Hi, I’m Mac! I have a cool design, people want me left and right, and it seems that I am the most user-friendly and desired device in the world.

The team at Apple has done a fantastic job marketing its products, convincing our generation to believe that anything that is not Apple is rotten and therefore should be banished from our digital lives. I’m here to tell you that although their products are cool, their claims are based on clever manipulation of the market; it is Apple who is the evil empire trying to take over our lives, while Google (with their Android mobile operating system) has come to save the day.   

Everyone has seen the movie Mean Girls. Picture Regina George, the typical, pretty, alpha-female high school student who has achieved popularity through her looks and stuck up behavior but makes everyone else’s lives miserable. Now picture Cady Heron, the new student who wants to become popular like Regina George, but is a kinder, more intelligent person who achieves popularity through her personality smarts and uniqueness. Throughout the movie they battle over popularity, but in the end it is Cady who is triumphant. If you think about it, it is exactly the battle that Apple has created. Other than the fact that boys don’t really matter in this clash, the Android and the iPhone have been battling for this alpha status since 2008, and it seems as if the competition is only beginning. Popularity in high school has a very small margin for error but in a multi-billion dollar empire that margin is even smaller.

The first version of the Android operating system was officially released Oct. 21, 2008, and in 2011 there are now 108 phones that are Android friendly. The Android has had a significant impact in the United States, as well as overseas.

According to an April 11 article in The Guardian, this year Androids have outsold iPhones 2 to 1 in many countries including Great Britain, Germany, France, the US.

 This is not just due to the fact that there are more manufacturers in the world that produce Android friendly phones but also because people prefer to buy them due to the Android’s versatility and variety in apps.

According to the Android Market website, the Android’s top free apps include Google Maps, YouTube, Facebook (for Android), Pandora, Netflix, Skype and Angry Birds. Despite the fact that Apple originally created the app, the Android operating system has created more apps in a shorter amount of time, and there are more Android Apps than iPhone Apps.

While Android has proven to be the open and more diverse phone platform by letting many phone companies and phones connect, Apple’s tyrannical, “let them eat cake” mindset is fooling the world that it is better and more innovative despite having a closed operating system that only lets you connect with two major phone companies in the US and with one phone.

Apple has been hoodwinking everyone by hiding its misguided attempts at being a monopoly behind a slick, white veneer. On the other hand, Google offers more options in Android that promote technological advances, such as a versatile operating system and more phones.

While many students at CHS prefer the iPhone over the Android, this feeling may soon change if the universal Android trend reaches Potomac. So, if iPhones are so fetch, why does it seem that Androids are slowly taking over the world? Watch out Regina, Cady’s taking your throne.