My experience has always been that people want their technology to work with as little input as possible.
Computers really did not start to take off until Windows was introduced. Yes, I know, there were plenty of DOS users out there in the 80's, and many people had home computers. However, the Windows interface (like it or leave it) made computing more user friendly. It removed the need for remembering cryptic commands, and replaced it with a mouse movement, and a button click (I know, Apple was doing the GUI thing before PC's, but Apple computers didn't have the market share PC's did) Once that happened, everyone began to discover computing and how useful it could be.
Smartphones are the same way. It's not that people are dumb, or "unwashed" or, what have you. People buy smart phones for ease of use, and Apple's iPhone sounds friendly to these people, because, all you have to do is take it out of the box and it works. Apple is chic, cool, kind, and friendly. Android is technical, intimidating, and complex. I was at a 4th of July party last week, and among some of us, the conversation turned to smart phones, and which is best.. One of the partygoers was asking questions about both the iPhone and the Droid, she looked at both (my iPhone owning brother and sister in law were there) and came away with the above conclusion. The iPhone is "friendly" and while she liked my Droid, she said it seemed "complex" and maybe a level or two above the iPhone in terms of complexity. Both phones are easier to use, and quite capable, but the iPhone has a reputation that precedes it.
The other thing about both phones is the apps. iPhone has a more polished looking appearance, it has "big name" apps and games (Monopoly, among others) where as, for now, anyway, the Market has knock-offs. (I know the situation is improving) The other frustrating thing: Our big, local talk radio station has a "listen anywhere" app available for iPhone and BlackBerry, but no plans to release one for Android, even though, they admit, they are getting hammered with requests for an Android based app from a growing number of Android users in the their audience. I wonder if some of the iPhone devs out there have exclusivity agreements with Apple... in other words, "you make your app for us, and only us". As big a name as Verizon is, you would think that maybe they could leverage some developers to get some "bigger name" apps, as it were, in the Market.
