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Toast. I'm kind of shocked that the tenor of your remarks is to instantly pit Apple against Google and that the HN community has decided that it is the most ins

Toast. I'm kind of shocked that the tenor of your remarks is to instantly pit Apple against Google and that the HN community has decided that it is the most insightful. Apple continues to achieve a level of quality in their products that most of us aspire to as entrepreneurs, and the tech world is better for it. The impulse to belittle them in light of an impressive achievement baffles me. Android and Siri. Android does well, yes, but Google's financial success has not yet been shown to be correlated with Android shipments (look at the stock performance over the last two years for evidence). In some interesting instances competitors (Baidu and Amazon) have gutted Android to be used against them. Every query that is performed on Siri is routed to services that are NOT search, which is where Google makes its money. Why Google would invest money in implementing mobile services that route computing away from the web is beyond me. It isn't in their interest. Joe Hewitt made this observation before too. So while yes, Google might be technically capable of adding voice assistant, it isn't clear how that leads to increased profits for them. Feature parity is the wrong way to think about the Apple Google relationship.

barista 15y ago
Agree. It beats me why Google has continued to pour so much money in Android with apparently no business plan to recover that. Apple has a completely different business model that lets them recover their investments. But with Androind being free, I don't understand why Google has any motive to do investments. Their shareholders and directors are going to ask this question at some point of time. It scares me that Google is looking more like the "New Microsoft" scared of everything that everyone does and trying to get their hands at everything.
- mcantelon 15y ago
  >Apple continues to achieve a level of quality in their products that most of us aspire to as entrepreneurs, and the tech world is better for it. The impulse to belittle them in light of an impressive achievement baffles me. Many have a problem with what Apple because it's trying to normalizing sharecropping in the software development world. I have to give them a 30% cut if I want to sell software for their hardware. I have to pay them $99/year just to put applications I've written on my own hardware (effectively subscribing to use my own hardware). If I write an application they want to compete with they have the power to make my application unavailable on their device. If I write an application they somehow find distasteful or politically controversial they can make it disappear. Microsoft is following Apple's lead. Why would I want to support either of them instead of an alternative like Android?
  - Volpe 15y ago
    At least you'll get paid 'something' in the apple eco-system. http://blog.earbits.com/online_radio/i-think-your-app-should-be-free/ http://blog.earbits.com/online_radio/i-think-your-app-should...
    - mcantelon 15y ago
      Software piracy isn't new, yet software publishers have managed to survive. I don't think the existence of piracy is sufficient reason to embrace allowing hardware to be ruled by fiat.
      - Volpe 15y ago
        Right, but that is just your opinion. This is clearly a value proposition offered by apple. Some people don't mind the closed system, and opaque rules.
        mcantelon 15y ago
        Yes, others are certainly willing to buy into a planned economy.
  - rabenfrass 15y ago
    Not entirely true. Both iOS and Android have a way to remove applications from your phone. That's useful against rogue applications, the latest of which is HTC's Android giving away your personal data. You want a safe and unregulated market but you can't have it both ways, specially if you are computer illiterate.
    - mcantelon 15y ago
      Removing malware from phones and the market is entirely reasonable. That's not the problem. The problem is deciding what kind of non-malicious apps people can use on their own hardware. For example: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/12/apples-rejection-iphone-app-showing-political-caricatures-rankles-creator/ http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/12/apples-rejection-i... It's not reasonable for a hardware provider to dictate how I use my hardware.

barista 15y ago

Agree. It beats me why Google has continued to pour so much money in Android with apparently no business plan to recover that. Apple has a completely different business model that lets them recover their investments. But with Androind being free, I don't understand why Google has any motive to do investments. Their shareholders and directors are going to ask this question at some point of time. It scares me that Google is looking more like the "New Microsoft" scared of everything that everyone does and trying to get their hands at everything.

mcantelon 15y ago
>Apple continues to achieve a level of quality in their products that most of us aspire to as entrepreneurs, and the tech world is better for it. The impulse to belittle them in light of an impressive achievement baffles me. Many have a problem with what Apple because it's trying to normalizing sharecropping in the software development world. I have to give them a 30% cut if I want to sell software for their hardware. I have to pay them $99/year just to put applications I've written on my own hardware (effectively subscribing to use my own hardware). If I write an application they want to compete with they have the power to make my application unavailable on their device. If I write an application they somehow find distasteful or politically controversial they can make it disappear. Microsoft is following Apple's lead. Why would I want to support either of them instead of an alternative like Android?
- Volpe 15y ago
  At least you'll get paid 'something' in the apple eco-system. http://blog.earbits.com/online_radio/i-think-your-app-should-be-free/ http://blog.earbits.com/online_radio/i-think-your-app-should...
  - mcantelon 15y ago
    Software piracy isn't new, yet software publishers have managed to survive. I don't think the existence of piracy is sufficient reason to embrace allowing hardware to be ruled by fiat.
    - Volpe 15y ago
      Right, but that is just your opinion. This is clearly a value proposition offered by apple. Some people don't mind the closed system, and opaque rules.
      - mcantelon 15y ago
        Yes, others are certainly willing to buy into a planned economy.
- rabenfrass 15y ago
  Not entirely true. Both iOS and Android have a way to remove applications from your phone. That's useful against rogue applications, the latest of which is HTC's Android giving away your personal data. You want a safe and unregulated market but you can't have it both ways, specially if you are computer illiterate.
  - mcantelon 15y ago
    Removing malware from phones and the market is entirely reasonable. That's not the problem. The problem is deciding what kind of non-malicious apps people can use on their own hardware. For example: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/12/apples-rejection-iphone-app-showing-political-caricatures-rankles-creator/ http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/11/12/apples-rejection-i... It's not reasonable for a hardware provider to dictate how I use my hardware.