.
I was thinking and even posting about the topic du jour for a long time. Obviously, I was and am not the only one. “Scott Adams, the author and creator of the comic strip Dilbert, last year argued in an essay that smart phones represent a kind of “exobrain” that augments our regular brain, giving us the ability to store and retrieve mountains of information and to perform tasks like navigating unfamiliar terrain.” Newsweek - http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/03/how-android-is-transforming-mobile-computing.html - “Android Invasion” - an accurate mass media ‘fluff’ assessment of the situation worth reading IMHO.
Seriously there is a war going on out there in case one hasn’t noticed. It is for that half of our brains that are ‘exo’ and the operating system that they depend on. Microsoft is not winning this one but is trying to get at least its pawns engaged in the battle. Apple and Google have fully engaged and are challenging all comers. Apple laid out the ground rules as far as what the OS’s should do but Google is gaining ground by asking everybody to kick in their fair share in an open-source attempt to dethrone the king. Is life so cruel that Jobs and Apple have again screwed the pooch with their proprietary attitude toward hardware and software? It appears that this could well be the case.
The MegaManufacturers of the electronic marketplace are making sure that the ship does not sail without them. They have become ‘Androidlike’ in their adoption of the only viable competitor to the Apple juggernaut. Do not expect them to sit on the seesaw and not control which end is up or how fast it rises. It is gang mentality. With enough advertising dollars and just raw numbers they will overpower the innovator. Count on it. This does not mean that what is best or best for the consumer will win out. I am hitting my head against the wall as I anticipate another Apple error. Maybe their engineers can come up with another brainstorm that we will have something else absolutely fantabulous. Or, the copycats will give us something that in some lesser form. It may be only what can be imagined by someone not so much innovating as emulating.
I often wonder what would have happened if Apple did not join forces with AT&T and sold their product to anyone to be used on any network it was compatible. AT&T seemed to benefit from the deal but what did Apple get out of it? What if Jobs and his people decided that they would dream the dream and hold the patents and let others like Motorola, Samsung, LG and HTC do all the heavy lifting. I have tired of Apple’s lack of foresight in this and it has left us all with less than Apple could deliver if they didn’t have the policy of having to make and market all of their own innovations.
The market is full of innovators and the inevitable impersonators who often surpass the mental giants by sheer will and numbers. This does not mean the imatators are not providing something to the masses. Is it as good as the original? In this case it may end up being better. It will take time for us to determine if that is the case but what if the inventor gave up trying to keep this from happening and just moved on to the next announcement of wonderful new things to be?
The whole thing reminds me of when I was a kid and I wanted a Mickey Mantle autographed WilsonTM baseball glove from Santa (who I knew was Mom and Dad). I kept begging and the only thing that would shut me up would have been a genuine WilsonTM Mickey Mantle autographed baseball mitt under the tree and then on my left hand. My older brother and I searched high and low for where Santa was hiding the presents we knew would show up under the tree. After risking our lives in every recess in the garage my brother and figured out Santa hid the presents in the attic. I got the attic access open in my sister’s closet and it was dark up there. But, based on the initial inspection there was my mitt!
Bobby Riley and I celebrated for a full week until the magical day came. I hardly slept. I ran downstairs and straight to the appropriate shaped present and ripped it open. There in my hands was a Genuine Winton baseball glove that was made in of all places, Japan. The logo looked just about exactly like Wilson’s. It had the same red thread script embroidered on the black background on the label on the wrist strap. Mickey Mantle had not autographed it even though all the writing was in English... not one Japanese character on it. The mitt probably was as well made and just as functional as the WilsonTM. The problem was that it was not a WilsonTM. I was crushed.
WilsonTM eventually sued because the Japanese manufacturer did such a good job of copying their original mitt designs and their logo. Applied black ink obscured the Made in Japan threads on the label before the glove ever left the house. Bobby Riley and I knew. It was not long before the label was removed. Young boys inspect baseball gloves more meticulously than Inspector #6. This travesty was worse than having a ZuneTM instead of an iPodTM.
Perhaps it is better to have an AndroidTM phone than an iPhoneTM. It is going to take a lot of argument to convince me of that even if it might be fact. Lots of manufacturers and cell phone network providers are trying to convince the public that AndroidTM is better than AppleTM.
Me, I would rather have my Genuine Wilson Mickey Mantle autographed center fielder’s glove instead of the four fingered cheaper Bobby Richardson autographed Wilson without an embroidered wrist strap label that replaced the Winton that was ‘lost’. Bobby Richardson’s glove didn’t see a second season. It really didn’t matter; I was a catcher. From the same article: "... by 2014 Android will have 25 percent market share in smart phones, more than double Apple’s 11 percent share, according to high-tech researcher IDC." Maybe that isn't such bad news for Apple since it is the only manufacturer of a smart phone with an Apple OS while there are at least five Android phone manufacturers in 2010 already. According to some industry pundits "Recent announcements are sketching a slight shift away from the Android platform" http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Google-Android-Mobile-OS,news-6642.html.
Maybe Apple is not in such dire straights. Google found 158,000 results for the search - number of Apple iPhone OS patent lawsuits. At least the courts and lawyers will be busy.
Apple wants to play with the big boys and make the rules. The deal is they have shown they are players but the rules were set long ago. No amount of jousting with windmills is going to change them. Maybe they can just make the Winton glove disappear.
It is going to be a long uphill battle. DOH. What does it really matter though; I am still nothing but an old catcher. Microsoft, Apple and Oracle are all suing phone manufacturers or Google directly over Android.
Gang tactics.
© 10.08.2010 stevendphilbrick SR+ DakotaDawg
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