Warning: I'm an Apple fanboy, so take my opinion for what it's worth...
I wasn't always a fanboy. In fact, prior to my iPhone 3G purchase last year, I'd never owned an Apple product. At present, my family has 2 3G's, a 4 (probably another in a week), an iPad, a Mac Mini, and an iMac.
Why do I say this? Apple converted me into an Apple buyer for life because of the experience they provide from purchase to use. It's more expensive, but I willingly pay it because I know what I'm getting, each and every time.
The iPhone works because you can't see it without being impressed. The Android is good, possibly really good (at the higher price range), but it's not great, and with the fragmentation, bloatware, and lack of controlled user experience, I don't think it can ever be great. This is why the iPhone won't go away.
Should Apple be worried? Probably...I think they'll need a few tricks up their sleeves in order to a) keep their casual users and b) keep some semblance of their current market share.
Google isn't in this for apps in the same way that Apple is, they're in it for search, which is what makes the game a bit lopsided. However, I think that's the same reason that Apple will prevail.
I can't say how it will shake out, but there's got to be something said for devotion, both from a producer and consumer side of things.
I'd been a Windows dev for years. Never touched anything Apple (never really thought about them at all, to be honest), until 5 years ago when I got sick of my wife complaining about me always fiddling with the computer ("I never know where anything is 'cause you keep changing everything all the time") so I decided to buy her a Mac. Idea being I'd heard they were pretty simple so she'd be ok on it, and I wouldn't touch it because, well... it was a Mac
Then I decided that I'd better figure out hoe to use it in preparation for the inevitable "How do I do [some task]?"
Fast forward to now, and that iMac is still out main machine but we've also got a macbook, an iPod Nano, a 1st gen iPod touch, 2nd gen iPhone, 3rd gen iPhone, 4th gen iPod Touch and an old Apple TV.
Oh, and my using the Mac has developed in me an appreciation for unix which has led to a love for Linux
> Why do I say this? Apple converted me into an Apple buyer for life
I felt exactly the same after a few years with my Apple ][ more than twenty years ago. I was a die hard Apple fan back then.
But today's Steve Jobs scares me.
And now that Apple has shown its true colors (you know, "we can't have an app that mentions Android in our app store, sorry"), I'm certainly happy that Android is out there to give Apple a run for its money.
As for you being a "lifetime" fan... we will see. I'm pretty sure you will grow out of it at some point.
I wasn't always a fanboy. In fact, prior to my iPhone 3G purchase last year, I'd never owned an Apple product. At present, my family has 2 3G's, a 4 (probably another in a week), an iPad, a Mac Mini, and an iMac.
Why do I say this? Apple converted me into an Apple buyer for life because of the experience they provide from purchase to use. It's more expensive, but I willingly pay it because I know what I'm getting, each and every time.
The iPhone works because you can't see it without being impressed. The Android is good, possibly really good (at the higher price range), but it's not great, and with the fragmentation, bloatware, and lack of controlled user experience, I don't think it can ever be great. This is why the iPhone won't go away.
Should Apple be worried? Probably...I think they'll need a few tricks up their sleeves in order to a) keep their casual users and b) keep some semblance of their current market share.
Google isn't in this for apps in the same way that Apple is, they're in it for search, which is what makes the game a bit lopsided. However, I think that's the same reason that Apple will prevail.
I can't say how it will shake out, but there's got to be something said for devotion, both from a producer and consumer side of things.