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John Gruber's arguments are painfully weak. "It’s not that Google changed course and got into the phone business, period. It’s that they got into the iPhone’s
by OoTheNigerian 16y ago
John Gruber's arguments are painfully weak.
"It’s not that Google changed course and got into the phone business, period. It’s that they got into the iPhone’s segment of the phone business. This is what Android looked like in 2007. Here’s an actual hardware prototype from then. It didn’t look anything like an iPhone, nor like anything Apple would ever be interested in making. It looked like a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone — hardware keyboards and non-touch screens"
His highly flawed assumptions are
1. That the hardware was the competition.
2. Google bought a software company to compete in hardware
3. HTC was not making touch screen phones before.
4. If you see a successful trend you stick to something unsuccessful in order not to compete.
He goes on to say
"I don’t believe Apple would have unveiled iAds. Maybe I’m wrong, and Apple would have done it anyway, because it always comes down to money, and there’s soon going to be an awful lot of money in mobile advertising."
sigh!
He speaks about the absence of comments on his blog. I think he can do whatever he wants regarding that.
What surprises me is the amusing weakness of his arguments. This is the first time I have actually read a full blog post of his (I mainly see bits of his writing in rebuttals) and I go away wondering how he has been made into a thought leader of some sort.
- masklinn 16y ago> 1. That the hardware was the competition. Apple is a hardware company, that's what they see and compete on. > 2. Google bought a software company to compete in hardware 3. HTC was not making touch screen phones before. hardware and software go hand in hand. Google implemented a touchscreen core since the first public Android release and their base design (the N1) is fully touch-oriented. They clearly set up the Android platform aiming at the segment the iPhone also occupies, putting the platforms head to head. I don't see how you an claim otherwise.
- nooneelse 16y agoGoogle made an OS that can support dozens of different hardware user interface variations. It is the phone makers that keep tailoring it along the lines of making it touchscreen-centric. Any one of the handset makers could come out with a keyboard-centric design at any time. The OS is rather agnostic on this.
- whughes 16y agoHTC has been building giant-touchscreen-type phones for years. Windows Mobile is not some kind of cheap Blackberry ripoff; it's a Palm ripoff, a lot closer to the iPhone when it came out than anything else. Moreover, the first Android phones didn't even have multitouch or capacitive screens. Did Apple influence some design decisions? Sure. However, the design of the G1 and the first Android phones were also a logical extension from what was available at the time.