
Where is the Android John Gruber? - tmoretti
http://vintagezen.com/2013/7/23/where-is-the-android-john-gruber
======
Kylekramer
I think the answer is pretty simple and has nothing to do with a philosophy
about simplicity and quality. The reason is money. People tend to forget how
Gruber makes his money and how that affects his blog. It requires companies
with products that can profit after spending over $8000 on one ad to an
audience of less than a million. Apple is a very popular brand, but the people
who seek out daily information about Apple are the rich. Some may dispute
that, saying that Apple makes products comparable to similar products from
other companies/it is worth the money it saves in the long term. That is rich
people thinking. Look around any major city and compare where you see the
iPhone ads and where you see the Boost Mobile/Cricket ads. That should give
you some idea of the differences in audiences.

Android has a philosophy, but the reason there isn't an Android Gruber is
there isn't room in Android news/punditry for a writer exclusively for the
rich. You aren't part of a special group for owning an Android. They give away
Androids with haircuts and don't sell 'em with fancy ads about how it was
designed by pretty people in California. The app market for Android trends
towards free with ads without the Instapaper/Loren Brichter niche of paid
apps. A guy like Gruber is useless in the Android world for multiple reasons.
There is very little mystique about Android, so the Kremlinology Gruber
provides is pointless. You don't need an unaffiliated spokesperson when
Google+ is essentially a public discussion forum for those working on Android.
It is hard to get excited about an insider when anyone who cares can know
nearly everything of interest. The philosophy of Android does have a whiff of
open source about it so by nature means the culture will be diffused and
fractured into separate camps that won't appoint a figurehead like Gruber.
Most importantly, Gruber's audience is too small for the smurfberry/ad funded
apps and not large enough to justify dropping four figures for the low
conversion Android would have on paid apps.

------
m0nastic
Do people wonder about why there is no General Motors John Gruber?

Apple has a lot of people who write about them because they check off all of
the boxes in the type of person who would write about them. Just having a
product (or an ecosystem in the case of Android) doesn't necessitate any of
those things.

Apple is appealing to typography people, product design people, elitists and
snobs, creative people, "creative" people, etc. A lot of those people are
their customers.

They're also a single company, which serves to focus all of that ephemeral
chatter into a more palatable narrative.

There are other companies who have a similar level of scuttlebutt about them,
but all of the ones I can think of are video game companies (like Bungie, or
id software), and it's certainly not to the same scope, even if it's of
similar temperament.

------
statictype
It's not enough to just be deep into a given platform. You also have to be an
excellent writer.

I find much of the content Gruber writes about to be pandering to Apple.

But. I still read everything he writes because he's obviously thoughtful and
an excellent writer.

In fact, take out Gruber and I don't see the Apple tech writers/bloggers to be
any better than anyone else.

Siracusa doesn't write much (unfortunately). Marco Arment is flame-batey with
his opinions. Is there anyone out there at the level of Gruber in terms of
writing skills?

------
benihana
There are a couple of things here. First, Apple isn't a unique company. It's
modeled on car companies like Porsche and BMW and watch companies like Rolex.
It provides luxury items and is ridiculously protective of its brand. I think
a better question would be: are there similar characters for those brands? And
if no, why not? And if so, there's no story.

The second thing is that comments here are mostly missing the main reason that
Gruber has so many readers. It's not because he's a ridiculous Apple zealot
and blind Apple fanbois are love suckling from his gushing Apple teat. It's
the same reason that Marco Arment has so many readers: Because he's a good
writer, and his predictions and analyses are almost always spot on. Most of
his writing is little tidbits or links to other people's writing. But his long
articles are usually excellent; well-written and well-thought-out and as I
said before, typically right on point.

------
dkrich
This strikes me as an odd comparison. Apple to Android seems about as
arbitrary as Apple to Windows or Apple to Dell or Apple to Samsung.

Point being that Apple makes a whole host of products in several categories-
OS's, productivity software, desktops, laptops, and phones. Why there isn't an
Android John Gruber is the wrong question because he reviews all categories of
Apple products, not just the mobile OS. The closest company is probably
Microsoft, and I can say that there are PLENTY of MS fanboys and bloggers. You
can find them in any software shop that run a .Net stack.

------
Yhippa
I would rather Android not have a John Gruber than have one. He says some
negative and snarky things on his blog about non-Apple manufactured products
and rarely positive things about them. I am potentially flawed but I have a
difficult time trusting someone who can't be objective. Android is better off
not having someone like that.

------
rglullis
No, please. It is unbelievably sad when people let the brand of their
phone/videogame/car/clothes become part of their identity. The last thing we
need is to have yet another force pushing for division of people into camps.

Android is doing fine as it is, and it doesn't need to win any kind of war.
Having a John Gruber or a Marco Arment could be great for marketing, but it
does not bring actual progress/improvements to the product. They are great
tools for Apple, but it's nothing more than marketing, and let's not forget
that the very essence of marketing is to _fabricate demand_. Nothing else.
John Gruber may be great for the tech hipsters that need to find some fuel to
validate their consumer habits, but the others don't really care. They will
buy Apple if it suits them, or Android, or whatever.

------
danilocampos
Apple, aspiring to be exceptional, inspires exceptional zealotry. There is
much to chew on for supporters of their products and platforms.

Android aspires to ubiquity – and achieves it. And so it is polluted by
handset manufacturers with inept designers and short-sighted leadership. It is
beautiful – sometimes. It is mediocre – most of the time. For everything one
can celebrate in Android land, there is plenty more to lament.

Because of this, Android doesn't need a Gruber – it needs an anti-Gruber.

A churlish character who, rather than celebrating the excellent, laments the
shabby. An irascible voice to scold the masses who value the wrong things.
While Gruber is enamored of one party and frustrated by the rest, our Anti-
Gruber must be frustrated by all. Annoyed by Apple's approach. Annoyed by the
squandered opportunities of his own camp.

If you ever read the work of Ted Dziuba, that'll help you capture the sort of
voice I'm imagining. "Jesus Christ Silicon Valley" is a bit over the top, but
probably lives in a similar neighborhood:

[http://jesuschristsiliconvalley.tumblr.com](http://jesuschristsiliconvalley.tumblr.com)

This character must be pissed off for _reasons_ , he must elucidate them
consistently, and must be relentless in the coverage of his ire. Curmudgeonry
is entertaining when it's purposeful – especially when it also serves to
educate. Android enthusiasts would link to such blog – some because of its
skewering of their preferred platform, others because of their agreement with
the presented frustrations. Apple enthusiasts would link because sometimes it
agreed with their worldview.

There's room for this character.

~~~
voltagex_
I am. I'm bloody angry that consumers prioritize tiny/thin phones over a
battery that lasts all day.

I hate how Google handles their bug reports.

I hate how low latency audio still isn't a priority on Android. I hate how the
bluetooth stack was broken seemingly for no reason at all.

I hate that there's still no Bluetooth LE support. I hate how Google won't let
the Commonwealth Bank of Australia implement a Google-wallet style
application.

I hate how half the Android OEMs can't be arsed releasing proper sourcecode.

But I think the Nexus 4 is one of the best devices I own...

~~~
statictype
I find your ideas fascinating and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

So please make one.

~~~
voltagex_
Hey thanks. I've been procrastinating while trying to start a blog for ages.

Do you think I'd have to stick to just Android? I've been meaning to make a
post (or several) out of [1] this comment.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6037640](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6037640)

------
tylermac1
I think there's a lack of a Gruber-esque figurehead in the Android community
due to mainly to the general fragmentation of the Android system. When each
carrier has their own flavor of Android and their own device lines, it's hard
to get a single bearing on a sole "Android" device. With Apple, you have the
iPhone and that's it. Android, you have hundreds and hundreds of varying
devices.

~~~
MBCook
I agree, but it's a sad omission. I really like Gruber, but I would love to
see someone in a sort of "Android Advocate" role. From the article:

> There is no one on the Android side promoting these values and looking at
> the Android platform with an eye towards something besides simply parroting
> the feature set of the new HTC Milky Way Swipe Omega Machine IV Redux.

I find this sadly common. I would actually like to know more about Android,
but most of the pieces I run across are generic "let's try out some hardware"
stories. I see some good analysis when new version of Android come out; but
most of the time it's the equivalent to reviews of the new Dell-model-of-the-
Week.

Even if the "anti-Gruber" were to pick only one brand to discuss (Samsung
being an obvious option due to market share), I would enjoy reading someone
point out the hits and misses as they try to get the company to improve.
Gruber is certainly known as an Apple fan, but he does criticize Apple when
they miss the mark.

------
swamp40
I've always wondered why Google, seeing the problem of manufacturers diluting
the "pure" Android experience and turning it into 50 shades of grey, doesn't
clamp down on the terms of usage and force the phone mfgs to provide a single
user experience, like Apple excels in.

They are ultimately holding all the cards. Don't like our terms of service? Go
license Nokia's OS.

~~~
mkr-hn
Why would Google do that?

------
gibbitz
I have to disagree with the statement that apple is about quality products
first and money second. I believe you've confused Apple with Steve Jobs. Since
his death, every decision Apple has made seems to be about money. OS changes
to make their products more similar to their competition, or to benefit only
new hardware. Less focus on the developer set. A new Mac Pro that is less
upgeadable than previous versions. New macbooks with soldered in RAM and no
expansion slots (want a RAM upgrade? Buy a new computer for 10x the cost, from
us only!). I was so into Apple in 2007, when the statement was true. Now
they're just the new Microsoft. The thing is, there will likely be no Apple-
like competitor that comes after them. There will be thousands of smaller
companies that take their sales away one abandoned niche at a time.

------
pohl
Where in the Android world is the company that has been fun to watch, replete
with a long underdog comeback from the brink of bankruptcy? You can't have
engaged spectators without someone worth rooting for.

~~~
jfb
Yeah, this. Android hasn't been around long enough for people to develop the
sort of attachment that some have with Apple. Nobody's grown up with Android
(yet), nobody's gone through their spotty-faced advocacy phase shouting about
it, nobody's had to see something they for whatever reason love on the brink
of extinction.

Apple has a pretty rich narrative for people to build personae around.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I work at Apple, and have been an Apple fan and user since
before the original Macintosh.

------
scheff
One of the key differences between Apple and Android - for me - is that people
who buy Apple generally buy into the hype created around Apple. And the
reverse - people who buy Android don't buy into the hype. I can't say I have
seen a single Android advertisement like I have seen iPod/iPhone/iPad ones. So
there is no need for an Android John Gruber; all of the hype of "The
Smartphone" has already been done. People know what's on offer, and base their
decisions now on utility and price.

------
iliaznk
A question is - does Android need one? I don't think so. It's not a religion.

------
parennoob
There isn't an Android John Gruber, and that's great news.

(Please don't take the rest of this too seriously)

This is the Windows and MacOS fight played all over in the product space.
Apple is the Cathedral. They have one device, one OS, and say "take it or
leave it. We will give you these features and this UI. If you don't like it,
bugger off". Gruber reinforces that worldview. A lot of people have horrible
experiences with Apple customer service, but their complaints get swept
beneath the benevolent "We have gorgeous typography and know what's good for
you" image.

Android, on the other hand, is the Bazaar. Rife with a bunch of cheaper
devices, some of which are top-notch systems stamped with Google's seal of
approval which can more or less match the iPhone, and others that are
miserable tiny pieces of junk, but can somehow still run Android 1.3. You
won't have anyone talking about them, but you will have people running them.
They may be miserable running them, but the price point and the "good enough"
quality keeps them going to Android.

There's two possible outcomes -- either Apple succeeds, and we all start using
iApproved iDevices, or Android succeeds, in which case we will all be using
vastly different devices, but running various versions of basically the same
OS, which Google will have to add massive backward compatibility to.

Which do you want?

</pseudovisionaryrant>

~~~
MBCook
Is it really great news?

Android is definitely the bazaar, different OEMs try just about everything
under the sun. There is lots of choice.

But that doesn't mean there can't be someone out there clearly advocating for
their view of Android's future direction. Not everyone needs to (or possibly
should) follow it, but it does seem odd to me that there doesn't seem to be a
person with some consensus around them trying to influence the platform.

It seems like a gap in the blog market.

~~~
parennoob
I feel like blogs about community ROMs, running Android on random devices,
running other stuff on Nexus devices, etc. _are_ the blog market. Just like
Android devices are varied in their capabilities and what people use them for,
blogs about them are scattered and varied. Ever heard of a coffee machine
running iOS? [http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/06/10/android-based-
coffee-b...](http://www.yankodesign.com/2010/06/10/android-based-coffee-
brewery/)

Chaos is the Android philosophy, and absolute order is the Apple one. Gruber
is akin to the high priest of Apple's philosophy, while Android by definition
has none.

~~~
anko
> Chaos is the Android philosophy, and absolute order is the Apple one.

Heard of entropy? So basically you're saying that android is tending towards
dissipating any useful energy.

------
badman_ting
AKA the Hacker News "talk shit about John Gruber" free-for-all thread. Have at
it, though.

------
Ologn
From the blog post:

> I recently wrote about Apple’s overall philosophy and distilled it to,
> "Revolution, Great Products, Delight." Basically, they are one of the few
> corporations _where money is second to the greater purpose_ of creating
> revolutionary products, that are exceptionally great, and which ultimately
> delight consumers.

From an e-mail "activist shareholder" David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital sent
two months ago:

> In the end, the judge sided with us, and AAPL withdrew the proposal from
> consideration...AAPL announced that it will return $100 billion to
> shareholders by the end of 2015 and will evaluate returning additional
> capital annually. This vastly more shareholder-friendly capital allocation
> policy is a dramatic shift from where AAPL stood just a few months ago.

------
Ologn
From the blog post:

> But what does Android stand for? They don’t seem to have any coherent
> philosophy or aesthetic. Maybe you could argue that Android stands for
> “openness.”

I've been almost totally focused on Android since spring 2011. It's openness
is what drew me in as a programmer. It's openness is also what drew
manufacturers in as well.

In its newer Android versions, Google added something called an ActionBar.
While Google backports some things to older Android versions, they did not
backport the ActionBar. A programmer named Jake Wharton dug in to the Google
source code and did a back port of the ActionBar. Now 10% of installed apps
use his third-party backport. Even the Facebook app (
[http://www.appbrain.com/stats/libraries/details/sherlock/act...](http://www.appbrain.com/stats/libraries/details/sherlock/actionbar-
sherlock) ).

There is a cross-platform library called the Simple DirectMedia Library (SDL).
It is used by many commercial and open source games and applications. I ported
two popular and pretty cool GPL games to Android that use it (
[http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panaceasupp...](http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panaceasupplies.android.games.lilyhop)
and
[http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panaceasupp...](http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.panaceasupplies.android.games.math)
). Apple's App Store doesn't allow apps licensed under the GPL, so those apps
can't go onto the App Store.

Only time will tell whether the "centralized and closed" or "decentralized and
open" model will dominate. Both have advantages and disadvantages. IDC said in
2013 Q1, Android had 75% market share and iOS had 17.3% for worldwide
smartphone shipments. For every iPhone shipped, over four Android phones
shipped.

------
corresation
This is a remarkably charitable take on the values that John Gruber stands
for. A more cynical person would say that Gruber's fame grew on the backs of
his maniacal defense of all things Apple(1), and his raw contempt for any who
went against Apple in any way. That his _draw_ was that he pandered to an
audience that constantly needed to be reassured and reaffirmed, perhaps due to
some sort of shell-shock from the days when Apple was an underdog or
something.

This doesn't exist in the Android space because...well who wants to read that?
A few authors do the growling anti-Apple/pro-Google spiel and see little
uptake because that _just isn 't interesting_. That John Gruber gained such an
audience on the schtick that he engaged in remains a mystery, and is something
you won't often see repeated.

It comes to me now that the one other industry where you see that is in sports
writers. That John Gruber is the technology industry parallel to the guy
writing about how the Red Sox are the absolute bestest and the players on all
of the other teams are mugs and...

(1) I should mention that Gruber has reduced the bravado lately, and is less
hysterical about every random internet commentator who happens to have a
unkind word about Apple.

~~~
danilocampos
Hysterical is an amusing choice of words given your tone:

"grew _on the backs_ of his _maniacal_ defense... _raw contempt_ for _any_...
_pandered_ to an audience that _constantly_ needed to be reassured...is less
_hysterical_ about _every_ random internet commentator..."

Gruber's greatest gift is his ability to inspire haters. I don't think he
could be successful without being able to draw a screed like yours. Grist for
the outside discussion that draws traffic.

~~~
corresation
I'm unsure what your point is: I chose every word purposefully and with
meaning, and I find it a bit odd if you think that's a "screed".

Daring Fireball has been one of the most negative, hateful, bitter (do those
words offend you? Mightn't you italicize them for me, declaring them
"ironic"?) sites on the net. It has absolutely taken a turn for the better
over the past year, but Gruber's rise absolutely came because he essentially
took up arms for all Apple Believers everywhere. I don't even think he
particularly believed the things he wrote -- and I have a raw sense that he is
a eminently likable person -- but he knew what drew the eyeballs and padded
the subscribers, so for that the more power to him.

To your edit of your reply, regarding your purported endless amusement, I too
am having a laugh at your continued, and rather futile, attempts to try to
imbue emotions that don't actually exist into this conversation (two posts in
a row, so you really are desperate for this approach to work). That's a boring
BBS-era tactic that...well it just embarrasses us all. You have nothing to say
to this but to attempt to laughably diminish the speaker so move along.

~~~
danilocampos
> I'm unsure what your point is, besides to demonstrate that you know how to
> italicize words?

I was calling your word choice hysterical and showing my work.

> do those words offend you?

Not really, but I'm endlessly amused by your touchiness on this. Maybe the
trick for Gruber is that's fun to poke the prickly.

> _imbue emotions that don 't actually exist_ into this conversation

> do those words _offend_ you?

~~~
gnarbarian
Do you believe Gruber offers an Objective evenhanded perspective on his posts?

To me nearly everything he writes reeks of one sided immature fanboyishness.
He writes solely to appeal to those who seek affirmation of beliefs and
reinforcement of Apple's 'Reality Distortion Field'.

He is the king MacFag.

~~~
danilocampos
> He is the king MacFag.

Nothing to add – I just wanted everyone to know your character in case you
later thought better of that line and deleted it.

~~~
gnarbarian
Of course you have nothing to add. You haven't added a single thing to this
entire thread. Best to avoid the question and glom on to something you
perceive as offensive and white knight for those poor people whose tender
feelings may be rustled by my brutish and ugly language. I shudder to think of
the world thinking less of the character of my quasi anonymous hackernews
account.

~~~
danilocampos
No white knight here – you just used a slur that's deeply hurtful to a lot of
people I _really_ like. That's just good ol' fashioned me taking it
personally.

This isn't /b/.

~~~
gnarbarian
An offensive term fitting for an insufferable subculture deserving of ridicule
less they become worse.

Not as derision to the gay community mind you, think of it like 'art-fag'.
edit see[1]

My question still stands.

>Do you believe Gruber offers an Objective evenhanded perspective on his
posts?

[1] [http://catb.org/esr/art-fag.html](http://catb.org/esr/art-fag.html)

