Switching From iPhone To Android: Google's Eric Schmidt Borrows From Apple's Playbook To Show The Way

With the holiday shopping season just around the corner, Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Eric Schmidt might have been inspired by Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) frequent potshots at Android when he penned a lengthy post in an attempt to convince people to pick Android-run smartphones over the iPhone.

Schmidt posted a 900-word article, titled Eric's Guide: Converting to Android from iPhone, on his Google+ profile, in which he suggested that it is about time iPhone users began changing their loyalties and switched to Google's Android operating system from Apple’s iOS.

“Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android. The latest high-end phones from Samsung (Galaxy S4), Motorola (Verizon Droid Ultra) and the Nexus 5 (for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface. They are a great Christmas present to an iPhone user!” Schmidt wrote in the post.

“Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back as everything will be in the cloud, backed up, and there are so many choices for you. 80% of the world, in the latest surveys, agrees on Android.”

Schmidt explained the steps to help users successfully transfer data, content and Google apps from iPhone to Android-powered handsets. He also urged people to use the Chrome browser, instead of Apple's Safari as it is “safer and better in so many ways.”

According to a report from The Guardian, Schmidt’s mention of the conversion from PCs to Macs is a direct reference to Apple's "Real People" advertising campaign in 2002. The campaign featured people explaining why they had switched their computers.

“These are not actors—they’re real people who have switched from PCs to Macs, telling their story in their own words,” Steve Jobs, Apple’s then CEO, had said in a statement at the time. “More people are interested in switching from PCs to Macs than ever before, and we hope that hearing these successful switchers tell their story will help others make the jump.”

During Apple’s 2013 Worldwide Developer Conference in June, CEO Tim Cook said Android has a "pretty bleak story" of fragmentation. According to him, more than 90 percent of iOS users are using the latest version of iOS, while "more than a third of Android users are using an operating system that was released in 2010."

Schmidt was named to Apple’s board of directors in August 2005, but he resigned from the position in August 2009 amid increasing competition between both companies. And, though Schmidt said in July that the relationship between Apple and Google was improving, he raised a few eyebrows last month when he said Android is “more secure than the iPhone.”