Can non-Google survive in the wake of Nexus One’s, Droid’s, and Hero’s? I don’t think so. Without Google apps and sync ability, the plain Android OS is just like any other OS. Is it open, is it still Android, can dev’s write for it? Yes, yes, and yes. Is it useful for everyday consumers without Google apps/sync? Not really.
I’m not an Android user (yet) but I think this post speaks volumes about why some phone operating systems have succeeded and others have languished. It’s not a matter of open APIs or even good SDKs, but in fact the open communication and synchronization services that these operating systems lack that keep users away and cause good handset hardware to fail.
Too often I think OS vendors, carriers and handset OEMs just don’t get this gap in what they are bringing to the table. Sync services that work to a proprietary email solution don’t matter. People want what they already have to work and work well across their phone and PCs. If it requires more than a browser and Internet connection, if it doesn’t integrate into the basic email and contact management applications and services then its not going to work for most consumers.
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The carriers have made it clear that they “dont want to be just a dumb pipe” so anything that distracts from their walled, crappy, garden makes them no money. Well thats was the case before the phones they sold had real browsers and people said “no” to the gardens. No now they’re back to scrambling around playing the nickel and dime game, charging for SMS (which costs them nothing), “overages” which with IP is a fiction of accounting, and data plans which IS very popular but with all that revenue from their other 100% margin offerings they cant seem to shore up. When it comes to the OS, I honestly dont think they even consider it. Let alone what Android can do, or means to smart-phones. Having used it a lot on a few devices, it’s wicked cool and as good if not better than the iPhone which has it’s own walled-garden issues. But Android is only as good as it’s development community which is… really damn good. Not iGood, but getting there. Once AT&T gets their shipment, it’s game on. Android is still really new to the space. It’s too early to make any solid bets but I will say that for a first outing, few products have rocked that hard.
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