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Except that everybody always wanted an iOS device, so it was obviously an easy sell for Apple to do that. Trying to sell people an Android phone that happens t
by jonursenbach 15y ago
Except that everybody always wanted an iOS device, so it was obviously an easy sell for Apple to do that.
Trying to sell people an Android phone that happens to have Ubuntu on it? How are you going to reach consumers? Are you going to get a carrier on board? Good fucking luck.
- bryanlarsen 15y agoIn 2005 & 2006 nobody wanted an iOS device because nobody outside of Apple knew about it. If investors had heard that Steve Jobs was stealing engineers from OS X to work on a phone they would have been slammed in the press for cannibalizing their core products to enter a market with a lot of well capitalized competitors.
- 2muchcoffeeman 15y agoAnd look how well that turned out! Apple made the right moves at the right time. Some of it was probably luck. But canabalising their Mac and iPod markets has made Apple one of the most successful companies ever. Not sure Shuttleworth has a similar insight on the state of mobile computing but if they can create a great product, maybe they have something.
- freehunter 15y agoHow are you going to sell Unix to people who don't know what Unix is (and don't care)? Apple did it pretty well, and even "got" it onto an incredibly successful smartphone ("got" in quotes because I don't know if iOS is POSIX or not, just that it's based off OSX). Here's how it will be marketed: an Android phone that turns into a desktop. "Everyone" wants a single device with all their data already there (hence the success of Gmail, GDocs, Dropbox, etc). "Everyone" is in quotes because not everyone wanted a iOS device, just like not everyone wants a Android+Ubuntu device. The bet in the market is that enough people will want your device to make it a success.