On the eve of Samsung's Galaxy S4 event, Apple's Phil Schiller repeats that Android is fragmented, lacks integration, offers poor experience

Tomorrow Samsung will announce the Galaxy S4 -- I know this because I'll be in New York, playing Jimmy Olsen to Phil Nickinson's Clark Kent and otherwise helping out with Android Central's coverage -- and as if on cue, Apple's senior vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller, has popped up to send some jabs Android's way. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal's Ian Sherr and Jessica E. Lessin, Schiller hit the usual targets of fragmentation, lack of integration, and poor user experience:

Android is often given a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isn't as good as an iPhone. [...] 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.

Schiller did add that, according to Apple's own research, four times as many people switched from Android to iPhone during Q4 quarter as the other way around. Again, that's Apple's research, so weigh it accordingly.

Other than that, it's pretty much what Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has said numerous times before during quarterly conference calls, and Steve Jobs before him. In other words, nothing new. Not even the timing.

Everyone likes to hijack their competition's news cycles. It's part of the C-level job description. And everyone gets made fun of for doing it. Likewise part of the job description.

So amen or make that fun if you like. Personally, I'd rather let the phones and tablets both companies field this year do the talking for them.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Update 1: Schiller also spoke to Bloomberg, repeating the same point about four times as many Android users switching to iPhone than vice-versa, and adding:

Our products are innovative, and customers are buying them.

Update 2: Schiller also spoke to Reuters, targeting Samsung specifically, and saying Apple doesn't want to just pump out products.

"With their own data, only 16 percent of Android users are on year-old version of the operating system. Over 50 percent are still on software that is two years old. A really big difference. [...] And that extends to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old. Customers will have to wait to get an update.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/s0QS8RjqiIg/story01.htm

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