However, as long as there are different App stores for each mobile OS, and those App Stores are monitored by the various OS makers, I think we’ll always have slightly different versions of each app since each Mobile OS/App Store has different rules & guidelines on how to develop apps for each platform…

Great write up! Very thorough analysis, but I hoped you would expand on the iPhone having better apps because developers provide better support to their production by building apps for the iOS in specific, rather than creating fragmented versions for various screen sizes & manufacturers. Do you think that developers will tire of building multiple native applications for every operating system out there – from Android to iOS to Windows Phones and etc. and seek a more universal solution? With the growing popularity of HTML5 and it’s ability to offer developers the flexibility to build apps once and have it – with minor adjustments – function across all major OS, do you believe that the quality that iPhone native apps currently have will diminish as developers create universally functional apps? Or will developers still primarily build for the iOS and add wrappers to the code to make them accessible for all the rest as secondary outlets?

Thanks
Mary

I know about the naming, it’s what everyone is expecting just because of all the pre-4S rumors.

Good write up though, hope you continue to enjoy it!

I understand your points on iTunes and a friend raised a similar point on Twitter. I guess as a new user, the initial setup of your iPhone requires a lot of interaction with iTunes, which didn’t make for the best first impression. In my particular case, I had to activate the phone via iTunes, which required me to download iTunes, try to remember the password I set years ago, fail at that and reset the password, etc, etc. Then I already had 5 computers registered, so I had to deregister all and then re-register my current machines. After everything is setup with iCloud however, the iTunes interaction is minimal, other than typing in my password every time I want to update an app or download a new one. It’s a very trivial and minor complaint, I just wanted to try to be fair and note any downsides I experienced in switching

The reason why iOS is so much more consistent between apps isn’t necessary that Apple is controlling every developer, it’s that the iOS SDK provides a much better range of standard controls and an easy way to get them laid out with Interface Builder. Also, Apple clearly defines best practices in their Human Interface Guidelines. Any developer worth a salt heeds that document well. The result is a consistent environment that is easy to develop for.

iTunes isn’t really required any more with iOS 5. You can have it completely untethered all the time, right out of the box. Backing up via iCloud will give you all the benefits. You only really need iTunes still if you want to get existing media onto it. This can be more or less bypassed as well now with iTunes Match and/or redownloading already purchased videos.

Next iPhone won’t be called a “5″. It’ll be the 6th generation, they’ll likely go with different name like “iPhone 4G” though that’d be mighty confusing with the 4 and 4S monikers already used. My bet is that it won’t be called “4G”, “5″ or “6″… Maybe ‘iPhone LTE’?

The iPhone’s camera is awesome, and I love the HDR effect built in as an option, and I’m obsessed with Instragram too (which is still iPhone only, surprisingly).

Needless to say, my rooted/modded evo will be up on ebay shortly…no looking back