Google’s Open Source Cell Phone Platform Trumps iPhone
Google’s making quite a bit of noise.
First, the OpenSocial alliance and now this, the Open Handset Alliance. While not exactly a gPhone, Andriod is Google’s open source platform for mobile devices.
Android includes all the software needed to run a smart phone and
because it’s open source and free, it is poised to seriously undercut
both the iPhone and Windows Mobile. Since the software will be free,
it will help to drop the price of cell phones and because the platform
is open source, it promises to have far greater utility because
developers world wide will be able to create applications for the
device that will serve any need they imagine.
Lower prices and infinite features? Is it any choice?
Compare that to Apple‘s and Microsoft‘s proprietary mobile operating systems and it makes little sense to to use them. (Here’s a good contrary view.)
While this announcement has no immediate impact, it will eventually help spur the adoption of broadband, mobile computing. By tapping into the world wide open source development community, the platform will no doubt enjoy remarkable applications and innovations.
Mobile marketing just got a whole lot more interesting.
Android Videos
These are two Google-created videos about Android:
If I Had A Magic Phone
Introducing Android
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So, how exactly is this an “iPhone killer” or indeed “poised to undercut” the iPhone?
“Lower prices and more features” certainly have not killed any iPods so far, nor has open source software killed Microsoft or Apple with these “lower prices and more features”.
You must be a marketing guy.
Hi, John:
Thanks for your comments.
Don’t get me wrong; I think the iPhone is an incredibly cool product. I don’t have one because I’m not going to change my carrier to get one; but I’d think about it if I didn’t have to do that.
I just think that you can’t compete with free. I wonder how much the cost of a phone and/or service contract is devoted to the licensing of the operating system. I’ll bet it’s significant.
I used to scoff at open source because you had to be a complete techy geek with tons of time on your hands to make it work, but I’ve become a convert. Open source software and platforms have become much easier to use and they inevitably have far more features because there are far more people creating those features.
I think proprietary is the past.
And, yeah, if you hadn’t guessed from the title of my blog, I AM a marketing guy. No apologies.
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