What does iOS 8 mean for Android

With today’s announcement of iOS 8, my Twitter feed blew up with one common theme: How does iOS 8 compare to Android and what does this mean for Android? Let’s take a brief moment to discuss these topics.

Before we get started, you might want to read a great summary of today’s WWDC keynote provided by the Verge.

Now that you’re all caught up… Time and time again we’ve seen major iOS releases with major features revealed and the same thing always happens. There is no one feature, or couple features, that is going to totally change the mobile market. Despite what some alarmists might want you to think, the market is much more complex than that. Sorry, third-party keyboard support in iOS 8 isn’t going to make $700 phones more affordable or change the marketing budget for Samsung. If you see an article saying that iOS 8 is signaling the end of Android’s dominance in the market, walk away.

The one key thing you can takeaway from today’s iOS 8 announcement and what it means for Android is this: it’s great for Android. How is it great for Android? It shows that Google still needs to be on their toes. Right now, Google and Apple are really the only two major players pushing each other forward. Through Jelly Bean and KitKat, Google has released some amazing features and services. Apple is responding with iOS 8. Google will respond with whatever major update comes next.

iOS 8 will get a ton of attention for the next couple weeks, and then Google I/O will come and Android will get a ton of attention for a couple weeks. This is how it works. If iOS 8 were to completely change the direction the industry’s been going for the last couple years, I’m not the only one who would be blown away.

There were a lot of interesting things announced and said today (Apple is releasing a new programming language, they mentioned Google search a couple times–think about that how you will–and Apple is clearly getting very close with Microsoft), but nothing that’s going to turn the industry on its head.

Anyway, how about that Samsung Z?

source: androidandme