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HTC Acting President Wishes iPhones Were Less Cool
I brought my daughter back to college — she’s down in Portland at Reed — and I talked to a few of the kids on her floor. And none of them has an iPhone because they told me: ‘My dad has an iPhone.’ There’s an interesting thing that’s going on in the market. The iPhone becomes a little less cool than it was.
Did I say "wishes"? My mistake. Here we have a scientific study of a large population by an unbiased source that proves it.
Microsoft and Apple, blah, blah, blah. Will someone please talk about Google's role in all this?
Microsoft wants to make Android more expensive, Apple wants to make it less usable
This is nonsense.
- Microsoft doesn't want to make Android more expensive, they simply want to charge manufacturers for Microsoft IP. What the manufacturer charges the consumer is their business.
- Apple doesn't want to make Android less usable, they simply don't want manufacturers using Apple IP. What a manufacturer uses (dare I say, innovates?) instead is their business.
- What Google wants is to make Android as cheap and usable as possible by letting manufacturers use, for free, what's not theirs, and then rail against the sky when they're called on it.
Microsoft and Apple wouldn't be in a position to directly impact Android at all if Google hadn't ignored the property rights of others as they've done in the past.
These are perfectly valid approaches for Microsoft and Apple to take. It's no surprise Microsoft chose licensing, it aligns with their business model. Apple's business model is generally one of not licensing, which would also be no surprise. In either case these companies are not only within their rights, it'd be ridiculous for them not to protect their property.
So can we quit acting like Microsoft and Apple are some sort of schoolyard bullies, and instead place the blame squarely where it belongs? Google should know that when you take a chance in the rush to market, maybe you get caught.
Yeah, what he said.
Before I used [to] carry around my MacBook Pro with me to do whatever I needed to on the go, but now I leave it at home. With my iPad I can do something as simple as make a document or surf the web all the way to making my own songs and editing videos on a device that weighs close to nothing.
Those have been my feelings for quite some time. The iPad has replaced my MacBook as a portable device.
RIM Sr. Executive: "I have lost confidence"
Almost every project is falling further and further behind schedule at a time when we absolutely must deliver great, solid products on time. We urge you to make bold decisions about our organisational structure, about our culture and most importantly our products.
I'm not quite sure how to take this letter.
On The One Hand
It's not bad advice, though more or less just a compendium of things the tech press has been saying. It's somewhat "easy" to suggest that RIM copy Apple's strategy, not so much because Apple is successful, but because RIM controls the whole widget, like Apple, so they could do many of these things.
However, when Apple entered the market they had little in the way of obligations to others beyond the exclusivity with AT&T, for which they were granted the power to create the phone they wanted. RIM is in no such position. RIM has included or excluded features at the carriers' whim (like all other phone makers) since the beginning. Maybe they could have broken free of that in their heyday (though they showed no sign of wanting to), but they certainly can't now given their weak position.
Bottom line is much of this plea calls for RIM to do things they cannot do given their current state. Like it or not, they'll need to start small.
On The Other Hand
There are time one doubts its authenticity. A flood of checkpoint issues to work on, with no prioritization, isn't very sound. The "how" and "when" is a hell of a lot harder than the "what". For example, sure Apple's ads are cool and RIM's are not, but who really believes RIM is where they are now due to their ads?
Focusing on the end user sounds great (you hear Google talk about it a lot, too). The problem is these companies' end user is not the person actually using their product. For RIM, it's the Enterprise and the carriers. The letter acknowledges this, but as I said above RIM is not in a good position to break those ties. I think RIM's current relative weakness must be a factor in how they choose to proceed.
Finally, the letter in some ways is too dramatic. Asking the CEOs to step down and replace themselves, and even naming names (e.g. "the guy responsible for the 9530 software"). If RIM corporate culture is as bad as he says it is, then this guy's gone and he knows it. If that's true, it's easy to toss out a letter bomb before leaving. He must have known it would "leak". It may help him land a better job elsewhere, but I hope Apple doesn't pick him up.
Where To Go
Personally, I think the first thing RIM needs to do is take a serious look at the Blackberry Bold 9900 due shortly and make sure it's the best BB ever made (like the iPhone was "the best iPod ever made"). It's ridiculous that they're releasing phones today that look like those from four years ago, but they can at least ensure it kicks ass on the BB scale and make every Crackberry user want it. That's how Apple started their turnaround. Embrace the loyal users, stabilize things, then go from there.
Ladies, get in line for Bliss…
Known so far as the Bliss, it would be targeted at women in their 20s and 30s and would have both hardware and software shaped around stereotypes of what women want.
Surely a green "calming color" and calorie-counter app are all it would take to sway women to make this their phone of choice? They don't want to mess with all those "manly" technical details, right?
Ugh! This is a rumor, and seems so ridiculous I hope it's only that. Still, I know what it's like to be the target of stupid gender-specific stereotypes, so anything's possible.
Smartphone OS Upgrades: iPhone's "can" vs. Android's "can't"
TechCrunch's post shows a huge discrepancy of smartphones running the latest versions of Android vs. iOS. The numbers will surprise no one that follows mobile tech, but I believe there's a larger point that doesn't even need a chart to make. What should be discussed is how many phones it's even possible to upgrade. That's the real story.
It's well known (if not well reported) that upgrading an Android device is hit or miss. It could be because of the carrier, or the manufacturer, or a combination of both. One thing's certain: Google has no control over the process for any phones other than their own Nexus-branded models, and there's only two of those.
Recently, Computerworld examined carrier and manufacturer "trust" in terms of upgrading Android phones, and the conclusions are dismal. For manufacturers, HTC took top honors:
50 percent of its Android phones having been bumped to Froyo within 2010. Its average upgrade time is also relatively impressive, at 56 days.
Only half their phones were upgraded, but other manufacturers were worse.
Meanwhile, for carriers Verizon took the crown:
A third of the carrier's qualifying Android phones received Froyo within the software's first six months on the market. On average, it took Big Red 58 days to get those updates delivered.
Only a third of the eligible phones are upgraded, yet it's King among carriers.
If you had an HTC phone on Verizon, you had about a 17% chance (one-third of 50%) of upgrading to Froyo last year. And that was your best shot since other manufacturer/carrier combinations were worse.
For the iPhone things are easier. Put simply, 100% of current and -1 generation phones are eligible for upgrades. Apple has even made upgrades available for -2 generation phones, though some features are not available.
It's not just that these iPhones are eligible, but that the carriers have no involvement in the actual upgrade. Just connect the iPhone to iTunes and let it upgrade. That's it. Further, the upgrades are available on the day a new OS is released, not two months later, which is the best Android's manufacturers/carriers can manage.
The mobile market tends to treat their devices as semi-disposable, so it may be unrealistic to discuss models over two years old, but in Android's case "old" models aren't needed to skew the numbers. There are models only five or six months old seemingly "abandoned". This makes Apple's major upgrade to each generation of iPhone, twice, all the more impressive.
Android or iPhone: Where is the Mobile Developer Money?
Android has more developers, yet its percentage of paid apps is much smaller than the iPhone platform. Why is that?
One might think the "open" nature of Android attracts a larger base of developers willing to contribute for nothing, but the fact is it's hard to sell apps on Android. You can only pay for apps in 13 countries, and you can only sell priced apps from nine countries. This is nuts compared to the iPhone's 90 countries, and just another Android "dirty little secret." Take heart, though, you can always sign a petition to make it better.
I know it doesn't have to be about money. Many people do labors of love for "free." Maybe it's a learning experience, a way to unwind, or a sense of community or connecting with people. These could all be valid payments for your work. Not wanting monetary compensation is a personal choice that can't be judged. Indeed, though I buy a lot of apps I appreciate "free" software as much as anybody.
Having said that, if money's what you're looking for the iPhone platform is clearly where you want to be in mobile development.
ZDNet: The dirty little secret about Google Android
After all the work Apple did to get AT&T to relinquish device control for the iPhone and all the great efforts Google made to get the FCC and the U.S. telecoms to agree to open access rules as part of the 700 MHz auction, Android is taking all of those gains and handing the power back to the telecoms.
The article nails it, but I'd like to point out the only reason Android's problems are "secret" is because there should be more articles like this in the tech press, but there aren't. Android has many issues.
Even in this article, in the comments, you've got Google supporters defending the fragmented state of Android, going so far as to deny it's fragmentation, choosing instead the euphemism "choice", and of course blasting Apple. Don't like crapware? Vote with your wallet. Great, except the top Android phones come with crapware. Well, then use root authority to delete hem. Right, because that's what I want do with my "smart" phone.
Android supporters talk like Windows users do about anti-virus. It's not bad, it's just the way it is, so quit complaining and do it. Besides, any platform that doesn't work this way must be "wrong." Or "a toy." Or "closed."
