Therefore, Android appeals to precisely the sort of frustrated, anti-establishment people who have no trouble writing abusive notes. It brings them out of the woodwork, gives them a new counterculture champion.
(The irony is, of course, that once upon a time, Apple was perceived as the counterculture underdog. But 200 million iPods later, some people obviously see the former “think different” company as the “you’re all a bunch of consumer sheep” company.)
Read the whole post. It's a cursory, but still interesting analysis of what is currently going on among fans of the now three big software (and kinda hardware) companies.
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4 comments:
You left out the paragraph before these:
The most plausible theory, though, is that Google’s Android phone software is a more open and hackable operating system than the proprietary software on the iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm.
This is what I've been saying all along. I want to control my software. I don't want a software (or hardware) company telling me what I want or determining what I can put on a device I own. This isn't some broad counter-cultural movement; it's basic respect for the consumer.
I don't really see how the "closed" companies are limiting what you can put on a phone. All of them have software that is open to development. If anything, the iPhone is offering the best choices for what can be put on a phone with 5 times the number of apps of the closest competitor. Yeah, they have an approval process, but that's largely to ensure stability on the device and prevent people from releasing apps that would crash the network.
Granted, an open OS theoretically could lead to more options in terms of what software developers will create (by giving more access and allowing them to incorporate actual tweaks to the base OS). But developers aren't going to write those innovative programs if there is no economy of scale in terms of users or a way of making money (developers have to eat) or stability by way of a uniform platform.
Essentially, I fail to see how your choices are limited and how that is going to change with Android or the Nexus One. If it ever actually does happen (which I see theoretically but not practically), you can say "I told you so" (which you would do anyways).
This isn't just at the theoretical level, Josh. Apple has rejected many apps that they deem "redundant" because they claim the iPhone already performs the same functions. This has nothing to do with network stability (though there are no doubt apps rejected for that reason). The problem for the consumer is: what if I'd prefer the new app? What if it does something (say, play content iTunes can't or won't) important to me that current apps don't? Maybe I'd like to try it out and compare it to existing software. Apple's telling me I can't. Again, this isn't theoretical, it's happening.
It comes down to this, I think: at some level, your experience with Apple leads you to trust them. You believe the products they will produce (or allow to be sold for their devices) are what you want. That's fine. I'm more skeptical. I don't trust anybody who says "Trust me."
It comes down to the fact that I had a PC before and again have one now (against my will) and I had a shitty MP3 player, and they both were terrible. Vista really is as bad as the media made it out to be. Then, I bought an Apple PowerBook and a iPod mini and they both worked great with an incredible design (functionally and aesthetically).
And I hope you don't use any Google products because they say "Trust me" at every turn. We have to "trust" them that all of the personal information they collect through searches, Gmail, their RSS reader and every other piece of software they make is only used to enhance the user's experience and that this information is secure. (Between Google and the credit card companies were all fucked. They might as well just videotape my life, at least then I could have a personal account of the things I can't remember.) And don't forget why Google created Android in the first place--mobile advertising. They saw the writing on the wall and knew that mobile phones were going to be huge for at least the next decade. So, as an advertising company, they had to determine the best way to capitalize on this and what better way than to control the entire environment with an OS. Now ads can be put anywhere.
And, let's not forget that we wouldn't even be having this conversation if Apple had not developed the iPhone in the first place. So, yeah, I do want to trust them (as much as I do any other company) and support them by purchasing their products in the hopes they will continue to revolutionize technology (and hopefully push the other tech assholes like Microsoft to do better).
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