

Google is slowly cracking "open" iOS - shawnwall
http://www.virtualpants.com/post/26147935178/google-is-slowly-cracking-open-ios

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jgeorge
It seems odd to me that so many blogs are commenting that Chrome being the #1
iOS download today is some kind of global indication of the need to open iOS
to Android-like levels of user customization.

Not wanting nor willing to get into the merits of that idea overall, but
doesn't it strike anyone other than me as obvious that it's the #1 app for iOS
today because it came out yesterday with much fanfare, it's free, and it's
something most everyone is aware of and would want to play with?

An unofficial poll here in my office shows that everyone who downloaded it
here did so to, in so many words, "play with it and see what it's like",
though nobody yet has stated that they intend to replace their browser use
with it.

While it's nice that you can get as much of the Google ecosystem on your iOS
device as you can, I'm really not sure that the availability of that ecosystem
on iOS is any sort of indication of the necessity of opening up iOS to embrace
that ecosystem.

In other words, "If you want Android, you know where to find it."

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mtgx
Being able to set other apps as default is just common sense. It doesn't mean
it has to be "like Android".

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jgeorge
Like I said, not really trying to stir that discussion. I didn't say it wasn't
common sense, but the jist of several blog posts I've seen today all seem to
imply the same thing as the one here - that the popularity of Chrome for iOS
is some kind of watershed moment, when it just seems to me the popularity is
more likely because... Chrome's a really popular app and iOS users tend to
jump all over newly released functional apps that are free.

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YooLi
Apple doesn't care what icons are on the home screen as long as that home
screen is on an iOS device, because the device is where they make their money.
I doubt Apple is losing sleep because I don't use their mail app.

The more revealing take-away from people having iPhone home screens full of
Google apps is why they aren't using an Android phone.

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its_so_on
they very much do care. If the only button anyone clicked on the home screen
was "Firefox" and then did everything from there forever, pretty soon people
would realize they don't really need an iPhone and would buy a far-less
premium device.

This is exactly what will happen in Apple allows Chrome. They should remove it
from the app store. It's against their policies and just like flash in mobile
safari (firefox on ios is exactly like flash in mobile safari): All the
arguments about not being "as native" are just as true, and Apple no longer
has a Safari community across its devices to corral around and for developers
to target.

Tim Cook is running Apple into the ground by removing Apple's user experience
differentiation. He is creating beige boxes. Samsung can do that. Asus can do
that. He needs to take a look at what the fuck Apple even is.

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benihana
> _Tim Cook is running Apple into the ground by removing Apple's user
> experience differentiation. He is creating beige boxes. Samsung can do that.
> Asus can do that. He needs to take a look at what the fuck Apple even is._

Are we thinking of the same Apple? Because the iPad 3 and the retina Macbook
Pro don't really conjure up images of beige boxes for me.

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betterth
Anti-apple fanboys are rabid in this thread, today. But as anyone who deals
with the anti-fanboys on a regular basis can tell you: haters gonna' hate.

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its_so_on
No, I'm a fanboi. I want Apple to keep giving me something to be a fanboi to -
I am looking ahead 2-3 years and their strategy is not doing it.

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betterth
What a shame! To each their own -- I'm really excited by Apple's 2-3 year
plan.

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its_so_on
Let's dig into this and see what we find. What are your impressions of Apple's
2-3 year plans and prospects?

I'll respond with my thoughts.

~~~
betterth
EDIT: Sorry about the long post, but I enjoyed being able to put some of my
thoughts down onto paper. I won't be offended if you tl;dr it!

Apple is rounding a corner on it's iOS platform, growing from it's chaotic
youth phase into a more conservative phase. We can reliably guess that we'll
get a new iPad every April and a new iPhone every August. We'll get a new
iPhone design every other year, and a hardware update every year. We'll get
iOS beta in April and iOS release with in August.

I love that they've slowed down the rate of new feature implementation:
watching the explosion of quickly unsupported Android devices all with one
defining gimmick makes me very glad not to have picked a phone with a feature
that didn't go mainstream.

To me, Apple is already looking 4+ years down the road with iOS. You can bet
that major feature additions, while Google will often beat them to
implementation, are already on Apple's multi-year plans. Sure, Apple may be a
year late on a feature, or a year ahead, but in the grand scheme of my mobile
life, one year is nothing (views like this, I believe, will be more common in
the post-youth phase).

As we exit the phase, I'm glad to learn that Apple's support of it's devices
these past five years has been consistent: devices getting day-one updates for
over 3 years! An incredibly impressive free-replacement program turned decent
warranty program. And of course, two years per physical design and only one
model at a time means that there is both time and incentive for a huge third-
party accessory market. (The incredible third-party support of Apple devices
can only come from a conservative process -- predictable patterns that
minimize potential risk and maximize market size for accessories like cases,
docks and speakers).

When I look at the chaos of Android, I'm doubly impressed by not only how
effective the iOS infrastructure is, but that Apple implemented a model
infrastructure in the face of competition that absolutely and utterly dropped
the ball (introducing version 4.1 while version 4.0 is at 7% marketshare is
embarrassing... almost as if Google is abandoning anyone pre-4.0 and saying
'not our problem').

My impression? Apple now believes that mobile is no longer an arms race or a
race at all -- it's a core business that will be around for decades in some
form or another. In an industry where all of it's competitors are struggling
and failing to even bridge the software-hardware gap, Apple has rounded that
corner and set its eyes on bigger targets.

So when I say I'm excited by Apple, I mean that I'm excited that I no longer
have to play the new-tech-game. I'm excited that my iPhone lasted over 3 years
and got day-one updates the entire time. I'm excited to own a new iPhone in
the fall, trusting that I'll get day-one updates for years, enjoy a mature
support process at a brick and mortar store and a solid feature-set that works
across hundreds of millions of devices. I don't have to play the custom-
firmware-my-carrier-is-shit game. I don't have to wonder if I'll get the
update that Google put out today, or last year(!!!). This is exciting to me:
they've made a mobile infrastructure all the way from them as coders to me as
a consumer (and every step in between) that _actually works_.

As far as outside of mobile? Apple will be unifying their product lines around
cloud services and introducing their attempt to invade the living room. (Their
chief competition there, I think, will be Microsoft, and I believe that both
Apple and Microsoft will have offerings that REPLACE a cable box / DVR
entirely, not complement it).

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pwny
I don't see why Apple is so reticent on this. They wouldn't lose anything by
letting users replace most default apps.

Of course, they can't allow the replacement of the App Store and continue with
their current model but a user that already owns an iPhone and replaces the
Mail app or web browser doesn't hurt Apple in any way. They'd probably even
have more people buy iPhones (and make 30% on the sale of paid replacement
apps). I fear it's because of their compulsion to control the experience from
A to Z.

(disclaimer: I own an iPhone 4, iPad 2 and MacBook Pro)

I'd wager that some sort of (limited) "intent"-like mechanism is coming in a
future iOS down the road, although not 6 and probably not 7.

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valuegram
Does anyone know how Apple is able to get away with this, when Microsoft was
under so much antitrust litigation in the late 90s for simply bundling their
internet browser?

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gte910h
iOS has a far less than monopoly share of the smartphone market

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jharrier
I wonder whether this is a strategy by Google or simply an organic result of
their services spreading to other platforms?

