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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Banshee16" data-source="post: 5850277" data-attributes="member: 7883">Right.....and marketing has nothing to do with it?  I know plenty of people who've bought iPhones and/or iPads *because*.  Because they were told it's "what they have to have", and they're "better".  What do they actually use them for?  Not much.Apple's got 10 commercials playing every evening when I watch TV.  It's ridiculous.  Obviously that generates appetite for the products.  When I see 5 Apple commercials in an hour, at some point I just want to pitch my coffee mug at the TV.  I mean....ok, I get it.  I should want to buy it.  It's a magical product that will turn my life around, and make a better cup of java, to boot.  I got that message from the last 1000 times I saw the commercial.Hardware wise, many of the Android devices are just as good.....or better.  The software is definitely catching up.  Honeycomb definitely needed improvement, but I have ICS and iOS 5, and ICS is flat out better.  Better use of space, better layout, better integration of Google services....heck, the voice recognition is better than that on my iPhone 4 running iOS 5.1 (I understand that the iPhone 4 doesn't have Siri).But Apple absolutely kills it in the apps, and that, I think, is the big difference.  Android is just not there with ecosystem.  Google's making improvements....if you're living in the U.S.  For the rest of us, no, the ecosystem is not there.  My tablet absolutely doesn't have the choice in apps I'd have on an iPad.  No question.  But it's got a lot of great ones.  However.......I've never seen a commercial for my tablet in a year.  I've probably been exposed to commercials for the iPad a good 2000 times in the last year.  And for my own tablet, the only commercial I've seen is when I went to the manufacturer's website.Many people I've talked with won't even TRY something different.  It's just "I want an iPad".  If I point out they can have one that costs less, has a longer lasting battery, a keyboard that can be attached to it, expandable memory, full control, USB ports to connect to other devices, and a higher resolution screen........they want an iPad.  It's just not rational.  Same thing with iPhone.  They go all giddy over Facetime for the first week, and then never use it again.  You ask what apps they have and....they haven't really downloaded any.  I've got an iPhone, and easily have 140 apps on it...but the people I know who speak more positively about the phone than I do barely have any.  Why is that?  Why have the phone if you're not going to use it?It's like the Tickle me Elmo craze, but with computer equipment.  It's just not logical.I'm not saying that the iPad is bad.  It's not.  It's a great device.  But I AM saying that the case for it being better than its rivals, and that there is really only one viable option for tablets is incorrect.  But the public is blasted with so much Apple PR that they don't know the difference.  Having $100 Billion or whatever in the bank lets a company buy ALOT of ad time....which only reinforces the problem.  They're basically at the point where the success of the product guarantees the further success of the product.  Instead of the continued optimal quality of the product guaranteeing the success of it.  In the long run that'll hurt consumers.Banshee</blockquote>

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