I’m not so sure that the smart phone battle between Google and Apple isn’t exactly like the Windows vs. Mac battle of the 1990s. Jason D. O’Grady in ZDNet points out a number of distinct differences:

1. App Store: Apple has four times the number of apps as Google’s Android (many of higher quality and capability). Selection rules.
2. Customer Service: Apple has it, Google doesn’t.
3. Consistency: The iPhone OS is pretty much identical on every device. Not so with Android devices.
4. Fragmentation: Apps distributed in the App Store behave pretty much the same across all iDevices. Performance will differ between models, but most apps will run on all devices.
5. Software Updates: Apple releases its iPhone OS updates simultaneously for all devices, Android, not so much.
6. Copy & Paste: Apple took forever to deliver it, but it works really well. Android has had it forever but it’s a kludge…
7. Media Player: Apple’s built-in iPod app beats Android’s Music app handily
8. Ease of Use: The iPhone “just works” for most people, Android is a little less seamless and can be more daunting to novice users.
9. Unified Inbox: Coming in iPhone 4.0. Android has separate apps for Gmail and Mail. Fail.
10. Skype: Skype for Android only works on Verizon devices, and doesn’t work on WiFi.

In the end, Google vs. Apple isn’t quite the same as Windows vs. Mac. Yet.