rebuttal to your flip side
1. iTunes is a horrible pig of an application that is blown out of the water by so many other applications.
2. the lock down of the iphone might make it useable for certain users but not for all. and for the average user, the default Hero setup will do just fine.
3. i give you that the Apple app store has more apps. but the Market is also newer and only recently has their been a surge in sales of android based phones. now that the market for android-based phones is making a huge surge, the amount of apps will greatly increase.
4. that is opinion. and you may be thinking of the "chin" version of the Hero. the Sprint Hero is much more appealing. the size and form are actually better than the iphone. - that too is opinion of course.
5. again, it's a matter of time. since Android phones are new, they do not have the massive amounts of goodies. but it's not really about the goodies. a smart phone is only as good as, well, the smart phone is - not the goodies available.
6. i agree with you on the splintering of the core. i have a feeling that this will settle down as Android grows up. but the telcos really shouldn't monkey with something.
