New thoughts on the recent Samsung Galaxy S post I wrote, and my recent encounters with the Google devices.

I continue to point you to John Gruber and his astute observations on the iPhone and competitors, also Andy Ihnatko for excellent birds eye perspective on the world of technology.

Firstly, Johns made a great point in the last 24 hours, saying that there is no guarantee or neccessity for the Cell phone market to be like the PC market in the 90%Windows Machines/8%Macs/2%Linux Paradigm, John points out that the mobile market could easily become like the game console market with three to four systems each taking 30-40% of the market, that’s a good point, in the face of the “iPhone-killer” and “Android will be the windows of the future” gibberish that is making the rounds with some pundits.

Once it’s agreed that there can be several flourishing systems, it’s much easier to look at the mobile market objectively, and I hope that’s the perspective I give to you.

The Tmobile store at 17th and Valencia is in a neighborhood that leaving working activated phones on those tiny security cables, as such, there’s a huge benefit, they have a completely functioning, untied, not locked down Galaxy S that they’ll hand you so you can feel exactly what it’s like to hold.

Again, I’ll tell you, that it’s very nice feeling. (I can now agree that the plastic back does actually feel a little chintzy in the age of steel backed and now glass backed iPhones (forgive Apple’s temporary plastic phase)). But I’m a productivity guy, I’m about doing things, implementing and recommending the tools that enable businesses and individuals to do more with less work. Whether that tool is plastic coated or diamond coated matters not as highly as whether the plastic tool can slice butter twice as fast.

So what can you do?

Well, the truth is, that the modern computing world is not about Specs anymore, the answer to what can it do really depends on what Apps are available, right?

I took a look at the Android Marketplace, and searching for Speed test got me the same awesome simple Ookla speed test app available for iPhone. Good, then I searched for Skype, I got a list of apps, none of which was Skype.

Then, I redid my test from the other day, made a call and tried to open the camera to take a picture, didn’t work, so i went to the Market and found a camera app, installed it, and guess what, good news, it works, so that solves that, but finding that camera app on the market was not easy.

Then, I tried to find a video camera app so I could test if i can record video, searching and searching found me no good results, but worse than that, I found an App called “Qik Video for EVO”, why am i seeing that? If my mom uses this phone, finds that App, downloads it, runs it, and it says, you’re not on an EVO, goodbye, what kind of experience is that?

Contrast that experience with the App store experience:

Avis are running ads saying “use our iPhone App to reserver your car”
Chase are running TV commercials saying “Use our iPhone app to deposit your checks”
OmniFocus just released OmniFocus for the iPad and it looks like the most marvelous way to organize your to do’s
and today i found out about Moms With Apps, a website devoted to Mom Apps, it’s incredible, they’re highlighting Apps that help moms find parks, find activities, keep track of rewards, goals, and anything that a Mom might care about.

I think all of this shows the power of the Apps, they’re creating their own niches “Mom Apps”, “Guy Apps”, “Travelling Apps”.

Meanwhile Androids Marketplace is a hodgepodge of “pretty cool”, “sorta works”, not “This lets me do more with my day!”

And I think that’s one more key differentiator of the iPhone world.