Senior Apple exec Phil Schiller has taken a pop at Android ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S4's launch, blasting the slow pace of updates to Google's software and saying that more people switch to iOS than switch to Android.
In an unusually direct attack for the normally-aloof company, Schiller told Reuters, "Over 50 per cent [of Android users] are still on software that is two years old."
Schiller took aim at the Galaxy S4, which is rumoured to arrive running Android Jelly Bean. "That extends," Schiller is quoted as saying, "to the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumoured to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old."
Apple's new iPhone and iPad devices do ship with up-to-date software, though the Galaxy S4 has been tipped to run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, which isn't actually a year old, first landing on the Nexus 4 in mid-November.
Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal quotes Schiller as saying, "Android is often given as 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," the on-the-warpath marketing boss is quoted as saying, "you have to sign up to nine accounts with different vendors to get the experience iOS comes with".
While Android's issues with updates and fragmentation are well documented, it's unusual for Apple to take such a public swing at a rival, and perhaps indicates that Tim Cook and company are unsettled by Samsung's smart phone success.
Are you excited for the Galaxy S4? Or is Apple right about Android? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
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Comments 39
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anonymous 14 March, 2013 11:51
Every year they say the same..and every year they lost peoples
William Dron 14 March, 2013 11:54
Unusually defensive. They sound rattled.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 11:54
Yeah, well, most iOS users would love to go back to the year-old version, just to get old Maps back. Apple updated the core audio functionality in iOS 4. I honestly haven't seen one worthwhile update since.
I've since started using Gmail, Chrome, Google Maps on my iPhone, and will definitely be considering the Galaxy S4 on my next upgrade. iPhones are now in the hands of old Blackberry users - the type of people that don't want fast-moving, cutting edge technology. The people that bought iPhones in 2007-2010 are now going to be moving to Android because Google are the ones moving forward.
powermond 14 March, 2013 11:56
This from a company that brings you a 6 year old interface.
Matt Winston. 14 March, 2013 12:00
I'd rather have open software like Android that may not receive support from manufacturers a year down the line rather than something that is closed and I know won't enjoy.
Sarah Noel Puls 14 March, 2013 12:04
Says the company that uses old hardware and was slow to the LTE party...
anonymous 14 March, 2013 12:07
The iphone5 basically comes with a 6 year old os thats nothing more than an app draw, talk about the pot calling the kettle black lol.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 12:09
Coming from a company that hasn't changed its UI for 6 years, and copied android features, like the task bar?
anonymous 14 March, 2013 12:13
This is possibly one of the funniest things I have ever read considering the design and structure of Apples software has not changed in over 6 years! This just proves the guys over at Apple have their heads stuck so far up their own arses.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 12:17
Regardless of your opinion on iPhone vs Android, surely it is a bit unseemly and downright childish for a senior exec to be sniping like that? Specially when a lot of what he says is factually incorrect.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 12:34
Comments like this just reaffirm why I dislike not only apple products but the brand itself. They are so far up their own arse it's a joke.
It's great that they ship their devices with up to date software, like the update that essentially destroyed the mobile network function in the phone which affected calls, texts and mobile internet, so pretty much turned iphones into over priced door stops, brilliant.
Let's not forget this is the company that released a phone where if you held it in the "wrong way" (in your hand basically) you lost all network reception!! Come on, how short is your memory?!
Or that mega cringey TV advert that said "if you don't have an iphone.....you don't have an iphone" nerrr na nerrr ner.
I wouldn't mind but their "up to date" software still looks the same as it did 5 years ago and is still just as clunkey.
Stop whining apple and go do something about your iOS to make it at least be able to perform some of the basic functions that an Android device can and maybe then that ridiculous price tag you put on everything might be justified.
Damien2501 14 March, 2013 12:37
I'm shocked at how sensible these comments are (no joke), people on The Verge called Schiller a "Douche" and these were comments from Apple fans, there were far worse from Android fans.
Kieran Sampson 14 March, 2013 12:42
"While Android's issues with updates and fragmentation are well documented, it's unusual for Apple to take such a public swing at a rival."
Wasn't the iPad mini launch just an excuse for them to publicly attack the Nexus 7 and Android on tablets in general?
Mark Anderson 14 March, 2013 12:42
LOL at Schiller calling other operating systems outdated.
I mean, come on...
Mark Shelley 14 March, 2013 12:48
lol what the hell Crapple have lost th plot and the person that wrote this articale is a Crapple fan oh and nine accounts? what nope just google and then you can do what the hell you like with your phone unrestricted by iTunes rubbish or Crappel software!
anonymous 14 March, 2013 13:02
Could Schiller be more shriller? He'd look good in a gimp mask with a ball gag in his mouth and sound better too.
Tim Acheson 14 March, 2013 13:05
Unprofessional. Disrespectful. Arrogant.
All typical characteristics of Apple which are self-evident in this story.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 13:06
Phil Schiller went on to say...
"Yeah, and my Dad is bigger than your Dad. And he's an astronaut."
anonymous 14 March, 2013 13:19
Its OK, Apple can just sue Samsung for use of copyrighted technology again!!
Oh yes, Samsung now has better technology till the next real iPhone gets released.
Android is constantly getting updated, its just that most users don't know how to remove the bloatware to get new versions.
Pathetically small minded, why can't phone companies learn to get along as software giants had to for the benefit of their customers!
anonymous 14 March, 2013 13:27
I am so sure Schiller has got android phone....
leoevs44 14 March, 2013 13:37
"You have to sign up to nine account to have the same experience as IOS" What medication is this guy on, the only thing i signed up for was my google account and thats it,and what experience do you get from a 6 year old OS, like one of the other comments said you only get an app draw, absolutly no customization what so ever, nothing new with updates, apple sound very worried and panicky to me......
anonymous 14 March, 2013 13:41
Samsung releases about 40 phones per year. Not sure what is special about galaxy 4? It surely won't affect Apple sales nor will iphone sales effect Sansung. Ford and Chevrolet have been producing cars at same time for decades.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 13:43
Schiller's comments have the desperate stink of a sweaty marketing executive loosing market share.
Maybe Schiller has run out of plus points on which to sell iOS?
anonymous 14 March, 2013 14:26
Apple.... Running Scared?? Maybe they've got nothing to offer in their next generation??
anonymous 14 March, 2013 15:21
Meh.
You know he's _the marketing chief_ for Apple. People have been bashing the company for months now because they think Samsung's direct anti-iPhone ads have gone unanswered- that Apple has "lost it's edge" in marketing. Now he points out just one of the significant problems with Android (that when you buy one, you're unlikely to get more than one software upgrade on it, if that), and every Fandroid is calling him "shrill".
I honestly don't own either an Android or Apple phone; as a disinterested observer, it strikes me that these commenters are the defensive ones.
Matt Winston. 14 March, 2013 15:34
@Above Commenter
You obviously haven't heard of the Nexus range.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 15:50
Apple are bollocks in an professionally epic way
anonymous 14 March, 2013 16:25
@ Anonymous 15:21
The issues you mention are no longer evident to just Android, the App Store has MANY apps that just aren't compatible with the older versions of iOS, thus causing issues with users of the older phones, such as the 3GS, of which there are MANY!!
Android releases it's updates immediately and across the board, it is down to the carrier and sometimes the manufacturer to reduce little or any delay.
And please, notify me of one significant upgrade to iOS? To me it looks and functions the same as it has from day one, the new versions with the cool features required a new iPhone for crying out loud, take Siri as a prime example of this!!
I'm not a fandroid or an iSheep as they are so elequently put, but please, get out of that bubble sometime soon.....
anonymous 14 March, 2013 17:06
"While Android's issues with updates and fragmentation are well documented, it's unusual for Apple to take such a public swing at a rival."
Hardly "unsual". Apple is well known for taking public swings at rivals.
Mac vs PC ads? Steve Jobs's utter contempt for Android?
Time to wake up and come out of Apple's ass, CNET.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 17:47
dog attacks when it's scared...
KashAli 14 March, 2013 17:49
Stupid people fighting over company iOS and Android :P all I want is the best and super fast Smartphone which can beat all others so don't care about the company the more you fight the more features and specs there will be overall we're getting the best technology!
anonymous 14 March, 2013 17:54
Looks like Apple have nothing better to do but take the mickey out of Andriod. When I first read this I was laughing at Apple. What a fail of a company they are now. My advice to Apple, if your going to take the mikey out of Android, look at where you are. Over priced phone and very out dated software. Give up while your are behind Apple. And if the iphone 5s is anything like the iphone 5 you can forget winning over new customers. As they will all buy a Andriod phone of some sort. And get good value for money. One thing Apple still can't live with is that the S3 and S4 will make a laughing stock out the iphone 5 and iphone 5s.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 17:59
What irritates me most about iOS is the lack of lack of system integration with non-Apple apps. On Android I get to pick what app should handle opening different content, whereas on iOS any app that isn't Apple's own is a second class citizen.
That, plus widgets on home screens, suggests to me that Android was more up-to-date two years ago that iOS is now.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 18:41
After six months of news saturated with article after article of Apple-hate. One criticism of Android appears in the press and the thin-skinned geeks go screaming for their mommies!!
anonymous 14 March, 2013 18:51
@anonymous 18:41 you're not an idiot.....
.......errm hang on what did I just say.
I personally have not seen any Google/Android execs personally have a dig at Apple.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 22:32
crave is biased and anti apple everyone knows samsung sponsors the site.
anonymous 14 March, 2013 23:10
I cannot believe that people get so upset about which kind of phone you should use - grow up and concentrate on something important.
anonymous 16 March, 2013 16:09
Bassas bleet NASA. just another isheep
anonymous 23 April, 2013 15:14
Samsung make great products but I find them partricularly slow to update their OS, my S2 is still stuck on ICS, think HTC does a better job with updates!