Mobile Phones Wars, Which side should you be on?

It’s just like the tech industry, in this climate of global economic uncertainty, to identify another battlefield. This time around it’s Google vs. Apple, both fighting for the top spot in the mobile smart phone market. But unlike most wars, this cellular conflict could have far reaching benefits that could reshape the market. And in this case, that’s a good thing.

This past month Google announced it latest Android phone the Nexus One. While another phone in a now long line of Android handsets, this one is branded Google and puts them squarely in the phone business competing against Apple, Palm, and Windows Mobile. If you’re not familiar with Android, it’s a mobile phone operating system from Google and rivals Apple’s iPhone in the following key areas.

Multiple Carrier Support

First and foremost is that Android phones are available on a number of other carriers. This stands in stark contrast to Apple’s current exclusive deal with AT&T here in the U.S. This is a key differentiator especially when you consider the current backlash against AT&T for the poor network performance and high monthly rates. The AT&T – Apple contract reportedly ends later this year, which should bring the iPhone to other carriers. Carrier support is most likely a function of supported hardware. In this case, Android’s wider support for different handset hardware gives Google the upper hand in supporting multiple carriers. Maintaining that support can be a challenge, but considering that we’ve seen this custom vs. commodity hardware war between Apple and IBM back in the 1980’s, you would think that Apple would have learned its lesson already.

Background Tasks vs. Push Notifications

A more subtle difference between these two major technologies deals with running multiple applications on your phone at one time. This seems like a trivial detail when we think that our desktop computers have been running multiple applications for years. Android allows applications to run in the background to provide notifications and functionality that you would expect from any modern pocket computer. Apple on the other hand has opted for a ‘one application at a time’ strategy that utilizes push notifications to highlight applications icons that may have additional information to share. In theory this sounds good, but in reality it pales in comparison to Androids notification system. Your phone should present you with timely and actionable content, not require you to cycle through every application to see if anything interesting has happened.

App Store vs. The Market

A phone is phone, but applications are what make it smart. With 100,000+ applications in Apple’s AppStore you’re guaranteed to find any application you need. The Android market is smaller, but more than sufficient with nearly 20,000 applications. The key difference here is the level of openness between Apple’s App Store and the Android Market. Apple is far more restrictive on developers, imposing an approval process that is limits new applications and updates. Personally I think the Android Market’s developer friendly solution is more apt to grow in the long run.

So why is this war a good thing? Any competition in the cell phone market is good for the consumer because it pushes the carriers and handset manufacturers to open their platforms and services. And openness leads to mobile phone utopia with no carrier contracts or lock-ins, realistic monthly subscription rates, and flexible handsets that focus on your needs, not the carriers.