Why Froyo Is Good News for Apple


For the past 3 years, the iPhone has stood out among a crowd of wannabes. No one was able to come close to the polished perfection of the device, the usefullness of the apps, and the exceptional UI. Sure, lots of people tried, but no one really hit the mark exactly. Now, with the introduction of Android 2.2 “Froyo,” the iPhone finally has some decent competition.

Thank god for that.

Froyo has Flash. Wireless syncing. Tethering. A music store. A lightning quick browser. It’s finally matched or surpassed everything that the iPhone is and more, and the devices coming out with it seem to be pretty strong contenders. Google sure is proud of Froyo too, and have been crowing about it for the past little bit. Good for them, I say. Now it’s time for Apple to step up.

Apple introduced tethering on the iPhone  a year ago and yet here we are with no tethering to speak of. AT&T claims that it’s because of the network, but the fact is that Apple was borderline cutting edge at the time, without much competition in the tethering field. Now it’s touted as a feature on most smartphones – another way to make income for the carrier, too – but it’s still not here for AT&T and the iPhone. Apple now has leverage against AT&T. “Give us tethering or watch us walk to Verizon,” they might say. Fact is, Apple is getting passed by Android, and to stop that, they’ve got to make AT&T start giving some as well.

Google is touting Flash as a huge improvement, but testing says otherwise. I’ve personally spent the last two years without Flash on my iPhone and now on my iPad, and I use ClickToFlash when I’m browsing on Safari. It’s just not that big of a deal to me. I know some people can’t live without it, but for me, I see the Flash situation as no big deal. Besides, the average Joe not only doesn’t know what Flash is, but doesn’t know what specifically it does. He may learn that it runs his favorite online games, but he doesn’t know whether or not it’s the only thing on the web. 5 minutes surfing the web on the iPad and the average Joe isn’t going to miss Flash.

As for the rest, they’re all great features. I think that Froyo devices are going to take off and surge in popularity. And that’s good. Competition is good. Because now, Apple has something to surpass again, instead of sitting high on the pile as they have for the past three years. This next iPhone can change all that too, but it’s not out yet. It’s too late to change things now, so the competition isn’t really going to fly yet. But come 2011 look out – I think Apple is going to go big. The best iPhone ever is yet to come.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

8 Comments

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  1. How is it a fact that Android is passing iPhone? I don’t know why this “fact” which is really more of an idea, keeps coming up over and over again in blogs. I would say it is UNCERTAIN at this point how to evaluate Android and iPhone competition. Wait a bit as the dust settles. THEN you can make a more solid claim whether Android is or isn’t passing iPhone.

  2. Android devices still have a long way to go to catch up to the iPhone. Android OS is not a Android device. The inconsistency among devices is huge. Yo uwill not get the same experience. Many of the touch screens are much weaker than the iPhones. The Android virtual keyboard is terrible and needs to remain generic enough to work with different devices. The software update cycle is bad as well, some waiting 6 to 12 months for an update whereas others will never get it as their phone has been left behind.

    Android Froyo (v2.2) is a performance fix. Android is a JAVA Virtual Machine, interpreting an Apps byte code instructions. 2.2 adds a Just in Time (JIT) compiler. But, JITs will never perform as good as native code which Iphone OS supports and XCode generates for the iphones.

    With regard to Flash on Android, it really requires 1Ghz plus device to run on, which excludes most of the already sold phones. And, on devices it does work on, the commonfeedback has been, it doesn’t suck as bad as it could. Not a ringing endorsement. Apple’s position seems to have been validated once all the hype of I/O started dying down.

  3. It is 1984 all over again, Google just sprinted past Apple. Google is going to continue to overwhelm Apple one tentacle at a time. It is a fact that Android sets are now outselling iPhone sets (yes I know the iPhone is one device, and there are many Android devices, but that is Apple’s choice). This trend will continue, minus a short lived reversal with the next iPhone release. People want to be free, not locked into Apple’s carnival.

  4. Android OS has come along way. Yes, Iphone has apps, but so what. The thing my droid does is ridiculous. Now in motorolas 2.2update, the phone is overclocked to 800mhz, i have my droid at 1.25ghz and you can tell the difference with and without JIT. iphone set the standard, but Android is raising the bar. If there is an “iphone” killer its android. The interface for the iphone is horrible, how can you think different when youre all the same? Every feature on any android phone can be changed, the average joe wont know how to do it but its pretty simple. I honestly dont get why the iphone is such a big deal. Dont get me started on the ipad. the name alone gets on my nerves, lol. but look at the ads for the droid, even the one not aired, they are insane, they attack the phone you have in your pocket and make you say, “i have a whimpy phone”. Then look at the iphone ads or any other phone… enough said!

  5. Simple apple wins the hardware and polish. Android wins everything else. Apple is playing catch up with stuff that should have been on the very first iphone. I would take my old att tilt over the iphone and in fact I did and I hate that phone. Apple is king at marketing and telling people what is cool and keeping things simple to atract the masses of mindless users. Android is for both, ot’s as simple or complex as you want it.

    Please list what makes the iphone better, you can’t. I would rather have more function over perfect fashion.