enough, not necessarily the best'.... This just makes no sense whatsoever. You basically are now arguing with yourself.

Microsoft went from dominant dictator to chump arguably in the space of around 5-7 years.... Nearly right, but if you were there you'd know the whole story and I can't be bothered to explain....

As for the rant about Steve Jobs... When Steve Jobs leaves no-one really knows what will happen..though how you presume to know that Apple has a culture of arrogance and insularity is frankly absurd. When Steve Jobs goes it will be sad day for everyone, but we can hope that his legacy of quality products, thinking outside of the box, and being ahead of the game will continue.

'You might argue against what I've said, but history backs me up'.... I'm arguing against what you said, and history tells us many things depending on what history you choose. History also tells us nothing

 

[alhedges]

Personally, I want to know the name of the UI engineer that showed Jobs something cool enough to make him go ahead and have Apple build touch phones and tablets. That engineer is the unsung hero, the real genius.

While I hope he got a nice bonus, he's not the real genius. Touch has been around a while, and scores, if not hundreds of engineers have pointed out its advantages to score or hundreds of their superiors. But the insight was never acted upon by the business people in charge of making things happen.

Touch is common, and certainly wasn't invented by Apple. But only Apple, through Steve specifically, took the risk of actually producing something that made use of the full potential of touch - and were able to do so successfully.

 

[MH01]

Here comes the biggest jerk post ever.

GOOD. I don't want iOS to be the "most used". Anything that's top tier should be a smaller percentage. "Most people use (insert something here), but only a select few GET to use (insert the best thing here)."

Sounds about right.

They do walk among us.

"Most people use iPhone/Android, but only a select few GET to use Vertu."

Can't believe they missed Vertu off that graph!

Quick question, what is an Air 11.6" ultimate? is that a 1.6 cpu, 128GB SSD with 4GB ram?

 

[k1121j]

Apples to Oranges

Apples to Oranges

let's compare os usage with similar hardware I bet it's way diffrent

 

[blastvurt]

Is no surprise, given the number of Android phones available compared to there being 2 iphone models available

Apple has done very well to sell so many iphones.

Phones running Android don't sell so many per phone, but there are many different choices of similar spec phones when it comes to Android. Ranging from mediocre to high end.

Either way the loss of market share probably doesn't bother Apple to much, especially considering the smartphone market is a growing one. Having a smaller market share with Mac's doesn't seem to be problem for them profit wise.

 

[AaronEdwards]

This is nonsense.

If this is true, why does apple sell a $49 smartphone? (And even have bogo offers in other countries?)

And you do understand that Android phones are smartphones, right? That they come with 2 year contracts and data plans and cost $80/month? And that they cost as much as iPhones?

There isn't a $49 iPhone. There is a $49 iPhone with a two year plan, and there is a $449 iPhone if you don't want a plan.

In the UK, you can get at least three Android phones for the same price as one iPhone 3gs 8Mb. And then get whatever plan you like, and no, it wouldn't have to be a plan for $80/month.

Obviously the iPhone is a better phone than a cheap Android. But that's not the point I'm making.

 

[flipperfeet]

This is nonsense.

If this is true, why does apple sell a $49 smartphone? (And even have bogo offers in other countries?)

And you do understand that Android phones are smartphones, right? That they come with 2 year contracts and data plans and cost $80/month? And that they cost as much as iPhones?

This stuff about the iPhone being for elitists is just so much garbage (and, happily, it's not Apple's business plan).

The iPhone is a mass-market smartphone that is aimed at average smartphone consumers. It's not like a mac. It's like an iPod.

It will succeed or fail based on its appeal to the average, regular smartphone consumer.

And these car analogies are way off base, too. Android is not a Kia and i0S is not a Ferrari. Android is a Honda Accord LX, and iOS is a Honda Accord SE.

Don't get me wrong, the SE is still the better car. But it's not spectacularly better, and both cars are basically in the same category. But Apple is going to have to work hard to stay ahead...the fact that they are extremely profitable now is great. But whether they will continue to be as profitable if they only have 10% of the phone market is extremely doubtful...which is one reason why market share matters.

They're pretty profitable in their computer business with less than 10% and operate with about the same profit margins for the iPhone plus the 30% they get on paid apps. I would imagine they will be just fine at 10% and still pull numbers that make Wall Street happy and competitors jealous.

 

[Hastings101]

I bought my iMac specifically for the hardware and design. The OS is a bonus.

Having OSX on plasticky piece of crap makes me feel sick.

Some of us don't care what our computers look like, I'd love to have OS X on better hardware than offered, without having to mess with "hackintoshing", even if it is on some ugly plastic box that I can hide under my computer desk

 

[Michael Scrip]

I'd argue that from Apple's actions that they clearly disagree with you. Their total control over the system tells me that they do understand that the future is all about apps, services, but also ads.

Apple has always had ridiculous control over their services. That's nothing new.

But while they'd like to sell you Aperture for $79... they'd really love to sell you a new MacBook Pro for $1199

Again... Apple is a hardware company... their software and services further support their hardware.

Apple wasn't in the music business either... they were in the iPod business. Sure there is a relationship between iTunes and iPods... but you know iTunes was just there as an incentive to sell iPods.

 

[kdarling]

Remember they were working on iPad before iPhone. iPhone was announced in 2007. iPad was l announced in 2010. This means iOS was called iOS within Apple for at least 5 years before it was changed from iPhone OS.

They were playing around with a tablet, as was every company, but it probably was running OSX with a custom GUI on top.

According to all the insider interview histories, the iPhone OS didn't exist until the OSX port began in early 2006, just after the iPhone project started in earnest.

In the latter half of 2005, there was still an argument over whether to use Linux or not. (ref1) (ref2)

"Jobs wouldn't wait for the finer points of the deal to be worked out. Around Thanksgiving of 2005, eight months before a final agreement was signed, he instructed his engineers to work full-speed on the project. And if the negotiations with Cingular were hairy, they were simple compared with the engineering and design challenges Apple faced. For starters, there was the question of what operating system to use. Since 2002, when the idea for an Apple phone was first hatched, mobile chips had grown more capable and could theoretically now support some version of the famous Macintosh OS. But it would need to be radically stripped down and rewritten; an iPhone OS should be only a few hundred megabytes, roughly a 10th the size of OS X.

"Before they could start designing the iPhone, Jobs and his top executives had to decide how to solve this problem. Engineers looked carefully at Linux, which had already been rewritten for use on mobile phones, but Jobs refused to use someone else's software. They built a prototype of a phone, embedded on an iPod, that used the clickwheel as a dialer, but it could only select and dial numbers — not surf the Net. So, in early 2006, just as Apple engineers were finishing their yearlong effort to revise OS X to work with Intel chips, Apple began the process of rewriting OS X again for the iPhone." - Wired

 

[AaronEdwards]

Apple has always had ridiculous control over their services. That's nothing new.

But while they'd like to sell you Aperture for $79... they'd really love to sell you a new MacBook Pro for $1199

Again... Apple is a hardware company... their software and services further support their hardware.

Apple wasn't in the music business either... they were in the iPod business. Sure there is a relationship between iTunes and iPods... but you know iTunes was just there as an incentive to sell iPods.

Apple have ridiculous control over OS X? No, they don't.

Do Apple make more money from iTunes sales or from selling iPods?

 

[G58]

They were playing around with a tablet, as was every company, but it probably was running OSX with a custom GUI on top.

According to all the insider interview histories, the iPhone OS didn't exist until the OSX port began in early 2006, just after the iPhone project started in earnest.

In the latter half of 2005, there was still an argument over whether to use Linux or not. (ref1) (ref2)

Those are not the references I'd be relying on. If you know anything about how Apple's internal security works, you'll know that the chances are only three people knew about the state of each project at any one time, and they were [and are] Steve Jobs, Tim Cook and Jon Ive. The rest is pure speculation.