PACMan3000
Why Google has no leverage on the iPhone
Didn't I say something yesterday about the Tech Media judging Apple based on the Mac versus Windows saga that played out over twenty years ago? Well, we got another idiot at Seeking Alpha doing exactly that.
seekingalpha.com/article/169727-google-s-android-vs-apple...
First let me address this little nugget of wisdom:
"Apple's software platform and OS are too closed. It's a bit to capricious and is rather blatant about keeping competitive apps off the IPhone. This pattern is very similar to the OS wars between Apple and Microsoft. In the end, the crappier software won the day because their platform was open."
This kind of idiocy gets repeated so much in the Tech Media that it's almost taken as gospel. How in the holy hell is an App Store with close to 100,000 apps and thousands of developers considered closed? Now I can agree with the whole sentiment that it was totally wrong for Apple to deny Google Voice, but to contrast Apple's strategy with Microsoft? I mean, COME ON, does this guy really think Microsoft won the OS Wars because their platform for developers was more "open?" Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Microsoft kill Word Perfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and Netscape in their innocent quest for that "open" platform known as Windows?
Okay, but the writer rambles on and apparently drinks Drano before spitting out this piece of wisdom:
"Google also has a huge base of web users that can be leveraged into the mobile handset world."
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't most of the stuff that Google provides on the web FREE? And I see a lot of normally smart people, Mac users even, make this same mistake about Google. Google is all about advertising! They have nothing whatsoever to leverage on the web while their stuff remains free and on the web. Why?
Imagine a scenario where Google suddenly pulls all their stuff from the iPhone. Devastating, right? I mean, naturally, you would think so. So let's say you want to access Google Maps now, what ever will you do? I don't know about you, but I open up Safari Mobile and turn the Google Maps section of Google's web site into a Web Clip on my iPhone.
Remember Web Clips? It was the preferred method of putting apps on the iPhone before all those greedy developers clamored for the "closed" environment known as the iPhone App Store.
In fact, Web Clips are how people have been accessing Google Voice after Apple barred it from the App Store a couple months ago. But I know what you're thinking. This is inconvenient, right? Wouldn't it be much better to have a NATIVE app for that sort of thing?
Uh, why exactly? Either way, you have to be connected to the internet to access the service, right? So what's the big deal?
Okay, I could see this being a problem with accessing YouTube because as we all know, Safari Mobile doesn't support Flash, but this is a minor caveat in a much bigger discussion. Google, as it stands now, has absolutely nothing to leverage while they remain both free and on the web. The only way they could possibly leverage their apps is by making people pay to use their service on the web, while providing it for free to Android users.
And to do that Google would have to ditch that whole "Do No Evil" idea, don't you think?
(Thanks to PCTechNerd at androidcommunity.com for the pic)
Why Google has no leverage on the iPhone
Didn't I say something yesterday about the Tech Media judging Apple based on the Mac versus Windows saga that played out over twenty years ago? Well, we got another idiot at Seeking Alpha doing exactly that.
seekingalpha.com/article/169727-google-s-android-vs-apple...
First let me address this little nugget of wisdom:
"Apple's software platform and OS are too closed. It's a bit to capricious and is rather blatant about keeping competitive apps off the IPhone. This pattern is very similar to the OS wars between Apple and Microsoft. In the end, the crappier software won the day because their platform was open."
This kind of idiocy gets repeated so much in the Tech Media that it's almost taken as gospel. How in the holy hell is an App Store with close to 100,000 apps and thousands of developers considered closed? Now I can agree with the whole sentiment that it was totally wrong for Apple to deny Google Voice, but to contrast Apple's strategy with Microsoft? I mean, COME ON, does this guy really think Microsoft won the OS Wars because their platform for developers was more "open?" Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Microsoft kill Word Perfect, Lotus 1-2-3 and Netscape in their innocent quest for that "open" platform known as Windows?
Okay, but the writer rambles on and apparently drinks Drano before spitting out this piece of wisdom:
"Google also has a huge base of web users that can be leveraged into the mobile handset world."
Excuse me if I'm wrong, but isn't most of the stuff that Google provides on the web FREE? And I see a lot of normally smart people, Mac users even, make this same mistake about Google. Google is all about advertising! They have nothing whatsoever to leverage on the web while their stuff remains free and on the web. Why?
Imagine a scenario where Google suddenly pulls all their stuff from the iPhone. Devastating, right? I mean, naturally, you would think so. So let's say you want to access Google Maps now, what ever will you do? I don't know about you, but I open up Safari Mobile and turn the Google Maps section of Google's web site into a Web Clip on my iPhone.
Remember Web Clips? It was the preferred method of putting apps on the iPhone before all those greedy developers clamored for the "closed" environment known as the iPhone App Store.
In fact, Web Clips are how people have been accessing Google Voice after Apple barred it from the App Store a couple months ago. But I know what you're thinking. This is inconvenient, right? Wouldn't it be much better to have a NATIVE app for that sort of thing?
Uh, why exactly? Either way, you have to be connected to the internet to access the service, right? So what's the big deal?
Okay, I could see this being a problem with accessing YouTube because as we all know, Safari Mobile doesn't support Flash, but this is a minor caveat in a much bigger discussion. Google, as it stands now, has absolutely nothing to leverage while they remain both free and on the web. The only way they could possibly leverage their apps is by making people pay to use their service on the web, while providing it for free to Android users.
And to do that Google would have to ditch that whole "Do No Evil" idea, don't you think?
(Thanks to PCTechNerd at androidcommunity.com for the pic)