Mobile Executives on the iPhone's Software Distribution

[Xian Zhu Xuande]

Unlike Apple -- which has been producing consumer electronics products and operating systems for over 35 years. Even so, a product like the iPhone was a risky one for Apple. They really had to get it right the first time since they probably would not get a second chance. Right now, Google is in the space where it's commonly thought that they can do no wrong. I don't agree. I see them pursuing too many projects at once and not perfecting many of them. They're a very young company, run by inexperienced people. They're going to make mistakes. I have a feeling Android may be one of them.

Apple blazed completely new trails with the iPhone in a number of aspects and exceeded every expectation I could have imagined for them (and I had pretty high hopes).

I wouldn't downplay Google, though. It isn't because they "can't do harm" by any means, though I do know the mentality to which you make reference. I'm simply considering this from a relative perspective. I do not think they can touch Apple with this project and it will be hard to affect the Windows Mobile platform (primarily due to proprietary technologies -- although if successful they can surely garner great interest in the IT community), but they definitely have enough skill to wreck havoc among the other platforms, which is where they might be able to find a market for their OS. Google, unlike these other unnamed developers, could also create great interest in a platform among open-source developers and that would give it some draw and appeal in the technology world. Google is ambitious, but I have no reason to doubt their abilities. The projects they do work on haven't exactly failed to any extent.

Of course, I'm not sure you'll ever hear a high school student saying, "Oh, wow! Is that Android!?" Poor Palm and the rest of this mobile industry, though. The whole market is changing for them and they've got little hope of keeping up. It is hard to imagine, now, how people put up with a mobile OS from a company like Motorola.

 

[DiamondMac]

Except that Google isn't actually developing a phone, just an operating system for a phone, with hardware by others, TBA. And how much experience does Google have with developing operating systems? Just about as much as they do with consumer electronics.

I don't understand why the expectations for Google are so high, especially when they wander off into markets in which they have absolutely no experience.

To see whether the product is a good one or not and judging by my experience with Google products, it is usually quite impressive.

If it blows, so be it

But I will still like to try out the software one way or the other

 

[IJ Reilly]

Google, unlike these other unnamed developers, could also create great interest in a platform among open-source developers and that would give it some draw and appeal in the technology world. Google is ambitious, but I have no reason to doubt their abilities. The projects they do work on haven't exactly failed to any extent.

I have some reasons to doubt. How many years has gmail been in the "beta" stage? They are in the process of rolling out a revision to Google Maps that seems to be ticking off users. The design of Google Earth is pretty much a complete disaster. Their online applications are very much a work in progress. Google appears to be a company with ADD -- all ambition and money and little discipline. They remind me a bit of Apple during the early '80s.

To see whether the product is a good one or not and judging by my experience with Google products, it is usually quite impressive.

We shall see. I don't find anything in their history which suggests that they have any special talents in this area, and some reasons to question their ability to polish the product to the degree consumers expect, especially lacking control over the actual final product.