The cautionary tale that is Google’s Android
By Ronald O Carlson
It seems all of that openness isn’t producing desirable phones, applications or legions of loyal customers. Whereas Apple and Research in Motion together own a 35 percent and growing share of the smartphone market, handsets running Google’s operating system account for just 3 percent of users and that number isn’t likely to double or treble anytime soon.
Farhad Manjoo writing for Slate bemoans the many failings of Google’s Android smartphone platform. From its tiny mind and market shares to a dearth of developers and applications, there’s quite a bit to be disappointed with nearly a year after the platform launched amid a blizzard of hype and expectations.
The truly ironic thing about Manjoo’s analysis is that he names many of Android’s purported advantages over the iPhone and other closed platforms as the very things that have prevented its rapid growth and adoption.
Android doesn’t just trail Apple in sales. The platform also lacks what you might call the iPhone’s “mindshare.” Even though it’s far friendlier to developers, Android has failed to attract anywhere near the number of apps now clogging the iPhone. It’s also just not very cool. Apple’s ubiquitous marketing and unmatched industrial design have turned the iPhone into a must-have fashion accessory. Android? It’s fallen into the same trap as the SanDisk Sansa, Creative Zen, the Zune, and any number of other music players — devices that are cheaper and technically every bit as capable as Apple’s iPod but that no one would ever put on his Christmas list.
Stupid is as stupid does
For a platform that’s “far friendlier to developers,” Android fails in the only way that ultimately matters to developers — putting food on the table. To date, Apple’s insane app approval process and tight reins on who makes money and how has resulted in a lot of new wealth virtually overnight for large numbers of developers.
Although they might exist somewhere out there, I haven’t read about Android millionaires or a broader Android gold rush. More importantly, and this has to sting for both Google and jilted iPhone developers alike, the people and apps Apple’s turned away haven’t changed the world outside the iPhone’s orbit and, if these folks are making big piles of money, they’re being awfully quiet about it.
All things not being equal
Further, for the same reasons that the Zune and Zune Marketplace never got off the ground, Android languishes because as an ecosystem it lacks the fit, form and polish dazzling allure of the iPhone. Manjoo correctly ascertains that the lack of a fully realized and compelling Android product leaves it competitively crippled.
And, here’s the real rub for Manjoo, John Gruber and other Android/openness cheerleaders, crowd sourcing the Android’s hardware and applications may eventually prove to be a superior model. However, right now Apple’s got the capital “V” vision — call it “Steve Jobs” if it makes you happy — to sort the wheat from the chaff and choose decisively both the direction and content of their platform.
To put a very fine point on this argument, the crowd and its top cheerleaders have grown far too enamored of their own voices and the weave of their logic, putting aside the real work of creating products people are actually willing to pay for. Bitch and moan as they do, none of them has turned a profit let alone changed the world…
What’s your take?
Related:
Entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 12:15 am
under 
Print This Post
Read more entries by Ronald O Carlson.
Stumble It!
August 25th, 2009
iphone fanboi standing on the beach wondering why the tide is out, not realising the 2010 android tsunami is inbound
August 25th, 2009
Well, with an army of 50+ Androids hitting the market in waves over the next 6 onths, non-phone Android devices about to permeate every intersection of consumer and electronic product, and iPhone users still only using a small percentage of the glut of apps in the store;
My take is that you’ve either missed the real news, or have been paid by the people afraid of Android.
August 25th, 2009
Android is getting popularity with great speed many developers are working on Android apps, iPhone has it own beauty but Android is future.
August 25th, 2009
Oh lord, what a iSheep fanboy. I just hate how my G1 has such “friendly” apps like Places Finder, Google Voice, Key Ring, ShopSaavy, Layar, etc. iSheep would rather have their queer little games in a cute package than a real smartphone that multi-tasks and makes your life easier. Android is the future kids, get used to it. BAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
August 25th, 2009
Sure the Android tidal wave will come in — just
like “desktop Linux” will rule, Real Soon Now.
Still waiting on that one too.
Sunny Guy
August 25th, 2009
More Android phones will help, for sure, but Apple has a huge lead in apps and mindshare. To attack a lead that big, you need to be not just as good, but a LOT better. Android is potentially very good indeed, but has some way to go to be a killer.
And as for the 2010 Android tsunami, remember it will be competing against the next (not the current) generation iPhone OS, which will run on both the iPhone G4, using the new Apple-designed, highly power efficient multi-core processors, and may well also run on the new Apple tablet, making it even more compelling to develop apps for.
Apple does not stand still, and has developed quite a knack for zigging when its competitors are expecting it to zag. When the Android tsunami breaks it may well be onto an empty beach, because Apple has moved the action to the other side of the island.
August 25th, 2009
What is important is not whether techies prefer android or are upset that the iphone is a closed system. Just because Android is an open system will not make it successful (just look at linux on the desktop!).
What matters is the average consumer. S/he doesn’t care on open or closed systems. They care that the phone works for them with as little trouble. Whoever succeeds in doing that will succeed in the smart market.
August 25th, 2009
The problem is Androids have no heart.
August 26th, 2009
Motorola will be announcing two Android phones in September and maybe they’ll have some clout. Motorola is a company that seems to make some of the worst mistakes but maybe they’ll get back on track if they haven’t tarnished their brand name to the point that nobody will buy from them anymore.
Android is still a young OS so it will take time to get traction. We’re probably talking years to get any significant market share unless a company like Nokia adopts it. Not likely since it seems so lovey-dovey with Microsoft.
Only tech-head fanboys care about OSes. The average cellphone user just wants their cellphones to work for them with a minimum amount of problems and be easy to use.