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One Opinion On How Motorola Could Succeed At Building Android Phones

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A number of discontented iPhone fans have switched to other devices recently, choosing instead to use the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Android. Now, a couple of those big voices are already bailing on the various devices calling them inferior.

SEE ALSO: Honeymoon Ends For iPhone As Realities Set In

Those examples are being used as the basis of a post by Daring Fireball that lays out how a handset-maker (most notably, Motorola) could be successful at building a serious iPhone contender based on the Android operating system. He writes: “They don’t want to downgrade from the iPhone. They want to upgrade from the iPhone.”

Here’s his advice in five parts:

Copy Apple: Release one new phone per year, every year. Split that one phone into separate models by storage size, keeping all other specs the same.

Aim high: Don’t aim for the middle of the market. That seems to be what all the other Android manufacturers are doing and it’s the road to NobodyCaresAboutYourPhoneVille.

Beat don’t match: Carefully select a handful of areas where you can beat the iPhone, and then promote the hell out of these features. Over-the-air calendar, contact, and email syncing through Google services should beat MobileMe hands down, if only because MobileMe costs $100 a year and Google’s services are free.

App store freedom: There are no tales of rejected Android apps because there are no rejected Android apps.

Branding: No logos on the front of the phone. No carrier logos anywhere on the device. If Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) can do it, so can you.

Aug 17, 2009 7:16 PM ET

Motorola Android


Posted In: Mobile, Technologies / Formats, Browsers, E-Mail, Operating Systems, Companies, Apple, iPhone, Motorola

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