[HD2 General] ASCIIker:
apple's business relies on providing people an "experience". the rest of the TRUE tech companies are focused on standardization, interoperability, and flexibility. in my opinion, apple's business model is not sustainable and has detrimental effects to the progress of technology.

it turns out that the products that result from apple's business model are great for some people but just doesn't cut it when it comes to power users.

to deliver an experience to the end user, apple provides a PLATFORM. the platform consists of the hardware AND the software, i.e. iOS. with this tight coupling, apple is able to fine tune the hardware to the software and vice versa. this fine tuning is so tightly coupled that it ends up locking down the os from its user and also locking down the os to the specific hardware used in the platform.

next, you can do a search and you will find about 15-20 such threads asking the same question as you have naively asked in this thread. then you can go to the android and WP7 forums and see how many times all of those custom ROMs have been downloaded. they will be in the HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS range. get some more input to complete whatever statistical voodoo you want to run, and you'll invariably see that the demand is paltry for iOS on the HD2 and other devices.

finally, you can go online and see the market share figures. apple is doing well ONLY in the US. they have something like 15% share in the rest of the GLOBAL smart phone market. heres a breakdown from november 2010 of where each company stands globally:

http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1466313

so from the above, you should understand that the iOS is certainly not the most used mobile os. i am discounting its use on tablets because a tablet is not a phone and you have been repeatedly comparing the HD2 with the iphone.

if you read the above clearly, you will conclude two things:

1. iOS gives a smooth user experience at the expense of openness and flexibility. essentially, you end up paying through the nose for something that enslaves you, the user, and keeps you from doing EVERYTHING you want the device to do. it keeps YOUR data so encapsulated and inaccessible from YOU, the user, that you have to use iTunes most of the time to get any data i/o done. and you can forget about recovering your data if your iOS ever requires a factory reset because it doesn't have removable memory. on the iOS, you KNOW the hardware can offer so much more, but the os holds you down. suppose you like cars and you enjoy taking them apart and tuning the engine and replacing parts, etc. how would you feel if the very expensive car you buy doesn't let you do ANY of that? how would you feel if it won't even let you change the car battery? the reason why most people don't get an iphone is because its simply not as powerful, not because they can't afford it, but because they have consciously decided that it is a bad deal. those who like the eye candy are welcome to grab an iOS device and be happy with the limited tinkering its community comes up with.

2. the concentration of the devs is aimed at achievable goals in achievable time frames, driven by supply and demand, just like how the rest of the world works. it is not hypocrisy, just plain and simple prioritization and placing effort where it will be most appreciated. because of conclusion (1) above, most influential and acclaimed senior members of this DEVELOPMENT forum view the iOS as a poor os, unworthy of being ported to devices like the HD2. this is further supported by the (lack of) global interest in iOS compared to android. as far as number of apps is concerned, android's acceleration means it will overtake iOS in a few months and WP7's rate of acceleration means it might also become a strong contender in a few months. however, WP7 still does NOT have more apps than WM6.x.