A pretty thought provoking post from Marc yesterday on Google, the Nexus One launch and the future of Google itself. There is a lot of hyperbole around Google, Apple, Android – some of it merited, some of it not but hey, it sells papers….or blogs.
The iPhone and Nexus One are both fine looking devices and I like them both but I also liked the Palm V back in the day. RIM is the Palm V for me these days…it’s everywhere. If any industry changes fast and is subject to the vagaries of fashion though, it’s the mobile phone industry. Motorola Razr anyone? In 6 weeks time, Mobile World Congress rolls around the next turn of the hype machine for mobile will kick in. It’s a fun industry for sure but one littered with short memories.
Marc’s post reminded me of this cartoon from Hugh that I had turned in to a mouse mat a few years back. What I think is different about mobile now is that we’re really now in the world Microsoft predicted a few years back of Smartphone's everywhere. That seems obvious now but back when we started building these things with Sendo and HTC people though it was all a bit mad. Nowadays, it’s taken for granted that every phone has a PC capable processor, tonnes of memory and a big, bright screens. Though people do still get excited about whether a phone has a 2mp or 5mp camera but the real differentiator these days is software. The App Store bears that out with over 3bn downloads and it’s an impressive new platform for sure.
It was ironic for me to see Peter Chou stood up at the Nexus One launch showing off that new device. A smarter and nicer man you could not wish to meet and boy do I wish I’d bought shares in HTC now. They’re the real winners right now but ultimately, this battleground is software based I feel. We have a lot of to do. Software is our bread and butter. The game is moving fast though so it’s time to write some of the smartest 1’s and 0’s of our lives.
Good post Steve. I agree with you and Marc. This feels like over hype. Tired of the whole goog fanboy thing. You'd think techcrunch was on Goog payroll. Will be nice when the sleeping giant of MSFT comes out and executes on the vision they created. I'm holding out for a WM7 phone. It had better be awesome!
As it currently stands, MSFT has no good Mobile experience.
There's potential with WM7 to change things up, but it'll require a major change in the way things work at MSFT.
I'm no fan of Apple, but the iPhone OS is significantly more advanced than anything Microsoft has out there currently.
I have been an Android user for the last 12 months, and although there's been some rough spots, the overall UX of Android is much better than Windows Mobile.
I'm a .NET Dev, so I really do hope that Microsoft can come back with a good answer, but as it stands - it all just looks like re-arranging deck chairs.