‘Don’t be Evil’ does not a good phone make
Analyzing why the iPhone is so widely accepted and Android is not is, in fact, rather simple. The difference boils down to control.
Apple applies dictatorial control over the software, hardware, and even what applications are allowed to run on the phone. While, on one hand, this is really frustrating for developers, it is, on the other hand, consistent and simple for users.
Google, on the other hand, hands massive control to both hardware manufacturers and 3rd party software developers. In return, they get poor hardware integration (expressed in slow user feedback, unresponsive touch screens, and hideous battery life) Further, their app store is a mess of incomplete, crashing, unhelpful applications. (In all fairness, however, Android is actually improving)
This is going to come as a shock to some of you, but the internet at large is very different from the mobile phone industry. So, Google, sharpen your pencils and take this one down: What works for the internet will not work for Android.
Apple has caused huge amounts of strife for their developers. Much ink has been spilled in anger and frustration over their policies, but, and this is important, the developers eventually come back. The iPhone is where the users are. Where there are users, there is the potential to make money.
So, Google, it might be time for a new montra where Android is concerned. “Don’t be evil, except when it benefits those who buy and use our phones.”
September 20th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
I disagree, and feel the parallels to the internet in the mobile ecosystem are in fact very very similar
Take the internet
Private BBS, to get your information on there you had to pass a gatekeeper incredibly fragmented (pre Apples app store)
Moderated internet companies, such as Compuserve and AOL, which provide users walled gardens under which the content was pre vetted by the ISP (Apple app store)
Removal of walled gardens, in the initial state they were not as popular as the previous walled gardens due to poor user experience as you detail for Android (Android app market)
Web commerce
Whilst I agree that mobile is a much more personal medium and therefore the tolerance to accept the walled garden is much much higher, eventually I think the cracks appear in Apples methodology for two reasons, for them if the market continues to grow, it will be easier and more profitable for them to “outsource” application approval to the market and the user will see different applications that require the openness of another platform, both of these cracks are starting to appear, approval times are proving frustrating and applications such as Spotify are causing people to jail break the phone so that it runs in the background!
(thoughts from an iPhone developer and an Android developer!)