
Learning from competition - johns
http://www.marco.org/2012/03/08/learning-from-competition
======
jsankey
The Google bashing at the end makes no sense. On the one hand he mentions that
Google have copied things from Apple. On the other he claims Google seem to
think they don't need to change anything. Which is it?

It's pretty clear to me that each new version of Android takes inspiration
from iOS (and vice-versa, not to mention things they've both seen in WebOS). I
think it's great -- the competition is definitely driving both platforms
forward. Methinks there is some prejudice at play if you can't acknowledge
this.

~~~
patrickaljord
Same here, the complete redesign of all Google main web products and the
latest ICS show that Google is ready to make some big change such as making
design one of the most important features of all of their products. There's
also the changes that Larry Page brought to management etc. Marco is really
anti-Google and it shows. I don't care if he's pro-Apple or pro-Whatever, I
just don't understand the constant need to bash Google like that.

~~~
MaysonL
Design is about usability, which Google's redesigns seem to me to ignore in
favor of looks.

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dtran
This reminds me of Ben Horowitz's post "Lead Bullets":

 _The issue with their ideas was that we weren’t facing a market problem. The
customers were buying; they just weren’t buying our product. This was not a
time to pivot. So I said the same thing to every one of them: “There are no
silver bullets for this, only lead bullets.” They did not want to hear that,
but it made things clear: we had to build a better product. There was no other
way out. No window, no hole, no escape hatch, no backdoor. We had to go
through the front door and deal with the big, ugly guy blocking it. Lead
bullets._

------
dannyr
"But Google has — publicly, at least — always seemed to think that Android is
the best at everything and its dominance everywhere is inevitable. I wonder:
do the higher-ups at Google really not see the flaws in their products? ...
Google seems to think they don’t need to change anything"

Wow. Cannot disagree more. The past year has seen Android 2.3, 3.0 & 4.0.

Google is changing at a faster pace than its competition.

~~~
benologist
3.0 onwards might as well not exist since some 95% of the market is excluded
from those versions.

It's not even really fair to call it change when nothing changed and nothing
is about to change for almost every Android user.

~~~
Fruntal
The international version of the Samsung Galaxy S II, themost popular Android
handset last year, will receive the ICS update on March 10 (tomorrow). All the
major Android OEMs have promised updates to the their most popular phones.
It's not happening as fast as users would like but it's a bit misleading to
say 95% of the market have been "excluded" from those versions.

~~~
benologist
The 95% comes from Google themselves -
[http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-
ve...](http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-
versions.html)

AppBrain puts the SII at a staggering 11% marketshare... so tomorrow only 84%
to 95% of Android users will be excluded.

<http://www.appbrain.com/stats/top-android-phones>

------
homosaur
The bigger problem with Instapaper AND Readability for me is that you are
still kicking designers and their intentions to the curb. This is why I still
think these services will not be widely supported by content providers and
they will flock to aggregation services like Flipboard, because of the
opportunity to brand your dang content.

These clients will continue to be dumb readers where Flipboard and (future)
ilk will allow content providers to craft rich, custom experiences. The
weapons of design are powerful and in the wrong hands can create a horrible
experience but companies still want that chance.

And if Marco actually did learn anything from competitors, he would actually
hire someone to make an Android client instead of continuing to ignore a huge
section of the market for not meeting his delicate sensibilities.

~~~
rbarooah
Marco has explained why he doesn't make an Android client. It has nothing to
do with delicate sensibilities. It's pure economics.

His business model is based on selling a paid app, and based on his numbers,
doing that on Android won't pay for its development.

~~~
rdl
I'm thinking of doing a mobile app for our security tool, and as far as I can
tell, trying to come up with a working security model for the Android version
is impossible. iOS is trivial, and if I cared, I could do a blackberry app
(but don't).

So iOS > Android for people who actually pay for software, or for anything
where you want to keep credentials or data secure against loss/theft of a
phone. You could maybe get away with using Good or something on Android, but
that makes developing an app a lot harder.

~~~
njs12345
Is this what you mean?
[http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-
admin...](http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-admin.html)

------
sad_panda
"That’s why Microsoft is so much more interesting today: while Google seems to
think they don’t need to change anything and Apple’s customers are brainwashed
by marketing, Ballmer has shut up about Apple publicly and Microsoft is making
radical changes."

He must not have seen the smear videos Microsoft has put out about Google
recently. They certainly haven't shut up about their competitors.

~~~
rbarooah
He said they'd shut up about Apple, and instead are making radical changes.

Perhaps the fact that they continue to publicly attack Google means that they
don't think they need to respond with a strategy change.

~~~
rbarooah
How is that worthy of downvotes? Seriously - it's not attacking anyone, it's
an attempt to explain the difference in Microsoft's behavior towards two
competitors, and it helps to clarify Marco's position.

------
billmcneale
Interesting article if it wasn't for the mindless and completely out of place
Google bashing at the end. Apple fanboys just can't restrain themselves, can
they?

~~~
fckin
Yes, the Apple fanboy... that calls Apple a bunch of brainwashed sheep.

Nice random Apple bashing. You Microsoft fanboys can't resist, can you?

~~~
pm90
You do realize that you did the exact same thing that you are criticizing,
don't you?

------
saturdaysaint
His own story is interesting, but I think he vastly overstates the explanatory
value of "being defensive vs. learning from your competition" IRT
international, goliath corporations. It's almost sports fan-level
projection/myth-making.

When introducing new versions of OSX, Steve Jobs used to joke about how
quickly Microsoft would copy them, so the image of an arrogant MS that paid
Apple no notice is off. The new prominence of design in Google products
(including Android) exhibits at least a little bit of competitive influence
from Apple, so it's strange to refer to them as arrogant and unresponsive
competitors.

------
statictype
I love Instapaper. It was one of the first apps I got for the iPhone and its
got a permanent place on my iPad dock.

I think Readability could be the best thing that happened for users of
Instapaper.

The competition is forcing him to do things he wouldn't have done earlier.
Apart from fonts issue he addresses here, he also recently upgraded the
bookmarklet to support paging - a pretty big feature he had put off with
justification for some time now (<http://www.marco.org/2011/07/19/siracusa-
multipage>)

------
nathanhammond
For apps which let you select from the list of installed fonts I came up with
a script to install fonts onto devices:

<http://www.iosfont.com/>

------
bkorte
This doesn't happen often enough.

~~~
amartya916
Absolutely. Respect for the competitor and open acknowledgement where it's
due. Also, Instapaper is a one man show, and this piece made me have greater
respect for him .

The article also links to his earlier post on Readability, which too was a
welcome break from what one generally tends to see in the tech. scene.

Adding a link here (again), in case people missed it:
<http://www.marco.org/2011/11/16/readability>

------
VengefulCynic
Marco goes to some length in the most recent episode of his podcast Build &
Analyze (<http://5by5.tv/buildanalyze/67>) to grapple with the reality of
Readability as (to his mind) his first competitor with a design ethos that
seems to be in direct competition with his own. It's fascinating stuff,
especially from the perspective of a developer with relatively little formal
background in design.

~~~
pooriaazimi
I listened to a couple of his podcasts a few months ago and it was a real
pain. Hypercritical is very good though, and I tune in every week.

Has build and analyze improved any? Because I like Marco and I think he has
some good points here and there... It's just that his podcast was waaaaay
whiny...

~~~
akent
No, not improved. The recent episode where they talked about cars for
practically the whole show was the end of it for me. Unsubscribed.

~~~
hrktb
He actually turned this as an upside, saying during the show something like `I
do a show about random things developers might also be interested in, not
about developing` (I paraphrase heavily). Perhaps they should rename the show.

For technical matters, the Hypecritical podcast is way way better.

~~~
canthonytucci
The "might" there is the thing. I _might_ be interested in his home
renovation, his personal preferences in regards to coffee, music and leasing
cars or the fact that he's having a kid. I might, _if_ he were my brother-in-
law.

From the the Instapaper guy, all I want to know is what he thinks about
web/iOS development and running his own business. I get the impression lately
that Marco is either out of material on development topics, or just not
interested in discussing them.

EDIT: That said, here's hoping Marco blasts out some awesome changes and makes
Instapaper even better, love him or hate him he's an inspiration to one-man
shops, and produces some great stuff.

------
narrow
Henry Ford once said that "the competitor to be feared is one who never
bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the
time." Microsoft's history of wallowing in denial whenever something new
emerges to threaten its legacy product is indicative of the reason why they
always react defensively vs Apple. Google on the other learned from IOS and
was quick to go on the offense with Android.

~~~
homosaur
I think the most obvious case where this might be wrong in Microsoft's case is
the Xbox. The original one was a salvo against Sony into a collapsing market.
The new one is maybe the best general use consumer set top box on the market.
Roads don't always lead you where you think they will, but if you focus on
quality you can often come out ahead.

Of course, Microsoft has billions to sit on while they iterate. Most companies
don't have that luxury.

~~~
rdl
Exactly -- I was really critical of the xbox at the time, but now I have a
PS3, Google TV, Apple TV, and XBox 360, and the one I use for gaming the most
is the XBox. PS3 for bluray, and probably Apple TV (2012) for netflix and
other streaming content (due to 1080pness; using the PS3 for that now).
Microsoft is relentless and has deep pockets and more than adequate technical
skill.

I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft manages to get an xbox-level win out of
Windows Phone just by throwing absurd resources at it, along with great
integration with their platform, as RIM self destructs.

Especially if Microsoft can use Nokia to pitch itself as the "European
alternative" to Google or Apple, that plus enterprise is a pretty big
protected niche.

------
why-el
I don't use Instapaper, but does it offer something like Readability's Send to
Kindle? Thats _the_ killer feature for a Kindle user like me.

~~~
swilliams
It does. <http://www.instapaper.com/extras> Search for "Kindle automatic
wireless delivery". Haven't used it myself though.

~~~
why-el
Oh good to know. The only reason I might consider this is because Readability
sometimes does not parse long articles correctly, usually parsing only a
portion of them.

------
ZeroGravitas
I thought the official Apple-community view on competition was that it was a
"race to the bottom" and only lead to bad things for consumers.

------
benackles
I don't have time to read the article, but I added it to my reading list on
Readability. Oh, the irony. Even though I prefer Readability, Marco has done a
fabulous job with a team of one.

