More news on Android-based smart phones outselling iPhones. Kevin C. Tofel says Android Sales Overtake iPhone in the U.S. in GigaOm. Yes, it’s not news and not a very important metric since Google derives no revenue from Android sales and Apple brings in a minimum of $600 per iPhone sold. As Windows PC makers have shown time and again, market share does not equate to revenue and profits.

In response to the news comes a comment from some guy:

To (sic) bad apple wont be making money for much longer then. When the developers abandon ship for androids easier, more streamlined and better development-environment iOS will die a quite fast death.

And we will see the beginning of this when? Note that iPhone customer satisfaction is substantially higher than Android smart phone customers.

Also, iPad isnt selling nearly as good as projected and can only be described as a horrible failure. Soon cheap, superior and faster android tablets will fill the market.

Some guy knows what iPad projections are? Not likely. So far, by all accounts except some guy, iPad is selling like hotcakes everywhere. Does anyone know anyone with an Android tablet? Are they for sale?

Since apple hasnt really kept up their pace at hardware on the PC-side of things the only thing they will really be selling in the future is OSX.

Yet Apple’s Mac sales continue to sell at record numbers in the lucrative and profitable high end of the market. Please note that all Macs are equipped with higher end Intel CPUs, vs. Dell, HP, Lenovo which ship more low end, low profit machines.

I doubt that will be a big margin-item since they are directly competing with Microsoft and Linux there.

Sure, Apple will stop making hardware and start selling OS X. Yep. That’ll happen. Probably by late fall. Uh huh.

People like some guy help to explain why Sarah Palin is popular.

Tim Bray on Apple vs. Google, iOS vs. Android:

Is it VHS vs Betamax, Mac vs PC, or Coke vs Pepsi? The current multibillion-dollar mobile-market war is a confusing tangle of software makers, hardware makers, and network operators. This isn’t what a theorists would call a perfect or even very clean competitive market, but it does seem to be delivering a regular flow of better, faster, more usable products to the people of Earth. It’s a privilege to be in it.

It is a classic war with many battles raging; not just those between Apple and Google. Also included are RIM, Nokia, Microsoft, perhaps HP and webOS, and not just for smart phones. Tablets and pads have yet to become mainstream.

Whether you call it a Smartphone or an App phone or an Internet phone, you’re typically talking about an expensive high-end device. Which, despite all the impressive numbers, is a small corner of the global phone market; the volume and the head count is in the phones owned by the people whose income tends towards the world’s average. So far, none of those are very Internet-enabled. iOS will never address this market unless Apple makes a conscious decision to shift its strategy away from profit maximization to market-share growth. I sure wouldn’t if I were them.

That’s not how Apple rolls.

I predict continued fragmentation of the rapidly growing smart phone space. Within a year, Android will lead in sheer units, followed by a rapidly dying Symbian, Apple’s iOS, RIM, and a long line of also-rans, including Microsoft, webOS and friends.

Dave Greenbaum in The Apple Blog:

One of the first disappointments a brand new iPad owner often faces is the fact they can’t use their magic new toy right out of the box. New iPad users turn on their device and what greets their eyes? An iTunes activation screen; the same screen iPod touch and iPhone users see. To setup an iOS device, whether iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone, you need a computer running a compatible version of iTunes.

Since that’s the way it is for iPod, iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad, it’s more likely an acceptance because that’s the way it is.

Ultimately the iPad will probably gain independence. But for now, regardless of logic, market conditions, or technology, Steve Jobs sees the iPad as a companion rather than a replacement for the traditional desktop or laptop. It’s both something more and something less than the typical computer. Will we see the day when the umbilical cord between traditional operating systems and the iOS devices is cut?

Probably, but in steps. First, WiFi sync with Mac or PC. Then, out of the box and immediate functionality, with synchronization an option.

Diana Bass gets the quotes from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer popping off about Apple’s iPad success and what the Windows maker plans to do about it. Ballmer in Business Week:

Today, one of the top issues on my mind is ‘hey there’s a category we have had Windows on for a long time and Apple’s done an interesting job of putting together a synthesis and putting a product out’

Microsoft has been pushing tablets for eight years. On future efforts to compete:

We’re coming. We’re coming full guns. The operating system is called Windows.

On Google Android devices:

Bring it, we relish the competition. If we can’t compete with whatever the weird collection of Android machines is going to look like, shame on us.

I’ve decided not to hold my breath waiting for a Microsoft powered device.

MG Siegler in TechCrunch on the upcoming media hysteria over yet another iPhone killer; this one a BlackBerry.

The problem with the term “iPhone killer” is that it has lost all meaning. Crying it has become the modern day equivalent of crying “wolf.” The G1 was an iPhone killer. The BlackBerry Storm was an iPhone killer. The Palm Pre was an iPhone killer. The Nexus One was an iPhone killer. The list goes on. All of those devices are now dead or dying.

The real problem is that media—mainstream and blogger—love conflict and controversy. It’s the nature of the beast. As to what will kill Apple’s newly released iPhone 4, I suspect it will be iPhone 5.

John Paczkowski in All Things Digital on an Android Market app that steals data from smart phones and sends it to China.

Here’s a timely rebuttal to those who argue the merits of an “open” app store versus one that’s “closed”: Security firm Lookout says that an Android app called Jackeey Wallpaper has been harvesting personal information from the millions of users who downloaded it.

The app, downloaded by a few million Android smart phone users, collected phone numbers, subscriber information, and other data, and sent it to China. I plan to continue to shop at the environmentally safe and secure mall vs. a back alley with no lights.

Fred Vogelstein in Wired on the Apple vs. Google, iPhone vs. Android battle. The numbers are wrong.

The comparison between Android and the iPhone is meaningless. The true comparison is between Android and iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system. Android’s activation numbers are not device dependent. Apple’s shouldn’t be either.  If we are going to truly compare the two mobile OSs we need to include sales of iPads and iPod Touches. Add them into the mix and the data shows that Android is catching up but still isn’t close.

In other words, Android OS smart phones activate at the rate of 160,000 per day, or 4.8-million per month. iOS 4 devices include the iPhone (4-million per month), iPad (1-million per month), and iPod touch (1.85-million per month), or a total of 6.85-million iOS devices per month—substantially greater than Android OS.

Eliot Van Buskirk on a survey which states the obvious. From Wired:

Consumer research firm MyType conducted the study, in which opinions of 20,000 people were analyzed between March and May. The firm’s conclusion was that iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness. In other words, “selfish elites.”

That seems to be a generalization, fraught with exceptions, but I’m not going to argue.

Along with an update of Safari to version 5.0.1, Apple introduced the long-awaited Safari Extensions Gallery with a few dozen certified extensions.

Extensions are a great way for you to add new features to Safari 5.0.1. Built by developers, Safari Extensions use the latest HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript web technologies. And they’re digitally signed and sandboxed for improved security. You can install extensions with one click — no need to restart Safari.

It’s not even a download. Simply visit the Gallery, select an extension, click the Install Now button, and you’re done. My favorite is Daring Fireball with Comments.

Walt Mossberg talks up the Samsung Galaxy in All Things Digital:

I’ve been testing the first two Galaxy S phones, the T-Mobile Vibrant and the AT&T Captivate, both of which cost $200 with a two-year contract. Neither has all the features of Apple’s latest model, like a front-facing camera for video calls or an ultra–high resolution screen, but they are worthy competitors. They have some attributes the iPhone lacks, like bigger screens and better integration of social networking.

So, size matters? Social networking integration? How about an example? Otherwise…

There are some drawbacks. Like other Android phones, the Galaxy S models don’t come with a program like iTunes, which allows easy synchronization with content on a PC or Mac. You can plug the phones into a computer for manual transfer of files, but this only works smoothly on Windows PCs. On Macs, you must turn on something called “USB debugging” to make this work.

I also wasn’t crazy about the home, search and other buttons on these phones, which are found on a panel below the screen but not easily visible until you touch the panel and light the buttons up. That, in effect, means you have to touch twice to use them.

Walt, it’s OK to talk about usability more than bullet point features.

AP’s Jane Wardell on BP CEO Tony Hayward’s tenure at the top. Profits went up, costs went down.

Hayward stripped out layers of management and costs across a stumbling and bloated business, improving its refining efficiency and putting the firm on a stronger footing to weather a global downturn. BP’s market position improved and its reputation was rehabilitated. Cost-cutting, which saw around 7,500 positions axed, led to savings of around $4 billion.

Since when do they give a bonus for a safety award?

It’s legal. Jailbreaking your iPhone is considered “fair use.” Nate Anderson in ArsTechnica on a ruling by The Register of Copyrights:

On balance, the Register concludes that when one jailbreaks a smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses.

Put another way, who cares? Jailbreaking an iPhone is an extremely uncommon practice utilized by the geekier side of gadget users to do more than Apple wants users to do. It’s not like jailbreaking sent anyone to, you know, jail. 

Jonny Evans in Computerworld puts an interesting twist on the math of who is the world’s largest computer maker.

Driven by the iPad and iPhone Apple is the world’s leading PC maker—but this isn’t reflected in so-called market share studies from the likes of Gartner or IDC.

An outrageous claim? It isn’t. It is a statement of fact.

Numbers and categories that are difficult to refute. First, define what constitutes a “personal” computer. Second, count them. Third, declare a winner.

Paul Krugman in The New York Times on why planet earth continues to cook, year after year.

So it wasn’t the science, the scientists, or the economics that killed action on climate change. What was it?

The answer is, the usual suspects: greed and cowardice.

If you want to understand opposition to climate action, follow the money. The economy as a whole wouldn’t be significantly hurt if we put a price on carbon, but certain industries — above all, the coal and oil industries — would. And those industries have mounted a huge disinformation campaign to protect their bottom lines.

It sure has been hot in New York this summer.