Is Google Getting a Bit Too Big for its Britches?
Rich Miner, Google’s VP of Mobile, used eComm yesterday to rekindle buzz surrounding Google’s upcoming mobile OS Android. How did he attempt to accomplish this? The same way most others do these days; he talked about the iPhone. Some might say that a truly innovative product speaks for itself. Creators can discuss its capabilities, as opposed to launching attacks on competitive products, and that will be enough set the internet ablaze with interest and coverage. When you get down to the nuts and bolts of Android, Google is building another new Linux mobile OS. Its intentions according to Miner, are to create a Linux OS that eliminates the need for all others and gives developers and users alike, a single mobile platform - for both development and consumption. Call us crazy, but that sounds hauntingly familiar; much like the intentions of every Linux mobile OS that has been built to date. So what will make Android a success?
Yes, the "Google" name will likely carry it relatively far. A number of well-respected developers have also given the upcoming mobile OS high praise on a technical level which bodes well. The problem? Google partners don’t need to sell Android-equipped handsets to developers, they need to sell to consumers. Will the release version of Android be innovative enough to attract mass consumer adoption? Apple took a solid approach when developing OS X mobile. Rather than create "another mobile OS" to combat Symbian and Windows Mobile, Apple chose to attack one of the areas where the two big boys were (and are) seriously lacking; the UI. Yes, the mobile version of OS X is very elegantly coded as any non-biased programmer who has dug through the OS will tell you. On a consumer level however, people like ‘pretty things’ and OS X mobile is gorgeous. The iPhone’s UI is one of a few massive selling points that consumers have become infatuated with.
So what exactly will Android’s selling points be? Open? Wow, an open mobile OS… Revolutionary! Of course Android will be open on an OS level with no documented restrictions to date, but existing smartphone OSes allow deep integration. The differences here will likely be more apparent to developers as opposed to consumers. The UI? Just like Pam, Android is looking like a bit of a butterface according to available previews but the final product remains to be seen of course. Linux? The masses could care less about the platform itself. The Google name? Yes, that will work to a certain extent in terms of landing manufacturer partners and if Google can flood the market then its OS will sell well by default. Google will not however, land the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world (Nokia) as a partner and that leaves them picking away at Windows Mobile business. 2008 is going to wrap up in a ball of jet fuel-propelled fire; Android, S60 Touch, 3G iPhone and so on. Simmer down Google, this will hardly be a cakewalk.
consumers don’t care about linux mobile WTF i care about liunx ALOT
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That is linux’s problem at the desktop level too. It is completely open, and you can do whatever you want. But it looks like ass (Fedora, Ubuntu, etc.). This coming from a long-time linux user who just got a macbook pro (for my workstation, linux forever on servers).
If some linux desktop environment got some nice graphics and a good control panel they’d get a lot more support.
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LOL, and I thought DailyTech had the best headline photos!
The article is right, consumers don’t care about mobile Linux. To that end, consumers could care less about Windows Mobile either. That’s why the iPhone’s doing so well without ANY official 3rd-party apps available today. They prefer a good UI and full-HTML web browser. What makes Android different from other mobile Linux platforms is that Google has the muscle to push it through to carriers and OEMs, and the dev community has embraced anything Google blesses.
As “smartphone” features become more common, Android can capture some decent share. Of course, consumers won’t care about the underlying OS technology, only if it looks cool and can sync with their email, calendar, address book, and run their favorite social networking app and IM client.
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wait. so you are predicting that Android will suffer in terms of usability?
Google’s name has become synonymous with Usability? Do you remember the days when we did internet searches on yahoo, ask and altavista?
look at the google maps implementation - it is intuitive. I think it is presumptuous to assume that the Android will just be an open platform.
IPhone is great and all, but we will have to see how usable Android is. Based on their (Google’s) past performance I would think it would be so.
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Galv…I’ll say this once and for all — LINUX SUCKS.
But I do like Google’s SDK a lot. We’ll have to see what happens whens phones goto manufacturing and find out what exactly is on the devices to tell if its usable. Anyone can develop apps for it sure, but that doesn’t mean whenT-Mobile released an Android handset they’ll allow VoIP over the cell network or good forbid the ability to set your own MP3 ringtones (slight shot at the Sidekick in particular).
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A lot of what Google has done is only seen as great because it’s free. Once people have to plunk down their coin, we’ll see if they’re still the darlings of the tech world.
I love Google Maps, Docs, Calendar & Search. But if I was paying for them, I’d be pretty pissed. They look like hell, and at times, can be down right maddening to use.
This is the hurdle that Google is going to have to jump over with Android. People are actually going to have to pay for the products that it will be featured on. When people are spending their hard earned cash, they expect a level of polish not available on any of Google’s current offerings.
I have high hopes for Android, but I’m a geek. We’ll see what regular folks think of Google when they have to pay for it. I won’t be surprised if it’s a flop.
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hey linux rocks it tuns on crapple or pc and unbenknownst to the majority of consumers linux RUNS 85% of the worls servers includinf emailsrvices EVEN HOTMAIL nobody has triedto develop decent lookng icons an have you deen fedora 8 ye BG? we all know you nd your crew T-mobiles new varin of the moto razr aka the v9 aka razr2 uses a symbian os instead of that craap moto throws onn the est of ther handsets
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almost forgot BDone question HVE YOU EVEN RIE LINUX FEDORA AND UBUNTU? don’t knock it till you try it.
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BGR:
for a well written and well read figure,
youre quite uneducated with your statement about the ringtones.
the DRM protection that restricts MP#’s from being used as ringtones is a music label/royalty/revenue share issue.. not soleley a carrier greed issue….
thanks for reading..
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2 ideas for google to take over the world.
1. Buy motorola and finally give the company a decent os.
2. Make android os compatible with blackberry services, this is something that nokia has done but only for select models and terriblely underadvertised.
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There is no point reading BGR on anything that is Apple related. The Bias is just ridiculous.
Remember this is the same guy that told us…”I know the specs don’t seem like much…but the MacBook Air is FAST! No really”
Then he proceeded to ignore the launch of the Lenovo X300 which is basically a MacBookAir but with an optical drive, 3 usb ports and an ethernet adaptor.
Seriously just take the news from this webpage (which indeed are good) but forget anything apple related.
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I agree with Gal to a degree, some people do care about Linux and I have never used it but do care that it stays popular as it can be good competition.
Man even on a non-apple article you all are bringing it into the mix, strange.
But Google is not bad yet, they are putting out good products and most of them are free so I do like that.
BTW Gal, Hotmail is no long run on Linux. MS killed that at great cost after they bought it, but it was created and run on Linux.
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Big deal. So The Boy Genius likes Apple.
Find me the blogger that doesn’t. He’d probably lose his blogger card of he didn’t heap them with praise.
Jobso is watching…
Seriously, though, I like it that The Boy Genius tells us what he likes. It’s one of the reasons I read his blog. I’d prefer that he’s up front about it.
Nothing is more pretentious than bloggers that try to act like they’re seriously impartial. Does anyone really believe that crap?
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Only nerds/geeks care what OS is on their phones. Look how many Moto Razors sold. You think that has a quality OS?
Phones sell on looks & features thats it.
I’m looking for a new phone now.
The first phone to the market with a 3″+ screen size, 3G, HTML browser and GPS gets my money I could give a crap what OS runs it or what provider its on.
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That picture is disgusting, Pamela looks like she’s high (wouldn’t surprise me) but I didn’t notice the nip-slip earlier today.
Totally didn’t read the article yet or anything just had to comment on the picture.
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I’ll take the tits
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@BGR
Everything you said is dead on and it will be a cold day when they allow us to use our own mp3s (the one thing I hate about my sidekick).
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To all those saying “it will be a cold day when they allow us to use our own mp3s”.
For the Love of GOD, stop reading BGR and go buy a Nokia or Sony Ericsson Phone. Using your own MP3 as ringtones (any use really) has been an available option for the last 2 YEARS.
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I hope Android does well. I really love a lot of aspects of the iPhone and OSX. But I’m also not ready to completely join that Borg collective just yet either (the personality meld is downright creepy sometimes and Apple’s past actions when in a position as market leader sometimes put MS to shame.) Shouldn’t we be embracing competition? Or is that only when it doesn’t involve one of the few brands that actually has more admirers than Apple and could be considered a real longterm threat?
Either way, it’s going to be fun to watch Google delicately dance around their currently chummy relationship with Apple. Coopetition happens all the time at the mega corporation level. But both companies are clearly on a collision course on numerous fronts in upcoming years - not just with phones either. Things like video content - free, commercially-sponsored, full-length content, like TV shows and movies WILL happen on YouTube v/s which will position it opposite the Itunes store (and the REAL software that drives the bus for Apple’s financial success is Itunes, not OSX.) And of course there will be the inevitable push into the “desktop” OS space (although mobile and desktop are quickly going to blend in coming years.) Google’s pushed toward diversification on the web front and is quickly reaching a saturation point on the advertising front. But as a corporation, they’re realizing now they’ll have to diversify quite a bit more than that.
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@ everyone that doesn’t listen
I never said there are phones you can’t use MP3 ringtones on, I specifically said that about the Sidekick. My point was, the OS is open, sure. But what happens when a carrier gets involved? T-Mobile doesn’t allow MP3 ringtones on the Sidekick because they don’t want to. It sure as hell supports it. What’s to stop them from integrating a T-Zones media deck and making you buy ringtones, while not allowing you to provide and use your own on an Android device?
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