Apple and Android

If I were Apple I'd be worried. Here's why.

This week, a short week here as we had a public holiday on Monday and today's Thursday, we had two calls about syncing music with an Android smartphone. Yes, two clients who have music, computers and are investing in Android phones on which they want to listen to music. Just like an iPhone - only not made by Apple. If we were to rip their CDs how could they sync?

We found an answer - CD ripping for Android - and picked up two new clients. Incidentally this also applies to BlackBerry, PSP and Pre.

With Android outstripping iOs / iPhone in America if I were Apple I'd be worried.

Android Impact

If I were Apple I’d be worried. This week, and it’s a short week with the public holiday on Monday, we’ve had two calls about getting music onto Android smartphones. No, I’m sure Apple aren’t concerned about how many calls we get but Macrumors has posted stats showing that there are now more Android phones in operation in the USA than iPhones; and looking to buyer intentions Android now outstrips the iPhone by a significant margin.

BlackBerry and Pre have never had that impact on us. All of a sudden Android seems to have arrived with a bang.

The problem for Apple (and for us) is that you can’t use Apple’s iTunes software to sync your music with an Android phone or slate device. If we couldn’t offer and answer we were in danger of losing two clients. For us that’s a big deal, not so much so for Apple. So we went away and found a solution which is almost as elegant as iTunes, indeed respected technology blog TechCrunch called it “iTunes for Android”. CD ripping for Android now has its own new page, and we have two new clients.

As for Apple, you’ll have to ask them.