Over time I would expect Android to become the budget choice with Apple picking off the high margin segment of the market. Indeed, this is the current market configuration that we see in the PC / Mac market.
The PC market covers from "budget" choices to the high margin segment, as it always has. That Apple is limited to one small segment of the market in no way implies that they own it.
Which is exactly the case with smartphones. There are many cheaper devices running Android, yet there are many hot-selling Android devices that are as expensive as the iPhone. I expect that balance to remain, as there will always be makers like HTC trying to cover all their bases.
My take is that most purchasers of Android phones are probably quite disappointed with the experience. Whether it's because of battery life, lousy app selection, annoying add-ons by the carrier, or clunky app design
In the Eclaire days, with sparse apps and a clunky, half-broken OS, you were absolutely right.
Today, however, you couldn't be further off the mark. A Gingerbread phone is a delightful, delightful beast. The app selection and quality has improved at a blistering pace.
I think this will all bite Google when few people decide to upgrade to a new Android phone. The experience is so mediocre that even a few minutes playing with an iPhone, browsing the app store, or talking to the owner about battery life will cause tremendous buyers remorse.
You mention the Evo yet EVERY SINGLE REVIEW criticized the battery life. How could you possibly not know about that?
Experience so mediocre? Your obsolete bias shows through. I would argue that a good Froyo device, or a normal Gingerbread phone, provides a far better experience to most users.
This page is thinly veiled fanboyism (and, unsurprisingly, was linked by Gruber, which speaks volumes). Worse, it isn't even CORRECT -- they used both an ancient Meebo app, and an ancient Facebook app, to demonstrate their poorly-demonstrated-anyways point. I would seriously consider Marcos Arment as a suspect behind it: His desperation has grown obvious.
Adobe makes authoring tools, and directly makes no money on Flash Player: If advertisers need a way to attack every iOS user with ads, Adobe wants to be there with a tool.
However I laugh at point #2 -- it is simply inconceivable that Flash, with over a decade of a head start in heavy animation, actually does look better in many cases (which it does) -- it has to be FUD.
Again, another BULLSHIT post. The dominant Android phones are overwhelmingly the high-end phones that retail in the $600-$700 range. They all come with thousand-dollar plus contracts. There may come a time where such a blurring occurs, but it won't be until the cost of data contracts significantly drops. And you can bet that Apple will be fighting for that market as well.
The post above is exactly why I left Hacker News. The level of discourse here has descending to the prattle that you read in the Engadget comments. Yes, everyone here has read all of the talking points (boring, boring, really old talking points). Many phones versus a few. Many makers. Profit margin.