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Apple Poached Lala from Possible Google Acquisition?
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Use GMAIL for an hour. Your opinion would be changed instantly. Google translate, is the best online translator I've come across. It can detect languages for starters (which is good because sometimes I don't know what language I'm reading), you can upload a document for it to translate, and it can translate webpages. Not only that, but as you hover over text, it can give you the original text. I could give you a lot more examples.
Google has really good ideas, and are innovators.
Ok, first of all, creating a search algorithm like the one Google uses is not something every moron getting into CS can do. There is a reason why you use google, there is a reason why google is now verb, there is a reason why most of the world uses google: The minds behind are brilliant.
And you are making a huge logical flaw. The fact that the iphone is selling the most, doesn't mean other competitors are making negative numbers or insignificant profits. Plus, what exactly do you mean by "android is losing money"? Android is just a platform. Saying something like "HTC is losing money" makes more sense (or actually makes sense).
The fact that you would hate such a successful (and innovate) company like Google, just to defend a company you like better (Apple) is just a very sad move. It's a shame people would rather live in a world controlled by one single corporation than allow competition to work for them.
You know what's sad? It might have all started with Apple rejecting the Google Voice App.
Can see this
While many have called me an idiot for this, I am betting against Android.
The same two company, software / hardware errors that Microsoft did with Windows Mobile is happening with Andriod. There is no one guidance looking over entire user experience from board layout to UI to network. It all is just thrown over a wall with poor feedback. As soon as Google sees a dip in search engine revenue, Android will become a redheaded stepchild.
My crystal ball says a flurry of sales for 36 months and then a flame-out.
While many have called me an idiot for this, I am betting against Android.
The same two company, software / hardware errors that Microsoft did with Windows Mobile is happening with Andriod. There is no one guidance looking over entire user experience from board layout to UI to network. It all is just thrown over a wall with poor feedback. As soon as Google sees a dip in search engine revenue, Android will become a redheaded stepchild.
My crystal ball says a flurry of sales for 36 months and then a flame-out.
Or the Microsoft of today. Google is slowly becoming that now. Android is a mediocre platform which really offers no real difference to Windows Mobile, especially when WM7 comes out. Chrome OS is a very shallow OS that is meant mostly for users with little computer knowledge which is becoming increasingly more rare as younger generations grow up with computers.
I don't think this acquisition was a defensive move as WSJ states because Apple has always competed with Google for talent. There are a ton of other companies that Google could have purchased and the contracts with the labels would not have held up with an acquisition.
Gmail is not that big of a deal unless you live out of your inbox. Threaded conversations and keyboard shortcuts are nice but it's not like it had never existed before. Google Translate is good but it's not what you're hyping it up to be. It can also give some screwy translations.
Googles weakness (and always will be) is that they are a company that is based on engineering and a lack of an understanding of a UI. I believe that a UI is far more important than features which is why I believe Google Wave will never take off. That is what makes Apple the rare company it is. I'm waiting for kdarling to disagree.
Google is an innovator but it's the kind of innovation only engineers can appreciate.
God, I wish. I really hate the delayed one's that pop up right at the time you go to hit something. I can't remember what app it is at the moment, but it had a delayed pop up the cover the button to use the app and they had it timed perfectly.
So you reckon Google Maps and Street View is useless? Google Wave is an incredible concept in IMHO, just needs a little work before it is released.
They are just some of the Australian innovations.
Picasa's UI is great as is chromes. I can see how on a Mac site people would shun it, but to each their own. Google doesn't have a UI problems it's just a different style. People don't deal with change well, so to most people will some something sucks before they ever get a chance to learn it. OSx is nice and shiny at first sight, but if your not use to it the UI sucks till you figure it out.
i NEVER sign in to post anything except for when i have a question in the threads...
but i need to post here
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
the two are at it and only we can win! i want to see this grow into gigantic levels so apple can put google in their place vise versa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAXTle-Elqc
apple's the hot one
but i need to post here
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!
the two are at it and only we can win! i want to see this grow into gigantic levels so apple can put google in their place vise versa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAXTle-Elqc
apple's the hot one
If it's anything like their web services, every part of their UI is designed by their users. Not everyone gets the same UI with Google's Web services and everyone's interactions are profiled. The most efficient UIs are then selected for the majority of users. Their policy is to only change their UI when it is proven with robust mathematics to be beneficial to their users.
Ok, I agree with you about Picasa even though most don't use it. As for Chrome, if you mean the browser, it is well designed even though it has some inherent flaws that seem to make it "un-Mac like". These are not the typical Google apps. Search, Gmail, Translate, Maps, Wave & etc. are.
You cannot say that a Google app compares even remotely to an Apple app. Most, if not all, consider the Apple implementation of Google Maps to be better than Google's on the iPhone and iPhoto. That is why Google and Apple was considered the perfect relationship. If you compare it to the rest of the industry, it is the norm. If you compare it against Apple, it is severely lacking. It has always been the main advantage of Apple against the rest of the industry. They know how to build something that is easy on the eyes and to understand. That kind of value is priceless in this industry.
The problem for Google is that designers leave them because they are not listened to. Apple's engineers are not quite as good but their designers are leagues ahead of Google and are considered as important if not moreso.
Google Wave won't be used by anyone. Period. I watched many videos and read many Lifehacker posts and still can't get my head completely around it. If I can't you can bet that the majority of users can't. Granted I didn't care enough to learn it. This is meant for techies and not the end user whether Google realizes it or not.
You mean like how that "internet" thing was meant for universities, the government and research institutions, and how it would "never" filter down to the average member of society?
Edit - And just to add, more and more institutions and universities are switching to Gmail and Google Apps for their employees or students. What happens when millions upon millions of students all get used to using Gmail for their email and Google Apps for their office app needs?
I think you vastly underestimate just how well Google is positioning themselves for the future.
You mean like how that "internet" thing was meant for universities, the government and research institutions, and how it would "never" filter down to the average member of society?
Edit - And just to add, more and more institutions and universities are switching to Gmail and Google Apps for their employees or students. What happens when millions upon millions of students all get used to using Gmail for their email and Google Apps for their office app needs?
I think you vastly underestimate just how well Google is positioning themselves for the future.
You're going overboard. Google Wave is not the same concept as the Internet and is replacing nothing, only consolidating information. Google isn't replacing any gov't institutions because they are all using private solutions.
BTW, it is not the question of "filtering" down, but understanding concepts. Wave is something completely different than anything that has come before it and I guarantee that no average person will be using it. If you can't see that then you are blind.
I couldn't care less if "other institutions" are using it because more than likely they are using it like any other email service. Do the majority of people you know use the shortcuts in Gmail or use Google Experiments?
If anything people would say I'm overestimating what Google is doing. At this point, if you are using all of Google services, they have the potential of knowing what books you have read and to what page, where you are and where you're going, who you know & how often you speak to them, the contents of your emails, your searches and the sites you visit.
sounds good, theres nothing wrong with competition, and people always love having choice, look forward to see what happens next
I've honestly never been interested in Lala in the first place. They should have just let Google have it.
Actually it is competitive. Google wanted it Apple bought it, happens all the time. Sell goes to the highest bidder. Would you say it was anticompetitive if Google bought it and Apple wanted it?
It's a much shorter stretch for a company with experience in computer software and hardware to create a handheld gadget than it is for a company whose primary success comes from delivering Web services and information to get into operating systems and phone software. Apple has extended itself but it never goes too far from their core competencies (the iPod is heavily tied into iTunes software and the iPhone runs OS X.) Google is starting to look a little like the late-90s/early-2000 Microsoft, maybe too giddy with their success and getting into all sorts of business ventures that have nothing to do with what they're really good at.
Who know, maybe they'll have some success, but history is not on their side. Companies who stretch themselves out into areas they don't understand usually pay for it in a big way.
- I've got a gmail account.
- Yes translation is useful... I speak both Japanese and Italian... translate between 3 languages on a daily basis for personal reasons. Many translators (both software and online) do what you're talking about.
- None of these services are anything new.