A new front in the smartphone wars
A collegue sent me a link to this morning (from CNet news):
There will be plenty of hullabaloo on Tuesday when T-Mobile unveils the first phone powered by Google's Android operating system. But the event is only the beginning of a long effort to rewrite the rules of the mobile communications industry.
The phone, a somewhat chunky model called Dream built by HTC, is expected to cost about $200 from T-Mobile and go on sale in October. Until other partners in the Google-spawned, 34-member Open Handset Alliance bring their Android products to market, this small piece of electronics will shoulder a lot of ambitions.
For T-Mobile, an Android phone could bring some Google buzz to the scrappy carrier, helping match what AT&T got from Apple's iPhone. It also could potentially persuade customers T-Mobile's new 3G network is worth paying give T-Mobile new revenue from online application sales.
For Google, Android is a tool to spread Internet-savvy phones far and wide. People with powerful networked phones use the Internet much more, and Google wants to be the top company supplying the information they demand online.
This is going to be interesting for a couple of reasons:
1) Open source versus tight, vertical control of hardware and software. The question is, which one can provide the best overall user experience. My money? Apple, hands down.
2) Application diversity. It's the applications, stupid. (A take off of the famous "It's the ecoonomy, stupid). While a smartphone's look and feel is important, its true power lies in what you can do with it both from built-in applications and third-party programs. Apple's iPhone 3G wins hands down against any other smartphone and particularly any touch phones when it comes to look and feel. Its App store is also a leader in building a diverse software ecosystem. But Apple's tight control over developers and seemingly random App Store policies could be a major handicap in the brewing battle with Open Source Android. Edge on this one to Android, for now.
3) Marketing. Let's face it, the best widget doesn't always win. VHS versus Beta, electric cars versus internal combustion engine. Why don't the best mousetraps win? Because the other mousetraps had better marketing. Google and Android are going up against Apple, the 500-pound Gorrilla of marketing. Advantage: Apple.
