Android is a BURNING 'hellstew' of malware, cackles Apple's Cook Apple CEO Tim Cook took a few minutes of his two-hour keynote at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday morning in San Francisco to stick his thumb in Android's eye. "Over 130 million customers who bought an iOS device in the past 12 months were buying their first Apple device," Cook told the 6,000 developers …
"So it's basically an open* operating system aimed at people who like to pay as little as possible for something, and preferably not pay at all."
I've never understood this attitude that it's somehow desirable to overpay for your gadgetry. Just why is it preferable to have your hard earned cash sitting offshore in an Apple bank account rather in your own? It's insanity.
I've never understood this attitude that it's somehow desirable to overpay for your gadgetry.
It's a consequence of the thoroughly delusional "something I pay for is always better quality than something free, and the more I have to pay for it the better it gets" mindset. Don't bother arguing with such people, just nod approvingly and back away slowly and carefully.
The inference is that older versions of Android are more popular because they are technically better. While this may or may not be true (it isn't), it's not the reason why. We're the android market to be dominated by high-end handset, there may be a point. It isn't. It dominated by unsupported, low end handsets that are cheap. It has the market because it is cheap. Besides, market share is meaningless; ask HTC how Android's market share is working out for them.
Wonder what the percentage of malware on a per capita basis is instead, rather than a nebulous "99% of malware in the mobile sector is for Android"
However one telling statistic there is the number of users which get an upgraded OS, Android manufacturers are lagging behind on getting updates deployed, a fact I'm sure not assisted by the sheer number of different devices on the market.
Android shipments in Q1 2014: 241m
iPhone shipments in Q1 2014; 44m
Wonder why there wasn't a slide with that on, given his Android obsession.
It's also worth noting that IOS8 key features were introduced in Android 1.5, Cupcake back in April 2009. Which according to the Android platform distribution dashboard has 100% coverage....
I have a couple of servers running Linux, PCs and a Laptop running Windows 7, phone and tablets are running Android and, yes, I have and iPad. One of the original. Whose OS *can't* be upgraded to 6, let alone 7 or 8. Physically CAN'T. And since my iPad 1 still does what I need it to do, I feel no need to buy a newer one. So I am in the 11% running an outdated iOS version. Surprise!
Apparently, the reason most Apple users run the latest iOS version has nothing to do with how easily Apple makes new versions available, it has to do with the facts that most of them will slavishly upgrade their hardware every time Apple brings out a new version. I, on the other hand, am perfectly happy with my old v1 iPad (I keep it for a comic-book reader which is not available on Android) and feel no need to upgrade my hardware. And so do most Android users, who don't feel the need to compulsively upgrade their hardware "simply because".
I know I sound like an Android pusher - I am not (see hardware list above - the right OS for the right job). I just want to point out that Cook was talking bullshit in this respect.
"Apparently, the reason most Apple users run the latest iOS version has nothing to do with how easily Apple makes new versions available, it has to do with the facts that most of them will slavishly upgrade their hardware every time Apple brings out a new version."
You're rather ignoring the fact that those 'slavish upgraders' tend to sell their old devices and the new owners put the latest OS on. Or - are you suggesting that they just bin their old devices?
Not moot at all, he's just pointing out the fallacy in the original comment that the high adoption rates of the latest IOS is anything to do with Apple's purchasers rushing out and continually buying the latest thing. The latest thing doesn't make the previous thing not exist - those old ipads etc that can't be updated (and we are only talking about the original ipad here, iPad 2 and upwards are getting IOS 8 this year) still exist and are still counted in the stat he's trying to discredit, they're just vastly outnumbered by the fully supported devices.
In my case the reason why my household's various iDevices are running the latest version of iOS is because of the way Apple has them automatically download the update. So my iPad2 for example 'lost' about 3GB of memory due to a major iOS update - which is significant on a 16Gb system - install the update and memory is freed up.
As for Tim's point "is that we make available our software updates for the OS available to as many customers as possible." practically all software vendors can say that, nothing new or unique here!
However, from various comments on various forums, it would seem that Apple would do better if it didn't , so that owners of older devices aren't forced to upgrade iOS only to discover it's weight has degraded the usability of their device.
LOL
You should upgrade to the latest OS, always, because you need the latest security fixes. Obviously, you upgraded from iOS5 to iOS6 easily, this is not possible on Android. You need to get the phone manufacturer to release a new version of Android for your phone, which he has no inclination to do coz he wants you to get the new shiny one. Sony Android phones, for example, are cr*p for that ... they ship with heavily outdated Android versions with not one update in the pipeline - riding the freetardOS wave. NoName Android devices have the same issue. Admittedly, Blackberry 10 devices have similar issues if you buy them subsidized, since the carrier will release the update later.
With Apple, you download the update via iTunes, regardless of your provider. Now, I hate iTunes with a passion - bloated piece of crap that cannot even play flac or ogg. iTunes is also the reason why I do not like iPhones.
Android phones are crap because they sync everything to the cloud ... now you can disable some of those "features", but it remains a sieve. You are often stuck with an outdated OS and with multiple apps that have similar confusing names, some of which are malware/adware.
My BB10 phone I bought cash does the job, gets updated regularly (3 updates since October). I get to see what each app can do and I can disable this or that privilege (the feature associated with the priv will then be disabled), but the app still works as I expect it to. I can also sideload Android apps on it. The OS is pretty secure, nobody has yet managed to root it.
Windows phone ? I have not tested that platform recently, but the last version I tried was horrid.
> You should upgrade to the latest OS, always, because you need the latest security fixes. Obviously, you upgraded from iOS5 to iOS6 easily, this is not possible on Android. You need to get the phone manufacturer to release a new version of Android for your phone, which he has no inclination to do coz he wants you to get the new shiny one.
It has already been posted that this is completely incorrect unless you have Honeycomb or earlier which is nearly 4 years old. As of Ice Cream Sandwich Google have decoupled almost everything from Android and linked it to Google Play. This allows them to deploy security updates without having to upgrade Android itself.
> Android phones are crap because they sync everything to the cloud ... now you can disable some of those "features", but it remains a sieve.
By default it only synchs your contacts and email and only if you sign in with a Google account.
> You are often stuck with an outdated OS and with multiple apps that have similar confusing names, some of which are malware/adware.
You only have multiple apps with similar names if you have installed them. That is user choice not something dictated by the OS. Your claim of malware is pretty ridiculous too unless you are downloading from dodgy sources and side-loading as Google checks the store contents just like Apple do. I have yet to see a malware-infected app from the Play store and I have been using Android since Froyo. I admit there is more than on Apple devices but that is only because Apple is far more restrictive with what you can do with their devices.
Apple = locked down walled garden where you can only do what Apple allow. Very old devices don't get updates.
Android = More open platform that allows the user to decide what they do and don't want to do. Very old devices do not get updates.
2 sides of the same coin and neither is "better" than the other - it is just preference. Just pick which one you like. Pretty simple really.
"""This is not possible on Android. You need to get the phone manufacturer to release a new version of Android for your phone, which he has no inclination to do coz he wants you to get the new shiny one."""
Aaaand you miss the point that you can buy an Android phone where updates are released daily, weekly, quarterly, etc. If you wish so.
If keeping up with the latest and greatest is so important, buy a device which is upgrade friendly, for example the Google nexus line.
I run CM 11.0 and I update it monthly.
No need for iTunes with the last two or three releases of IOS - for a couple of years now you've been able to update any iphone or ipad over the air. They also backup OTA to iCloud (if you so choose) so basically the only use for itunes is as a media bridge between your mac/PC and phone. Of course you can dispense with that entirely if you get your music and stuff some other way.
@ Hans 1, I have had an android phone for the last 5 or 6 years, and I have upgraded pretty regularly, in fact, on my GS2 I used to do upgrades to the latest version of the OS every day.... CyanogenMod for you.
"Android phones are crap because they sync everything to the cloud ..." Only if you like to do this, you can run it completely offline, or you can run it with Google cloud, or any other third party cloud, or if you want, your own private cloud.
Your BB10 phone is pretty secure, nobody has yet managed to root it.... Maybe because it is not worth it rooting the total of ten BB10 phones out there...
This was the first time I've seen Cook on stage and man was he poor. Okay, the numbers don't lie and Apple is still creaming the money, but the performance was nothing like Jobs. Relying on quote from a ZD hack to attack Android would have been below Jobs, even if the very idea of Android made his blood boil.
Fragmentation? How about properly (the I-Pad Mini is a hack) supporting multiple form factors Apple? Android is running on watches, phone, tablets, notebooks and TVs.
Update - tell us about the 10 % or so who can't update to the latest version or even the version before that because Apple invalidated the hardware. Then again, many of those users may, like the millions of Android users with older versions, be perfectly happy with their hardware.
I switched off after about 5 minutes. Did it get any better?
It didn't get any better. Their engineers are currently at work doing a find and replace in the iPhone 5 version if iOS6, and replacing all references in the code of v7 and changing them to v8.
It's all you need to do to fool people in thinking you are getting the latest version of your product (that doesn't come with all the bells and whistles that the latest phone that has the supposedly same OS has..)
Apple: Fooling idiots with smoke and mirrors since 1985. Perhaps Google should just give in and follow suit. Rename ICS "about page" to KitKat and tell users it's KitKat but their phones are too old to support all the features. It's essentially what Apple do.
What are you even talking about? Every new feature they mentioned on stage yesterday for IOS 8 is coming to the iPhone 5, and even the older iPhone 4S. Sure, the iPhone 6 will be announced in the Autumn with whole extra swathes of whatever, but that doesn't change anything that was announced yesterday.
Continuity? Being able to pick up an app on your mac that you opened on your iPhone, or make a phone call or text from your mac for example - that's all coming to the iPhone 4S and up. If that's somehow equivalent to changing the text on an about page then... I don't know what you're smoking.
No, it's not me that's tired, it's Apple.
Didn't cook promise a new product category launch? Maybe that's to come, but really, this?
Apple is looking so tired right now. It's like the drunk in the shop doorway wearing new shoes and shouting abuse at passers by, "Who you looking at!? Eh!? Eh!? I can take you all on! I'm the Prime Minister don't you know!"
There was a time when Apple did new things, but this is just bolting onto existing products things that already exist in other products, by other people.
Honestly, the Kool-Aid has gone flat.
Its a developers conference, for developers! Not a product launch, not a public announcement.
Hardware launches and public announcments re software etc will come later in the year. If you were a developer you would realise that what was announced yesterday was about laying foundations for new app development, product integrations etc. All good, important and necessary steps for ensuring the strength of the ecosystem and developer by in
Who's talking crap? You need your head checking if you think it's perfectly fine and reasonable to pay £500 for a device that doesn't do anything different than a £100/£200 device does. The only difference really between an iPhone and a £200 Android phone is that the iPhone is shiny and is trading off a mystique that because you have an iPhone you're automatically cool.
Oh, and QuickType? Android and BlackBerry have had that for years! Yet again, you're paying £500 for something that isn't even new or exciting! All your £500 is buying you is marketing. Pure and simple.
I can't help but suppress a chuckle watching people getting all tribal over phones - it's kind of the same as watching two children arguing who has the better version of a particular toy because of what colour theirs is.
It's pretty pointless comparing Android to iPhone as the two are on completely different strategies: Apple are trying to get you to buy into a brand, and a premium brand at that. However, I've yet to hear anyone outside of my technical circles saying that they're looking at a new Android phone - it's the handset that they're bothered about, it just happens to run Android.
Apple are in considerable need of some innovation to keep the brand fresh, while a lot of Android is slowly being devoured from within by Google and suffering from (comparatively) massive problems with malware and piracy. The mobile scene is due for a shake-up - maybe Samsung has the financial muscle and brand loyalty to get their Tizen project off the ground... definitely interesting times.
It's really about control, the reason why Android has more malware is because it is a more open architecture that allows people to do more things. It's exactly like Windows vs Mac, Apple shuts a lot of avenues down to modify and change things, and exerts a fascist control over the entire system.
It's all swings and roundabouts, if you want more flexibility then you have to put up with more incidents of people doing things they shouldn't be doing.
Personally, I think the security on Android is pretty good as long as you stick with apps from the Play store.
Apple, Google and Microsoft are American companies and all will protect your data/privacy as much as they are forced to (or not) by US law. Those long legal things you have to agree to in upgrades basically say Na Na Na Na Naa - good luck, you are on your own. We control everything that we can and take no responsibility.
"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss" - The Who
As he uses the word "many" without giving any specific numbers (they can't possibly know how many Android users have gone to iPhone.
As usual, bullshitting idiots that want to believe...
Calling out Android versions from 4 years ago as "ancient", but that "ancient" version already has the features he announced for iOS today is laughably pathetic...
I was going to go on a long tirade about this, but decided it wasn't worth it. I support both devices at work and have used both, and I find Apple's UI to be very lacking and both platforms to have problems.
I just prefer Android's UI, as it seems a lot of IT people do. And I appreciate the freedom of being able to access the FS and use an SD card, among other things. And frankly, Samsung's 5s makes all Apple phones I've used look and feel like poorly thought out toys.
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