The issues you listed are valid issues for some but frankly a very poor reason not to recommend Android. Further more they are not issues for most people but only a very small minority. Assuming most non-techies have a large iTunes collection, use Macs, and have exchange mail servers is a bad assumption.
I don't know where you got this list of assumptions, but nothing in my post assmed that most non-techies have a large iTunes collection, use Macs, and have exchange mail servers. I didn't say anything about Macs and my point about exchange mail servers would be the same if I was talking about someone with a Gmail account and a Hotmail account. And finally, I wasn't talking about iTunes specifically, just that my experience has been that despite the occasional crash, iTunes is a much easier way for most people to keep their content organized on the phones then drag and drop.
Phone have a tradition of not having to be tied to computers to use them,
Actually, this could not be farther from the truth. Feature phones has a tradition of not being tied to computers to use them. But, until fairly recently, the only way to get content onto a smart phone was to sync via a computer. All of these cloud solutions all originated in the last year or so. Before that it was all drag and drop or custom applications on a computer.
Android does an excellent job of not having to tie your device to PC to get things done. You want music buy it from the play store and it will automatically download to your phone when you play it. Playlist is synced on the server so any android device can use them.
It does indeed provide an excellent job. In fact, I am in the process of moving my music to the cloud to take advantage of it. But most people (including everyone I know or have ever spoken to) currently have their music on their computer, and not in the cloud. Going computer->cloud->device is not that complicated, but it is much more complicated then computer->itunes->device.
I've seen plenty non techies use Android with great success it's really not hard to use.
I've said exactly the same thing. It isn't that hard to use. For many things it is easy to use. But, for some things, it just isn't as easy as on an iPhone. That doesn't mean it isn't doable, or that people couldn't adapt. But some people don't want to adapt. They want the simplest solution out there.
When i make recommendations,I don't make valley blanket assumptions,i find it the need of the person and then make the appropriate recommendation.
Neither do I. That's why I don't assume that iOS or Android is the perfect solution for anyone. Which is why (to drag this thread back to its original discussion) I don't think the success of the iPhone is solely due to hype. I think that its because, for some people the iPhone is a better solution.