Quote Originally Posted by airshifter
And once again, this lack of hardware choice is IMO something that gives Apple an advantage in software development. They only have to develop for a limited number of devices, where with Android or WP they have to develop for a lot of choices from a lot of companies.
I can't speak about WP, but I think as far as Android goes, it's an open source OS, and manufacturers develop their devices around it, and not the other way around. Google doesn't have much to do with that, they only provide the stock OS and license AFAIK. That's why Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony all have their own distinct UI overlaid on the stock Android OS for their devices. Some work well, some don't.

One advantage with Android is that if you don't want the useless UI or bloatware, you have the option to install the stock Android OS on your device, what is called "rooting", and it runs much faster, smoother and cleaner. If your device is lagging behind in the hardware department, there are apps that work only on rooted devices, which can overclock your processor to tide you over a bit longer.

Of course, for someone that doesn't want to tinker with these things, it doesn't matter which platform you choose anyway. But it's always nice to have that extra option.