Today's gPhone Announcement = Deja Vu!

[bmustaf]

Today's gPhone announcement has me very excited about the prospect of competition in the form of an open-platform hardware and software platform that promises to be as robust (if not more) than AAPL's iPhone vision.

With hardware not due until 2H08 apple has a good 18 month headstart.

This reminds me of Apple in the consumer computer market 20 years back, great product, early to market, but fumbled the plays with some very small (at the time) but critical missteps in the beginning (licensing, routes to market, etc).

Hopefully Apple competes more wisely this time around!

Love my iPhone, hate the lack of MMS, video, a real mail app, cut paste, etc. Love the idea of a healthy competition even more!

 

[erandall38]

I was thinking the same thing... but wait Android wont be released till next year?
Thats great, if true. It put the ball in Apple court and they have a long time to make the necessary moves to stay on top.

 

[bmustaf]

The OS and SDK are due very soon, but the hardware from OHA members isn't expected to hit retail channels for 12-16 months.

I think Apple has a good head-start, but this situation has the promise to change the business model. Specifically, I think it could disrupt Apple's ability to build a closed ecosystem around the iPhone and the subsequent annuities base that affords them. We all know technically speaking Apple can really do whatever they want with the iPhone, unfortunately it seems they've taken the route of allowing only features that directly drive a revenue click business model to see the light of day ($ for ringtones, WiFi Music store). I understand that's their right and their business model...however, Android and the OHA now present a business model (and will try and make it work) that decouples the ability to develop for the phone from a click charge.

Apple lost a high-stakes game with this strategy long ago, hopefully they haven't forgotten this lesson!

I was thinking the same thing... but wait Android wont be released till next year?
Thats great, if true. It put the ball in Apple court and they have a long time to make the necessary moves to stay on top.

 

[cWeems]

looks okay... a lot like symbian though. and tons of wannabe iphone looking icons