We might be a little late to this party, but before Samsung's announcement yesterday Apple's Phil Schiller had something to say too. Naturally it was all about talking up the iPhone and talking down Android and Samsung as much as possible, HTC did it and so did Apple and it's because Samsung worry them!
Naturally one of the points for criticism was the update system which Android employs, to which Schiller said Android users are often running older operating systems and that the fragmentation in the Android world was "plain and simple," adding "Android is often given as a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isn't as good as an iPhone." Obviously different people will agree or disagree, but some research tends to disagree.
Schiller also took issue with the need for a Gmail account when you start up a device, saying:
"When you take an Android device out of the box, you have to sign up to nine accounts with different vendors to get the experience iOS comes with... They don't work seamlessly together."
Naturally Schiller has to talk down the impact of Android, especially with the share price drop Apple has been experiencing lately, which is partly as a result of the slow down in profit growth (in their last earnings call profit rose 0.1% on 18% revenue growth) and secondly because Apple has 'been wrestling with an image problem lately' because they're not seen as so much of an innovator any more. Something which is in part related to the new '3-D visuals and customizable looks [which] have helped make Android look fresh while Apple has kept a similar look and feel in its iPhone for the past six years', according to Gartner's Van Baker.
He went on to say that "The Galaxy SIII is already a very strong offering, and the SIV will obviously offer more things that appeal to users." Schiller however disagreed slightly saying that the iPhone 5 "still the best display of any smartphone." He also said that the "Galaxy S4 is being rumoured to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old... Customers will have to wait to get an update."He was of course referring to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but in actual fact the Galaxy S4 will ship with Android 4.2.2 on board straight from the off, which makes Schiller look a little bit silly.
We're not too sure what to make of these obvious propagandist points, to us it seems very silly of a marketing expert to say that the iPhone has the best screen, which although subjective, seems simply untrue in the age of 1080p screens which have ppi's which blow the iPhone out of the water and obviously the comment about the version of Android on offer with the Galaxy S4 was incorrect, but we can forgive that one because Samsung has traditionally pushed out an update soon after launch!