Selling points to an IOS user to help them understand Android

[Ranger3bn]

Ok, I first wanted to say I am new to the site so here is a big hello. Now, while I am not new to wireless I am somewhat new to the sales aspect of wireless and the different OS out there. Have said that, I am now back into the wireless business after a 6 yr hiatus courtesy of Uncle Sam himself. So, I am a little behind on the times and need some help getting back into the swing of things
I work for a retailer that sales some of the best phones on the market to date. Anywhere from the I Phone 4s, 5, SG2, GS3 SG4, HTC One X, Evo, Nexus and the HTC One or M7. However, my plight is that Apple penetration in my market is well in excess of 70 percent and as such I am meeting with increasing difficulty selling Android phones. Which why I am coming to the Mecca of Android reference and help form.

So, here are a few obstacles I am meeting with, when suggesting Android operating system phones.

1) The system is not as stream line a IOS and thus not well thought out from a user standpoint.

2) Way too many bugs and the battery life will leave you wishing for your next upgrade.

3) Way too complicated to operate additionally, has a lot of different OS versions and carrier are often either late with a update or fail to update at all.

4) The I Phone is the epitome of quality, sleek, and forward styling.

5) The camera is the gold standard of smart phones.

6) My favorite: everyone has one so it must be a great phone!

There are far more excuses customers have given as to why they are not willing to purchase or even consider an Android device. However, it is late and I am almost done for the night. I do want to mention I am in love with the green guy and find it perplex that some people will not even let him show his true colors. I still have all my GS4's and HTC One's in stock that my company sent for launch. I believe both phone are on a different level than the I Phones and would like help getting past the sheep mentality that Apple has capitalized on in my market My own brother who work for the same company and I just ordered his GS4 as I ordered my HTC One the same day and can not wait to get it in my hands .


PS: Of all the employees that work in my market only one owns a Apple phone.

 

[Lanhoj]

Get a Nexus...then see that other than the camera, virtually all arguments against Android are squashed.

Most problems/complaints IMO arise from non-Nexus devices.

 

[Ranger3bn]

Unfortunately, we have been without the Nexus for at least 3 months so I went with the HTC One.

 

[Cattails_r_Edible]

No thinking involved with the I phone, and most people don't like to think! Jobs was brilliant when he realized this!

Posted via Android Central App

 

[abazigal]

No thinking involved with the I phone, and most people don't like to think! Jobs was brilliant when he realized this!

Posted via Android Central App

Correction. It is not that we don't like to think, but we appreciate when someone else puts in enough care and thought into designing their products so we don't have to. So we simply show our appreciation and gratitude with our wallets.

With regards to the OP, what he should be doing is recommending a smartphone based in what would best suit the needs of his friends and customers, and not blindly pushing a certain brand or platform simply because he likes it.

Android's list of issues and shortcomings are well documented. Just look inside this forum to see an example of the problems that users have to contend with. It may offer more options, but I have a hard time accepting that it is objectively better than IOS.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Raymond Tan]

First let me say that I find nothing wrong with ios, it's just not for me, obviously I do fall on the android side of things being in this forum. I currently am sporting an S3 and a Note 10.1. I'm not a Samsung fanatic it just happens to be the only two Samsung products I own.
I used to have an ipod and iphone a while back, but when Android came alone I switched over and never looked back.
I also do prefer Windows over Mac. Basically this whole tug of war is the same as it was between Windows and Mac. Mac was more stable, and Windows gave more choice and was more widespread. iOS may be bigger in your area, but as a whole android dominates the entire mobile market, something like 70% the last time I checked, with all the others splitting up the remaining percentage(iOS, Windows, webOS).

This is my take on the subject of iOS vs. android.

iOs has a more closed eco system. The benefits to this is that apps and hardware both tend to work more smoothly. This is especially beneficial to someone new to the operating system. It's easier to pick up because of their are fewer options given. Apple(or maybe Job's) tends to have this philosophy that they know what is best for the user, so they remove any choices that they feel will comprise the experience that they want you to have(it is important to note that they are dictating to you what that experience should be).
iOs tends to have more polished apps, although they still have some junk ones, it's less than android. I think if I owned a Mac, I would have an iphone just because I'm already invested in the Apple eco system. I don't know how well an Android phones work with a Mac, in terms of syncing and such, but there seems to be people who have that combination and have no problems.
The iPhone is also the highest selling smart phone so there's a ton of accessories. It gets annoying sometimes as a non-iPhone user.

Android on the other hand gives more choice to the user. A good example is iTunes for iOs. If you don't really like using it you're kind of screwed since it is so ingrained into the Apple eco system. Using anything else feels like a workaround. Android however has hundreds of music players and media players to choose from. You can choose one that specifically fits your needs. The downside is that you have to search for the particular app that will fit your needs, therefore it's not ready to go out of the box.
Android is also better at multi-tasking, switching back and forth between running apps. And with the Samsungs multi-view apps, they open in smaller windows so you can have several programs displaying on the screen. Not sure why this was not done from the beginning on either system.
Another plus is that Google's online services are unrivaled( google search, google voice, google navigation, gmail, google voice, google music, etc), and of course are integrated well into android. Though you still have the choice to use alternative services if you choose, with no problems. Even apps are available through other sites other than the Play Store(I am only referring to the legal sites).
Theres' also the choice in what the phone itself should look like. I think the iPhone looks ok but someone else may like a more rounded phone, or a phone with a bigger screen, or smaller. They may prefer fewer or more physical buttons, and so on.
One of the biggest selling points is the choice to have a phone which can support external memory, or removable battery. The advantage to external memory is obvious. The removeable battery gives me the option to either get a spare battery to pop in, or an extended battery which makes the phone last longer on one charge, usually at the cost of making the phone thicker. I do however, have a extended battery in my S3 which is the same size as the stock battery but has almost a 30% more battery power.
Also most people like to personalize their phone, which with android, your UI can look and function totally different than the person next to you even though they have the same phone. This is done through 3rd party launchers and widgets(there's also rooting, similar to jailbreaking, and also flashing the device with another rom, but thats a whole other topic).
For instance my home screens have only a few icons. I instead have a widget that displays an entire month calendar with all my appointments. I have scrollable widgets that list my emails, rss feeds and forum threads that I am following, and upcoming tv shows that are airing that I want to watch.
It always comes down to more choice with Android.

Android does however, have a big flaw called Android fragmentation. Depending on what phone you have, what carrier you are on, and even what country you are in you will have a different version of android(Honeycomb, ICS, Jellybean). It makes it hard for 3rd party developers to create apps that work on all android phones. This is the main reason for the crashes, reboots, and sometimes lagginess (although according to the Google i/o conference they held recently, they supposedly have a plan to remedy this issue). You also have to take into account that the vastly different hardware for each phone will not perform the same when using a particular app.

With all it's quirks, I still find the openness to choose how I want things to work and be displayed, more appealing. Android users will have to invest more time to get to know the system, and will have more issues, but that is the cost of the freedom it provides(like America). I personally find the issues with android a mild nuisance. They don't usually stop the phone from being functional, but they can be annoying, more so to some than others.
I also think that a lot of the hype for the iPhone is just what has been carried over from when the iPhone was the only contender in the market. The same stigma is there for illustrators who want to use Photoshop, and think they need to get a Mac instead of a PC. This type of thinking is around because back in the day Photoshop was only available on Apple computers. Today Photoshop functions equally on both machines, and in reality is better on PC because it has more support because of the larger amount of users.

I think both operating systems are fine, it just depends on what type of user you are selling to. I would give an iPhone to my mom, but definitely would not give her an android phone. Some who likes to personalize their phone to the nth degree, or who just wants more options, I would recommend an android phone.

I do believe, however, in the last few years iOS development has stagnated. Android has made leaps and bounds were as iOS has only made incremental improvements from the original, and I don't think the saying" if it's not broke why fix it" applies.
If you through the forums you'll find that most of the people who left iOS for android stated that they did it because the iOS platform felt dated and stale.
The number one reason for android users to switch to iOS is stability, but I think that android is more stable with each new release. And some of the complaints that I have seen are from older versions of android.

Battery life I think is about the same on either. But on android it is dependent on which phone. Plus if the user is not familiar with android they may not know ways to extend battery life.*

Also in reference to the post about Nexus' phones. While they tend to have fewer problems, they still have issues just like all the other manufacturers. Just search the forums for proof. Also some feel that pure android is boring and missing a lot of features found on other phones. I personally am fine with pure android but I need a phone with external memory and removable battery so Nexus is always a no go for me.


Hope that helps, but the only way to really find out is to use both for yourself.

 

[Ranger3bn]

Correction. It is not that we don't like to think, but we appreciate when someone else puts in enough care and thought into designing their products so we don't have to. So we simply show our appreciation and gratitude with our wallets.

With regards to the OP, what he should be doing is recommending a smartphone based in what would best suit the needs of his friends and customers, and not blindly pushing a certain brand or platform simply because he likes it.

Android's list of issues and shortcomings are well documented. Just look inside this forum to see an example of the problems that users have to contend with. It may offer more options, but I have a hard time accepting that it is objectively better than IOS.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Raymond Tan]

I am not implying that iOS user are not wanting to think.

One easy example is home screens. iOS dictates what the home screen looks like. There is very little customization involved. One persons home screen looks the same as the next. They are limiting your options to change it, because they believe that this is the optimal way it should be displayed. Whether they are right or not is not the point. Android users want the choice to change their home screen to fit their own needs. They want to be the ones dictating what their phone experience should be, albeit at the cost of a little stability. iOS users are willing to give up this freedom for more stability.
This is just one example that shows the overall thinking of both operating systems. Neither is way is wrong, just personal preference. I'm am not selling android in my post. I'm just telling you why I and others have chosen android over iOS.
All of the legitimate complaints that iOS user have with Android, Android user are willing to overlook, in exchange for the ability to define their own personal phone experience.

 

[gone down south]

95% of Android users just leave whatever homescreen setup was on their phone the first time they turned it on. Apple didn't decide the optimal setup, but Samsung or HTC certainly did.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[garublador]

1) The system is not as stream line a IOS and thus not well thought out from a user standpoint.

The way I'd sell this is explain the different philosophies. With iOS Apple has determined what they think is the easiest way to do things and then forces you to do things that way. They're usually really good at it so if you're indifferent about how everything works then you're set. Android lets you decide how things should work and then gives you the tools to make them work that way. If there are specific ways you want to use your phone or want the option of many different ways then Android is way more flexible. Look up how people use Tasker to customize their phones way beyond anything Apple has come up with.

2) Way too many bugs and the battery life will leave you wishing for your next upgrade.

There's a large percent of Android phones out there still running Gingerbread. The bugs thing may have applied to it but ICS and Jelly Bean have made huge strides in quality of the OS in general. The battery thing isn't an issue. I haven't seen anything that suggest the iPhone has better battery life than most of the top Android phones out there. You should be able to find hard data from professional review sites that proves this.

3) Way too complicated to operate additionally, has a lot of different OS versions and carrier are often either late with a update or fail to update at all.

Showing people how to use core functions should eliminate the first half. Most of what you do is just as easy in either OS once you get used to it. Both will have a learning curve if you are unfamiliar with it. The second half is a legitimate complaint. You'll have to either buy a Google phone or root your phone to get the most recent updates.

4) The I Phone is the epitome of quality, sleek, and forward styling.

Those people want an iPhone. I'd just take their money.

5) The camera is the gold standard of smart phones.

The camera is good, but there are phones with cameras that test just as well. You'll have to do your own research to find out the differences between the iPhone camera and any other specific phone camera.

6) My favorite: everyone has one so it must be a great phone!

If you only want to be as good as everyone else then you're right. However, some people prefer their phones to be custom made just for them. This guy is showing off how he got his Android phone to control his apartment using voice commands with ~$300 worth of hardware:

Check out this awesome Tasker/AutoVoice home automation setup

If you look up what people can do with Tasker you'll find descriptions of how to emulate some Galaxy S4 features and some limited NFC on older phones or how to be able to answer you phone with only voice commands. With iOS you're limited with what an iPhone can do. You'll never be able to impress another iPhone user with a new feature or app because they have access to the exact same features and apps. With how much you can customize an Android phone you'll be able to wow people with what you are able to make your phone do rather than be limited to what your phone lets you do.

What I'd do is get crazy with customizing your phone and adding non-standard features. I'd bet that your phone will be your best selling tool if you use it right. You can do some fairly impressive sounding things with just a little bit of research and know how. For example it took me <2 minutes to get my phone to automatically switch to speaker phone if it's vertical and not next to my face and then turn speaker phone off when I tilt it back up. I have it turning the ringer off at work automatically and back on when I leave and it automatically sets the volume low at night, but only if I'm charging and it's during a time I normally sleep. This is all with an outdated Droid X2.

There are some launcher and widget combinations that look really awesome that you may want to play with on your phone too. Here's one that's pretty cool:

How to use "dumb" overlapping widgets to augment your Android home screen

My experience is that actually showing customers is way more effective than telling them.

 

[RavenSword]

Get a Nexus...then see that other than the camera, virtually all arguments against Android are squashed.

Most problems/complaints IMO arise from non-Nexus devices.

Eh, I still think battery life is a bit of a issue still compared to iPhone. At least with the nexus 4.