Top FIVE Riskiest Moves for Android - Apple iPhone's smartest competitor

[Cleverboy]

Android has taken the tech world by storm, and helped technofiles the world over make arguments about the future of mobile computing that are true for Android, but not true for the iPhone and in some cases, many other major competiting mobile operating systems. These benefits include an Open Source OS, an Open App Marketplace review process, ZERO cost to carriers, multi-touch and physical keyboard support and much more.

1. Requiring a Google Account for basic usage - Who's customer is it anyway? Recent complaints by Executive Director of the Symbian Foundation, Lee Williams, highlighted this important and pivotal step Google has taken with its OS. As many of its services operate in the cloud, Google necessarily tracks its Android users and uses its Google account to provide a host of free services, funded primarily by ad dollars (or the potential thereof). Conversely, while the iPhone requires an iTunes account to activate it, that same account bares a lose relationship with the actual operation of the device. Apple, instead, relies on its separate, paid MobileMe platform to offer cloud services and "tracking" features. For Google, the collapsing of these two distinctions could provide ample room for conflict of interests.
   
   
2. Releasing an Open Source Operating System - Google has been the first major mobile OS player to truly embrace an open source operating system as its mainstay. It's a "bet the farm" approach that other experiments with Linux by some manufacturers can't approach. The assumption of course, has been that once the OS is "open source", that this means users have the unmolested freedom to do what they please with the hardware it runs on. This is, unfortunately, not true. Already Google has gotten into a row, by sending a cease-and-desist to an Android modder, insisting that while its OS is open source, its app are proprietary and distribution is subject to Google's discretion and terms. Even now, Verizon's new Droid offering one-ups AT&T's iPhone, by offering an official tethering plan... however, easier than the new certificate signing measures Apple has inacted to prevent free abuse of the OS tethering feature, Google's Android may be subject to much easier changes by users simply be installing a customized image of the OS (granting users "free" tethering, multitouch, and more). Much like the scrutiny Apple's open source efforts have received, Google will be watched closely for the frequency with which it releases its source code. Google already has run afoul of the open source community early on by allowing an exclusive set of developers early access to new builds of Android. From 2.0 and beyond, as Google innovates, this will become more and more contentious.
   
   
3. Implementing Google Voice Services - In attempting to innovate in this space, Google has encountered some interesting issues with consumer privacy. While Apple claims it is still "studying" Google Voice as a native release on the iPhone (claiming that amongst other problems, the Google Voice app uploaded a users entire contact database on launch), other problems have begun to crop up as well. A recent Washington Post article correctly points out that the service violates its own privacy policy, by handing out the Google Voice numbers of friends who did not choose to share the number with you. Early on, Google faced questions of whether spoofing the caller id from its Google Map pages (using 'Click to Call') was ripe for abuse, yet a similar practice is employed by Google Voice (causing newer questions regarding the uses of caller id spoofing). Lastly, AT&T's complaint to the FCC would not have been so stinging, were it not true. Google was accused of picking and choosing which numbers it would not allow users to call. At last check, Google had claimed to narrow this group of numbers down to "fewer than 100". As Google looks to expand its Voice service with its acquisition of The Gizmo Project, more questions and complications are bound to arise... ones that smart users would be wise not to ignore. This is an area where regulatory laws have yet to be broadly accepted.
   
   
4. Making Android an "Open" Marketplace - When YouTube was hit by a billion dollar lawsuit by Viacom, CEO Eric Smidt was at times apoplectic with irritation over the media giant's disinterest in settling things quietly. YouTube has come under the highest scrutiny due to cries of copyright violations, to which Google has responded that they have automated systems in place to identify copyrighted works by means of a digital "fingerprint", as well as responding quickly to take-down notices, and community initiated complaints. If not already, this may soon bear a striking resemblance to the evolution of the Android Marketplace. While Apple sets a barrier to entry at $99/yr., Android market is $25 one-time fee, while Apple charges $99 yearly (encouraging developers with a low bar, while discouraging spammers... at least a little). However, much like the challenges of sites like "Digg" and Google's own search engine, Google must evolve ever more enhanced means of "filtering" out apps carriers do not want, and identifying content that constitutes a violation of trademark or copyright laws.
   
   One of Apple's early "rejection" reasons was the App Store's lack of parental controls, and thus a "one-size-fits-all" approach to "acceptability". To date, the Android platform completely LACKS "parental controls", and as such... censorship is not something in control of users. Were Android to receive an unconventional glut of pornography, its unclear what Google would do. While this is currently "not allowed" on the market, Apple is roundly criticized for making open "browser" or "viewer" applications rated 17+, because distributing an app that later DOWNLOADS porn, is an easy work-around.
   
   For the most part, the Android community accepts the limitations of what can be added to the Android market, because by "rooting" their phone, they can add any applications they choose. Much like the iPhone however, as the Android Market grows in popularity and success, however... ready access to carrier customers will become more valuable, and ANY limitations in the Android Marketplace will become points of extreme contention between developers, Google, and carriers.
   
   

   One Android Developer wrote:
   Comment 16 by gtcopeland, Aug 11, 2009
   I'm still emailed on a fairly regular basis. Either they can't find my applications or they can't download the application when they find it. Really makes you wonder how much revenue developers are missing out on if for no other reason they can't find the application or are unable to purchase/download the application.
   
   While this is hurting android as a whole, its especially hurting developers hoping to make a living.

5. Clinging to a SD Card Centric Installation Model - Once the genie is out of the bottle, it cannot be easily placed back inside. At its launch, Google had to decide the kind of hardware configuration it would support. A.) Allow for external SD cards to be used. B.) Require the entirety of all installations to be made to one internal Flash memory drive (similar to a desktop computer). The problem is that, outside of Apple, the most popular format for manufacturers, is to accept the widely supported "external SD". Droid, for instance, ships with a 16GB SD, seemingly matching the iPhone's 16GB Flash memory. However, in practice, there quickly becomes a management problem. For music, videos, and photos... this is a non-issue. It only becomes troublesome with apps (particularly large ones).
   
   Whereas the Apple iPhone allows users to quickly back-up and install their apps... feature complete... using iTunes, large Android apps must download their media to the SD card after installation. At first, this only appears to be an issue of how users back-up their purchases. Unfortunately, on second-look, it immediately introduces a significant level of complication. Were a developer to REMOVE their application from the Android Marketplace, or simply change settings like "copyright protection"... suddenly the user experience can be degraded the moment they begin altering their setup by either upgrading their SD capacity, switching it, or updating the ROM.
   
   Even Apple' AppStore had growing pains. Likewise, Android Marketplace will have its own variety, made more difficult with the non-standard nature of an increasing diversity of handsets, user modifications, simulataneously running processes, and importantly... the SD card paradigm. Google Android support forum phrases like "installation failure", "download unsuccessful", or "stuck at starting download".
   

While some pundits have labelled Apple's moves to CONTROL the development of their nascent mobile platform FASCIST... in retrospect, many of these decisions will either prove fortuitous or calamitous for Google's aspirations. Corresponding to the 5 decisions above, Apple's choices have been:

1. Requiring an iTunes account only for activation
2. Making a closed operating system that uses open source components (webkit, darwin, etc)
3. Blocking/delaying Google Voice services
4. Making AppStore a "reviewed" marketplace
5. Choosing a built-in Flash drive model

Clearly these choices work for Apple, and only time will tell which company was more forward thinking regarding the implications of these actions.

~ CB