4 ms·

He says that the question is 'where is this going?' - I think that's been pretty clear now for years. The Apple App Store exists to provide additional value to

He says that the question is 'where is this going?' - I think that's been pretty clear now for years. The Apple App Store exists to provide additional value to owning an iPhone, which in turn directly makes Apple money, which is what Apple's in business to do. Google don't care what you promote in their app store because they're not making money selling devices. Android only matters to them as a means of increasing take-up of the mobile web, and as a way of displaying more adverts. You can promote the iPhone in an Android app because Google don't lose out if you switch - they're displaying adverts on websites regardless of the mobile operating system. Apple, on the other hand, do lose out and so don't want you to hear about the latest Android phones. I can see the philosophical arguments against Apple's position and for openness, but I have a hard time seeing any business arguments against Apple's position. And ultimately, if Apple's control of their platform offends you then you should protest in the most effective way possible: by not buying their device in the first place.

rooshdi 16y ago
Google has as much of an incentive to control the mobile OS experience as Apple. Both realize that controlling the mobile OS experience will enable them to present more of their mobile services to users, thus increasing revenue over time. Banning an app solely based on the fact that it features a competitor's product is an anti-competitive measure which should be denounced and discouraged.
- semanticist 16y ago
  I don't think Google have any incentive to control the mobile OS experience, and they largely don't and are incapable of doing it anyway. It doesn't matter if people are going to Google's ad-supported services via Android, iOS, Symbian, or Blackberry (or others) - and as long as at least some of these platforms have a focus on the end user experience it creates attention for mobile services which Google will benefit from. People will see things like Google Maps on an iPhone and try it on their own phone, even if they're not using an iOS device. And even if Google wanted to control the user experience in the same way as Apple, they simply can't: Android's open nature means that the networks and device manufacturers are free to screw around with it in any way they please, up to and including pushing their own partner's online products over Google's. Mobile phone networks have a very long tradition of cutting off their nose to spite their face, and Android's openness unfortunately can give them a bigger knife.
  - rooshdi 16y ago
    Google has as much ability to dictate their App marketplace as Apple. They've strayed away from such practices because they realize the dictation of applications begins to devolve into a very bigotry-riddled process which ultimately hinders development and innovation. Google could suffer greatly if one day Apple decides to ban or suppress their apps within the App Store due to competitive reasons.
    - semanticist 16y ago
      Android devices don't even have to include the Google app marketplace. A manufacturer or network can put their own marketplace on the device instead, which makes it pretty much like every pre-iOS smartphone platform (at least in that regard). I don't think that any single manufacturer has the leverage to tell the networks to stay out of the device OS and just be dumb bit transporters. I suppose Nokia could do it, but the idea's pretty unthinkable for those guys.
btmorex 16y ago
The business argument would have been "you can't maintain majority market share with such tight fisted control of the app store, approval process, choice of carrier, etc". But that was really an argument that applied 1+ years ago before iphone lost momentum to android. At this point, I don't think there's a way for the iphone to win against android.
- hugh3 16y ago
  The business argument would have been "you can't maintain majority market share with such tight fisted control of the app store, approval process, choice of carrier, etc". Choice of carrier is a serious issue. The other things? Not so much. The vast majority of iPhone users neither know nor care about the App Store approval process, and there's a more-than-sufficient number of happy developers out there to keep the App Store humming indefinitely.
  - semanticist 16y ago
    Plenty of choice of carrier in the UK and other places. The carrier restrictions seem to largely be a North American problem.
    - hugh3 16y ago
      True. But North America is a very big market, so it's still a big problem for them.
      - spot 16y ago
        So how do the numbers fall in the UK? What is the market share of Android vs iPhone where they have equal availability?
- semanticist 16y ago
  Talk of 'winning' or 'losing' is foolish - this isn't a game with pre-set victory conditions. Apple, a single device manufacturer, will inevitably not sell as many units as the combined Android device manufacturers. It's like comparing the output of Smart to the output of Ford. Apple don't need - and never had, anyway - a majority market share in order to turn a significant profit on selling devices. (And they are turning a significant profit - a quick Google shows Apple were reporting quarterly profits up 70% a couple of months ago.)

rooshdi 16y ago

Google has as much of an incentive to control the mobile OS experience as Apple. Both realize that controlling the mobile OS experience will enable them to present more of their mobile services to users, thus increasing revenue over time. Banning an app solely based on the fact that it features a competitor's product is an anti-competitive measure which should be denounced and discouraged.

semanticist 16y ago
I don't think Google have any incentive to control the mobile OS experience, and they largely don't and are incapable of doing it anyway. It doesn't matter if people are going to Google's ad-supported services via Android, iOS, Symbian, or Blackberry (or others) - and as long as at least some of these platforms have a focus on the end user experience it creates attention for mobile services which Google will benefit from. People will see things like Google Maps on an iPhone and try it on their own phone, even if they're not using an iOS device. And even if Google wanted to control the user experience in the same way as Apple, they simply can't: Android's open nature means that the networks and device manufacturers are free to screw around with it in any way they please, up to and including pushing their own partner's online products over Google's. Mobile phone networks have a very long tradition of cutting off their nose to spite their face, and Android's openness unfortunately can give them a bigger knife.
- rooshdi 16y ago
  Google has as much ability to dictate their App marketplace as Apple. They've strayed away from such practices because they realize the dictation of applications begins to devolve into a very bigotry-riddled process which ultimately hinders development and innovation. Google could suffer greatly if one day Apple decides to ban or suppress their apps within the App Store due to competitive reasons.
  - semanticist 16y ago
    Android devices don't even have to include the Google app marketplace. A manufacturer or network can put their own marketplace on the device instead, which makes it pretty much like every pre-iOS smartphone platform (at least in that regard). I don't think that any single manufacturer has the leverage to tell the networks to stay out of the device OS and just be dumb bit transporters. I suppose Nokia could do it, but the idea's pretty unthinkable for those guys.

btmorex 16y ago

The business argument would have been "you can't maintain majority market share with such tight fisted control of the app store, approval process, choice of carrier, etc". But that was really an argument that applied 1+ years ago before iphone lost momentum to android. At this point, I don't think there's a way for the iphone to win against android.

hugh3 16y ago
The business argument would have been "you can't maintain majority market share with such tight fisted control of the app store, approval process, choice of carrier, etc". Choice of carrier is a serious issue. The other things? Not so much. The vast majority of iPhone users neither know nor care about the App Store approval process, and there's a more-than-sufficient number of happy developers out there to keep the App Store humming indefinitely.
- semanticist 16y ago
  Plenty of choice of carrier in the UK and other places. The carrier restrictions seem to largely be a North American problem.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    True. But North America is a very big market, so it's still a big problem for them.
    - spot 16y ago
      So how do the numbers fall in the UK? What is the market share of Android vs iPhone where they have equal availability?
semanticist 16y ago
Talk of 'winning' or 'losing' is foolish - this isn't a game with pre-set victory conditions. Apple, a single device manufacturer, will inevitably not sell as many units as the combined Android device manufacturers. It's like comparing the output of Smart to the output of Ford. Apple don't need - and never had, anyway - a majority market share in order to turn a significant profit on selling devices. (And they are turning a significant profit - a quick Google shows Apple were reporting quarterly profits up 70% a couple of months ago.)