Developing for smartphones has shown some interesting differences between Android and iOS – beyond the obvious. Android is touted as being “openâ€, but in reality while the source code is “openâ€, consumer access system updates is vastly more closed than iOS.
Let’s take the tweakers, modders… and other enthusiasts out of the picture for the moment, as they aren’t the majority of consumers. When Apple releases a new version of iOS, it’s available to all, regardless of carrier. For example, iOS 6 was announced on September 12 and then released to the public on September 19, 2012. iPhone owners did not have to wait for their carrier to remove features, block functionality or install junkware. The OS update was available to all with supporting hardware.