The Japanese Economic

if you had only recently crept out from under a rock and become interested in mobile phones, you might take a glance at the current landscape and assume that things have always been very much the same: That Android has been sitting pretty as the dominant OS, while iOS has maintained a very respectable second place. Obviously, the trutif you had only recently crept out from under a rock and become interested in mobile phones, you might take a glance at the current landscape and assume that things have always been very much the same: That Android has been sitting pretty as the dominant OS, while iOS has maintained a very respectable second place. Obviously, the truth couldn’t be further from that impression. In an industry only recently defined, iOS and Android have been market-munching with a voracious appetite. Android has embraced this race and kicked it into an even higher gear, setting a blistering pace that has left Cupertino choking on clouds of dust. However, even more shocking than the meteoric growth of the platform is the potential that still remains untapped.

Android, commanding nearly 50 percent of smartphone OSs, reigns in marketshare, but Apple, and therefore iOS, leads in two categories that are even more important in the long term: Mindshare and to a lesser extent, heartshare. Yes, I realize I just wrote heartshare. I chuckled the first time I said it to myself, too. I’m only acknowledging it now so that you’ll stop thinking about it long enough for us to have a serious conversation. More on this concept of heartshare later.

Cupertino sparked the smartphone revolution, and as the first sojourner to plant its boots in such virgin, fertile soil, they have left the largest footprint. For well over a year they shaped the market, impressing upon us the idea of how a real smartphone should look, behave and feel. Even though theiPhone was indeed a revolutionary product and a spectacle to behold, Apple still had plenty of battles to fight