Google's Schmidt: Give an iPhone Owner an Android Device

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Android is the best present you can give an iOS device owner.

Don't know what to buy for a friend or family member this holiday season? If Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt had his way, everyone would purchase Android devices for those who already own iPhones and iPads. That's his suggestion in his latest blog, and he even goes so far as to give step by step instructions on how to purchase, activate and hand over a sparkly new Android phone.

"Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android," Schmidt writes on Google Play. "The latest high-end phones from Samsung (Galaxy S4), Motorola (Verizon Droid Ultra) and the Nexus 5 (for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface.  They are a great Christmas present to an iPhone user!"

Schmidt goes on to claim that like the people who moved from PCs to Mac and never looked back, potential customers will switch from iPhone to Google's OS and never switch back. Why? Because everything will be in the cloud and backed up. He even claims that 80 percent of the world, according to the latest surveys, agrees on Android.

The instructions of moving from iPhone to Android are rather easy to follow. Set up the Android device, update the iPhone or iPad, download and install Google's Music Manager on the PC or Mac, then take the SIM card out of the iOS device and shove it into the Android phone. During this process, iPhone owners should also turn off iMessage and back up all contacts to iCloud. As for images, copy those to the desktop's hard drive.

"It's probably easiest to backup your iPhone photos to the Mac, but not copy the old photos to the Android phone,"Schmidt writes. "New photos you take on the Android phone will automatically be backed up to your photos in the Gmail account (Auto-Upload is normally enabled) so no action is required.  If the old photos are important, send them to Gmail and download into the Android phone or upload them to Google+."

"Be sure to use Chrome, not Safari; its safer and better in so many ways. And it's free," he adds. "Be sure to use two-factor authentication for your Gmail and Google accounts.  Makes it very hard for someone to break into your Gmail."

Kevin Parrish
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hardrock40
    "Schmidt goes on to claim that like the people who moved from PCs to Mac and never looked back"

    Yea thats why when they switch to a mac they almost always install WIndows to run from bootcamp or whatever. I f they did not have bootcamp with Windows they would soon see just how behind the times Mac OS really is. So my point is if he is sayiing this can he also answer as to why people do the bootcamp setup. They are looking back but because Apple pretty much knows they could not hold a long time Windows user to their OS for very long they let people do the bootcamp route. It shows just how insecure Apple is I guess.
    Reply
  • inthere
    Android is nowhere near as intuitive as iOS, has more features and more versatile yes, but not intuitive. IMO both Windows 8 phone OS is the most intuitive with iOS 2nd.

    People do the Bootcamp setup because it's like having two computers in one. You access to both Mac apps AND Windows apps.
    Reply
  • knowom
    Android is plenty intuitive idk wtf you are talking about. I wouldn't say iOS is more intuitive more like it just has less options.
    Reply
  • ekho
    Just look at Schmidt's face. Pardon me but I can't see why someone should trust his words. Just saying...
    Reply
  • hotroderx
    I know I am in the minority but I had android for 3 years and recently went to a IPhone and couldn't be happier.

    Plus lately Google has just been down right shady with there business practices as of late. At least Apple is pretty upfront about being shady.
    Reply
  • ericburnby
    I want to keep my friends.
    Reply
  • JD88
    I did exactly this. Got my entire family Moto X when it came out to replace their iPhones. They couldn't be happier. Everyone loves the "big screen" and touch free Google Now voice controls.

    The PCs and Macs are out the window this Xmas when I hand out the Chromebooks.
    Reply
  • Msouther
    I am a professional Mac technician, with approximately 400 clients. Not a single one of them uses boot camp. Maybe 2 or 3 use VMware or Parallels. When Apple first went to Intel the option of being able to run Windows was indeed a selling point. However, in practice it is very unimportant to 99% of the Mac community.
    Reply
  • DarkSable
    12123997 said:
    I did exactly this. Got my entire family Moto X when it came out to replace their iPhones. They couldn't be happier. Everyone loves the "big screen" and touch free Google Now voice controls.

    The PCs and Macs are out the window this Xmas when I hand out the Chromebooks.

    Mmm, that's what I'm going to be doing with the Nexus 5. That being said, I have to disagree with your second point - the chromebook is an incredible second device, or for someone who doesn't need more than a web browser and email. I would imagine people would get hideously frustrated using it as their only device.

    As to Msouther: (by the way, the name? Microsoft outer? come on.) Your clients, then, very obviously aren't college students. Every single mac I've seen on a college campus is running bootcamp, because any technical tools beyond art production? Run on windows.
    Reply
  • netspiderz
    Who doesn't know technology buys Apple products, because of their good marketing. IT guys don't. Android all the way!
    Reply