My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Apple iOS 4 vs Google Android OS - Mission Impossible

Monday, September 13, 2010

Apple iOS 4 vs Google Android OS - Mission Impossible


The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust steals the just’s umbrella

Sir George F. Owen, Quoted by Sichel in Sands of Time

The Google Innovation in the form of Google Instant as announced in the video “CNET Loaded”, aired Thursday September 9th 2010, by Mark Licea, Executive Editor, CNET News, is merely an overdue UI (User Interface) tweak that should have been done a long time ago.

Nice skirt, Vice President of Google Marissa Mayer! John Public in Jamaica was not aware that all these liberated females in America STILL wore skirts, which of course is not a sexiest jab; just strange in contrast to the usual image I have of Corporate Americans wearing power suits and pushing their mice and people around.

It is for this reason as a former Telecoms Technician that I have ZERO interest to be in positions of power, as not only do I dislike their dressing style, power suits or dresses, but I dislike even more the sheep mentality of these companies and their “brain-zapping” techniques that they use to force people to think alike.

Thus stifling innovation, a complaint that I most fondly remember of myself and an attribute I share with Audia Granston, my deceased girlfriend’s picture that adorns my FaceBook page.

This is overblown, as the left tab on the Google Search page already accomplishes this, albeit I am an admirer of a good presentation, the apparent ease, almost psychic nature of the searches and of course Vice President of Google Marissa Mayer’s blue skirt, a fascination of many, I am sure.

More significantly, is the closeness in terms of timing of the launch of this product to the previous announcement of the Google Voice integration into Gmail Saturday August 25th, 2010 AD by Product Manager of Google Voice, Vincent Paquet, as stated in the article “Google: 1 million Gmail calls during first day”, published August 26, 2010 12:38 PM PDT by Stephen Shankland, CNET News - Deep Tech.

This was also announced in the videos “CNET Buzz Report”, aired Sunday August 26th 2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNET News and further expounded in the video “CNET Loaded”, aired Thursday August 26th 2010 by Mark Licea, Executive Editor, CNET News and on “CNET News, aired Thursday August 25th 2010.

Something bigger is on the horizon, and I can bet my bottom dollar, to use this most colorful of American expressions, that it may indeed be Google Me, a possible upgrade of their thus far highly successful Email Social Network Google Buzz as I have opined in my blog article “Google and Google Me - How the West was Won on my blog.

This is of course after the failure of Google Wave, which was too complicated to be a realistic challenge as stated in article “Google pulls plug on Google Wave”, published August 4, 2010 2:35 PM PDT by Ina Fried and Josh Lowensohn, CNET News - Beyond Binary – not to mention showing a lack of understanding of the rudiments of Sociology

Sociology is the underpinnings of Social Networks as stated in the article “Google struggles with Social skills”, published February 3, 2010 4:00 AM PST by Caroline McCarthy and Tom Krazit, CNET News - Digital Media. But skirting the issue is getting me nowhere, so I must attack the real issue head on: the sole success of Google Android. Again, nice BLUE skirt.


It seems that Google Android, curiously another suggestion of mine from 2003 and repeated to a bunch of brain-dead Shurpower Engineers, is now completely out of control. This platform had been predicted to grow as stated in the article “Analysts predict bold growth for Google Android” published January 25, 2010 2:18 PM PST by Marguerite Reardon CNET News - Signal Strength

This was later confirmed by a study done by ComScore that showed that Google had posted a 5.2% increase in its subscriber percentage of the smart phone OS market within the period November 2009 to February 2010 as stated in the article “Google Android growth outpacing the industry” published April 5, 2010 2:36 PM PDT by Tom Krazit CNET News - Relevant Results.

Android is seemingly on its way to beating out Apple and Microsoft for the number two (2) spot in terms of smart phones OS and phones running the Google Android OS, which it has now done as now confirmed by statistics by NPD as stated in “CNET Buzz Report”, aired May 13 2010 by Brian Cooley, CBS, CNET News.

Then just this August, Google Android seems set to dominate the American smart phone market, with Google Android surging ahead to third place in the United States of America, accounting for nearly 27% of the smart phone market, surpassing Apple’s iOS’s 23% for the first time, according to Broadcast ratings and apparently mobile smart phone analyst Nielsen as stated in the article  Android sales outpacing iPhone”, published Monday August 2, 4:32 pm ET by Christopher Null, Yahoo! News.

This looks good for smart phones in general. The picture for Google globally is somewhat different, with the usual suspects on top of things in the form of Nokia and Samsung. According to research strategy firm Strategy Analytics as stated in the article “Smartphone shipments jump 43 percent”, published July 22, 2010 12:34 PM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News- Wireless.

Nokia is the Global Market Leader, accounting for 40% of the global smart phone market. Sixty million (60,000,000) smart phones have thus far being sold this Second Quarter alone. RIM is Second and third place respectively is for Apple, with Google Android nowhere on the scene. For now.

Thus the bold and brash predictions of analyst IDC, though just projections, has me a bit nervous. Analyst IDC predicts that in 2014, Google Android will have 25% of the global smart phone market, second only to Nokia, whom they predict will clutch on to 1st place, but only barely with 32.9%. Apple will be relegated to fourth place.

Seems that their Open source philosophy is working, as Google Android and its Google MarketPlace Apps Store and the lower pricing point of its smart phone line-up trumps quality and the closed ecosystem that Apple brings to the table, evident from the adoption of the Samsung Galaxy S smart phone and its million man push as stated in the article “Samsung Ships 1 Million Galaxy S smart phones in the U.S.”, published Monday August 30, 2:32 am ET, by Stan Schroeder, Yahoo! News.

Tablet-wise, Samsung has really got off to a bad, somewhat unprofessional start as stated in the article “Success of Samsung Galaxy Tab Doomed by Carrier Contracts”, published by Monday September 6, 9:16 am ET by Tony Bradley, Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com) and the video “CNET Buzz Report”, aired Friday September 10 2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNET News

No-one is going to want a second contract on another device or even shell out US$1000, no matter how good, worse a tablet which is supposed to replace their netbook, previously bought WITHOUT a contract. This despite not having any game as stated in the article “No iPad Killer Coming Until 2012, Says iSuppli”, published Thursday August 26, 1:59 pm ET, Barbara E. Hernandez , Yahoo! News.

Apple Assassins, Tally ho!

But the Apple iPhone is in trouble and Apple CEO Steve Jobs knows it. Already, Apple is showing some beads of sweat by recently publishing, for the first time, a list of their otherwise secret rules to which Developers such as yours truly have never been privy as stated in the article “Apple releases rules for iPhone-iPod-iPad applications”, published Thursday September 9, 5:47 pm ET by Glenn Chapman, Yahoo! News.

This appears to be their first strike, drawing form the most obvious arrow from their quiver and balancing the notch firmly in the strings of their longbow as they take aim at Google. Its may have started when Google shook things up with Google Voice, so the animosity is obvious, especially with that Bob Dylan jab made by Google. A Bob Marley fan myself, my lounge chair is already pulled out to enjoy the Christmas of 2010 spectacle.

Thus Apple definitely has to come with something else to make a smart phone worth having. Whether it is porting the popular must-have phone to other Telecom Providers such as Telecom Provider Sprint and Telecom Provider Verizon, possibly in January as rumoured in the article “Bloomberg: Verizon iPhone coming in January?”, published June 29, 2010 1:17 PM PDT by Marguerite Reardon CNET News - Signal Strength.

Or Augmented Viewing or AR as everyone is calling it, with facial recognition software to enable recognition of people’s faces both over the already fully baked FaceTime Video Calling Service and viewed by it 5 Megapixel cameras, possibly using an integration of Luxund’s Blink “Blink-induced log-in now available on 64-bit Windows”, published August 6, 2010 10:15 AM PDT by Polina Polishchuk, CNET News - The Download Blog.

Or even an integration of  Face.com software as stated in the article “Face.com opens its face recognition tech to devs”, published May 3, 2010 10:00 AM PDT, by Josh Lowensohn, CNET News wouldn’t hurt a bit.

Solar power is possible as stated in the article “Apple eyes gadgets with built in Solar panels”, published January 22, 2010 7:46 AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech and as further asserted in the article “Apple patent bid combines Solar with touch screen”, published June 7, 2010 6:31 AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech. It would be a great crowd pleaser, especially to travelers wishing to cut the cord in those foreign locales with those strange electrical outlets in what is supposedly the European Union.

An expensive metallic finish or even metallic accents would make a purchase of an Apple product worthwhile as stated in the article “Metallic Glass Could Encase Future Apple Products”, published Wednesday August 11, 11:40 am ET by Stuart Fox Tech News Daily Staff Writer, LiveScience.com, Yahoo! News.

The antenna being given the ceramic coating treatment with the screen made of Gorilla Glass from Corning Glass as stated in the article “1962 glass could be Corning's next bonanza seller”, published Sunday August 1, 2:14 pm ET by BEN DOBBIN, AP Business Writer Yahoo! News to finish off the rough edges.

A full makeover with all of these on my wish list, from a hardware point of view, would put Apple back on top again, as the software side is ok. Time is of the essence, as Google Android gains more traction with each mobile smart phone they sell, using their stolen umbrella from 2007.

No comments: