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In the wake of Apple CEO Steve Jobs' lengthy comments on Google's Android and other competitors during the company's earnings conference call yesterday, executives from Google and app developer TweetDeck have offered brief public responses disputing Jobs' assertions.

TechCrunch notes that Google's vice president of engineering Andy Rubin, who heads up the Android project, was inspired by Jobs to post his first-ever tweet. Rubin's tweet amounted to defining "open" as the code required to get the Repo tool that serves as a basis for working with Android source code installed and ready for use.
the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/platform/manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"
During his comments, Jobs also referred to TweetDeck, developers of a popular Twitter platform who recently launched an Android application, noting that they had to test their application against 100 different versions of Android on 244 different handsets. Jobs contrasted that experience with the tightly-controlled iOS environment, claiming that Android's fragmentation is leading to significant headaches for app developers seeking to ensure compatibility.

TweetDeck CEO Iain Dodsworth quickly responded to Jobs' comments via Twitter, disputing the claim that the burden of testing on Android devices was an onerous one.
Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn't. It wasn't.
Dodsworth followed up with a second tweet noting that the company has only two employees working on the Android version of TweetDeck and citing that as proof that Android fragmentation is essentially a non-issue.
We only have 2 guys developing on Android TweetDeck so that shows how small an issue fragmentation is
Representatives of Research in Motion have apparently yet to speak out on Jobs' claims that the company will be unable to keep pace with Apple as it is forced to move out of its "comfort zone" into a smartphone world where software is driving the innovation.

Article Link: Google and TweetDeck Executives Respond to Jobs' Anti-Android Comments
 
TweetDeck CEO Iain Dodsworth quickly responded to Jobs' comments via Twitter, disputing the claim that the burden of testing on Android devices was an onerous one.Dodsworth followed up with a second tweet noting that the company has only two employees working on the Android version of TweetDeck and citing that as proof that Android fragmentation is essentially a non-issue.[/url]

If it was a non-issue why did they post about it in the first place? they even posted a complete list of ever single model using their app.

Android: Open Source or Just an Open Mess? sums it up pretty nicely.
 
Android OS is not so open

HTC tablet PC shipments may delay, says paper

Apple Daily, October 19; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 19 October 2010]

High Tech Computer (HTC) is expected to delay the launch of its tablet PC from the original schedule of the fourth quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of 2011 as Google has turned its support priority for Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) to Motorola, and LG will receive the priority for Android 3.5 (Honeycomb), according to a Chinese-language Apple Daily report citing an analyst from JPMorgan.

Although HTC is also facing issues such as patent lawsuits, bugs in its Windows Phone 7-based smartphones and component shortages, the analyst believes HTC should be able to resolve all the problems gradually, added the paper.
 
If it was a non-issue why did they post about it in the first place? they even posted a complete list of ever single model using their app.

Well, their blog post focuses on their opinion that it's "pretty cool" that the app runs on all those devices and variations, not on any difficulties testing for them.
 
If the Tweetdeck guys are in bed with Eric Schmidt (and there's a mental picture we could all do without) then I think I need a new Twitter client.
 
LOL, I just knew the tech guys would miss the point, and I never dreamed they would so publicly admit (inadvertently) it so quickly. Oh, they think they were being clever by these responses, but they merely confirm Steve's point.

Yes, sure, if you are a geek, the definition of open expressed in code makes a good point. But Steve wasn't addressing geeks (something that drives MacRumors posters crazy), for whom every device is open (including the iPhone) by their definition of open (as in, can I crack this?)

But the 90% of the smartphone users who are not geeks, in other words the hundreds of millions who wouldn't know code if it kicked them in the butt, these geek responses are meaningless. Geeks all over the Net are laughing at Steve today, but everyone else (90%) understands just what Steve said.

Android might be geek open, but to everyone else it's fragmented by what the cell providers are doing to Android. It's de facto locked down by Verizon, so that the end user is stuck with whatever version Verizon wants them to have, along with all the cruft that Verizon foists upon them. This is not open. Steve's point remains, and the geeks can laugh all they want, but the hundreds of millions of non-geek users are getting tired of "open" that is closed to them by stupid cell providers.
 
Here it comes; a million posts from the Apple faithful hereby refusing to use TweetDeck then the posts about how crappy the app is anyways and should stay on Android will start trickling in.
 
If it was a non-issue why did they post about it in the first place? they even posted a complete list of ever single model using their app.

Because SJ misunderstood and took any opportunity to take a dig at the competitors - rightly or wrongly.

If the developers of TweetDeck say Android fragmentation isn't an issue for them.. then it isn't. End of story.
 
I liked Steve a lot better when he was sitting back and quietly kicking ass instead of calling people out every other day.
 
Well, their blog post focuses on their opinion that it's "pretty cool" that the app runs on all those devices and variations, not on any difficulties testing for them.

It doesn't matter what "their opinion" is. Any developer that took a look at their blog post (including myself) didn't think it is "pretty cool". This is a nightmare even if they say it wasn't.
 
LOL, I just knew the tech guys would miss the point, and I never dreamed they would so publicly admit (inadvertently) it so quickly. Oh, they think they were being clever by these responses, but they merely confirm Steve's point.

Yes, sure, if you are a geek, the definition of open expressed in code makes a good point. But Steve wasn't addressing geeks (something that drives MacRumors posters crazy), for whom every device is open (including the iPhone) by their definition of open (as in, can I crack this?)

But the 90% of the smartphone users who are not geeks, in other words the hundreds of millions who wouldn't know code if it kicked them in the butt, these geek responses are meaningless. Geeks all over the Net are laughing at Steve today, but everyone else (90%) understands just what Steve said.

Android might be geek open, but to everyone else it's fragmented by what the cell providers are doing to Android. It's de facto locked down by Verizon, so that the end user is stuck with whatever version Verizon wants them to have, along with all the cruft that Verizon foists upon them. This is not open. Steve's point remains, and the geeks can laugh all they want, but the hundreds of millions of non-geek users are getting tired of "open" that is closed to them by stupid cell providers.

My "casual" friends who have android don't even know what i would be referring to if i said android is fragmented. People not following tech news don't care about any perceived fragmentation of android.
 
I'm still having trouble figuring out what is so "open" about Android.

Amen. I can't believe people are really buying into Google's propaganda. Google. A for-profit corporation. That wants your data so it can push advertising at you. "Open?" Hilarious.

The biggest tech snow job I can recall since Microsoft's "The Freedom To Innovate" astroturfing campaign. "A future we do not want???" Here's a future I don't want: a future where Google is the exclusive gatekeeper of the world's information.

Choose the best device for your needs. But spare us the "Android is open and Google loves me" baloney.
 
I liked Steve a lot better when he was sitting back and quietly kicking ass instead of calling people out every other day.

Agreed. I'm not even sure at what point he started becoming so egotistical and seemingly making new enemies for Apple every month.
 
It doesn't matter what "their opinion" is. Any developer that took a look at post post (including myself) didn't think it is "pretty cool". This is a nightmare even if they say it wasn't.

lol wut?

So the developer found it cool that people have their choice of what android device they are using and that many of these people were using their client.

And you took a that as them not admitting its difficult? How is it a nightmare? What evidence can you support that this means its a nightmare?

Maybe for 3D gaming apps...but for basic apps like a twitter app you are not going to have issues really across the many devices.
 
If it was a non-issue why did they post about it in the first place? they even posted a complete list of ever single model using their app.

Android: Open Source or Just an Open Mess? sums it up pretty nicely.

Because big daddy steve talked bad about the kids, and mommy google had to get in the fray of the argument. haha Rich ok incredibly rich people having a tit for tat, I love it so funny to see.
 
Agreed. I'm not even sure at what point he started becoming so egotistical and seemingly making new enemies for Apple every month.

I want to blame this on his illness...messed up his brain chemistry or something.
 
android will eventually turn out like windows... there is no possible way that the developers will be able to test all the different combos of hardware and software versions that are going to be floating around.

They had to test over 200 different device configurations for tweet deck now just think of how many combos they will have to test in a year or two.
 
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