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Schmidt’s iPhone-to-Android conversion guide draws howls

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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November 26, 2013, 8:08 AM ET

FORTUNE — On Monday, Google (GOOG) chairman Eric Schmidt posted a guide for switching to an Android phone from an Apple (AAPL) iPhone. “Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android,” he began, laying out the procedure in 873 words and 17 steps (not counting five verifications).

By Tuesday morning his post had been forwarded 1,856 times and gathered 3,929 up votes.

It had also drawn more than 500 comments. A few that caught my eye:

dwight reid 1 day ago
Let’s be real +Eric Schmidt… u don’t have any iPhone friends :D+74

Dean Wallace
 1 day ago
I’m afraid that’s just way too many steps for an iphone user to take.  The friends I know with iphones, it’s too much for them (because they’re idiots)+159

TM Yi
 1 day ago
It still does seem a bit too complicated and it is easier to go in the other direction (from Android to iOS).+11

Dennis Rünger
 1 day ago
I personally don’t think +Eric Schmidt is helping Android with statements like Android “is more secure than the iPhone” (which earned him laughter at a tech symposium) or phones like the Galaxy S4 or the Nexus 5 “have a much more intuitive interface” (see above). People simply don’t buy the hyperbole and they won’t buy Android phones as a result. A more honest approach would be to say that Android is on par with iOS in many respects and it even excels in some. My guess is customers would appreciate this kind of honesty.+58

Simone Leo
1 day ago
+Eric Schmidt You should really have closed the comments. +2
LINK: Eric’s Guide: Converting to Android from iPhone.
About the Author
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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