The Battle Between Two: Apple vs. Android

I’ve been an Apple user for precisely 3 years, 7 months and 4 days now! The Apple iPhone is also the first phone that I saved all my money for. I’m sure it’s obvious by now that I am a loyal Apple user. I love the iPhone for many reasons. It’s sleek, professional look, easy navigation, offers vibrant graphic colour and absolutely love how thin it is.

Up till date, there are easily more than 80 Android phones across the globe. There is a wide array of Android phones available in the market for consumer to choose and pretty sure there should be a right one for you. The exclusivity of iPhone is what made it special. The iPhone is the only iOS smartphone produced by Apple and no other companies is able to make the exact same iOS like how Apple Inc. does. No matter how many imitations of iPhone there are out there, you won’t be able to find the same one.

As discussed in last week’s post, the iOS is a closed platform. Apple’s iPhone comes as a pre-programmed phone and the functionality of an iPhone is locked which means users are not able to make changes to it unless Apple releases a new software update. This is to ensure that hackers would not be able to make its way to access the operating system hence protecting the users. Apple products are well known for its amazing capability of not easily being attacked by virus or trojans. I guess this was one of the reason why many users are also converting their laptop from Windows to Apple.

Although Android enables users customization to be done to the user’s liking, I certainly do not think there is a need. I personally prefer how everything is already done and restricted so I do not need to figure out how I should customize my phone.

I’m certainly an Apple girl!

Feudalism: Walled Garden

As Mitew (2014) explains, feudalism is a vague and widely contested term that describes a patchwork of practices over centuries the relationship between lord and vassal, organized around property and allegiance. The Internet today is occupied by many media corporation that undertakes to construct their own limited base which requires users to pay to acquire access to their information.

Known as the ‘Walled Gardens’, a software system where the carrier or service provider possess control over applications, content and media and restricts convenient access to non-approved applications or content. The concept of walled garden can further be illustrated with the example of Apple as the carrier.

Apple’s iPhone comes as a pre-programmed phone and the functionality of an iPhone is locked which means users are not able to make changes to it unless Apple releases a new software update. This being said, users are trapped in Apple’s walled garden. However, to escape, users can always jailbreak their iPhone’s and this would not limit users to only download applications from App Store but from other databases as well such as Installous (which was one of the leading place for jailbreakers to download paid apps from but it was then shut down since 2012) or App Cake.

Apple is restricted to running pre-approving applications from a digital distribution service. Jailbreaking may be fun as it allows users to customize everything to their needs and wants. As I’ve personally own a jailbroken phone before, it is very inevitably very laggy to an extent, the iPhone hang even when you are not using it. I guess to own a customizable phone of your own may be fun but the price to pay comes a very lagged phone. Thus, resulting many to restore their phone back to original. This is where Apple is a smart business. You can escape Apple’s walled garden but at the end of the day, you will still be back in it.

 

References:

Hanacek, J 2014, “Beyond Network Feudalism”, Huffington Post, accessed on 13/9/2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-hanacek/beyond-network-feudalism_b_5173249.html

Mitew, T 2014, “DIGC202 The feudalism of the Internet”, lecture notes, accessed on 13/9/2014, http://prezi.com/qopqxh6ktl1j/the-feudalisation-of-the-internet/