The Inquisitr » gphone

Apple Tells Silverlight to Step Away From the iPhone

JR — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:07:43 +0000

Microsoft’s new Silverlight 2.0, announced yesterday and available for the first time today, won’t be hitting the iPhone any time soon. The company tells Wired’s WebMonkey it has talked with Apple, but says:

“At the end of the day, Apple ultimately controls what software runs on the iPhone. To date, what they’ve said is that at this time, they’re not looking to enable browser plug-ins like Silverlight or Flash to run on top of it.”

The spokesperson goes on to say that the company would gladly offer up an iPhone-friendly version if Apple changed its mind, but as long as the third-party gate remains closed, it will remain locked out.

The upcoming G1 Android phone, in contrast, will likely see Silverlight before long. The reason? Its open source nature makes it easy for third-party utilities to come in. Microsoft’s rep said the company will “definitely keep [its] eyes out” as far as that possibility goes.

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Where the T-Mobile G1 Fails

Duncan Riley — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:33:31 +0000

And so it was, that on the 23rd day of September in the year of our lord 2008 that Google entered the mobile space with the T-Mobile G1. Having spent a good couple of hours reading every review, staring at every picture, and watching some neat videos, I haven’t changed my mind from yesterday: the G1 is NOT an iPhone killer.

There are positives and you can read them in JR’s earlier Android G1 post. No one would argue that the OS isn’t impressive because it clearly is, but there’s also bucket loads of fail in this first offering, and here’s where the T-Mobile G1 fails.

No Exchange support

My initial reaction here was along the lines of “WTF, are Google completely insane!” and an hour or two later the reaction remains the same. The G1 doesn’t offer Exchange support, which like it or not is the cornerstone of business email. The original iPhone didn’t either, but the second incarnation does. Not offering Exchange support severely cripples the G1 as a Blackberry competitor, where as its marriage of an iPhone like OS and practical hardware with a real keyboard, it could have been a Blackberry killer.

While Google offering strong links to its own products may make sense for Google as a tie-in that benefits its product line up, the mobile phone business isn’t the desktop or browser, and pushing these products instead of offering Exchange as an option makes absolutely no sane business sense.

Memory/ Music

The G1 offers an abysmal 1gb of memory, although capacity can be expanded to 8gb via a mini-SD card. The problem is that if we take the business market out of the equation (see the previous point) you’re left with a consumer market play. And what are consumers looking for in a phone today, particularly post iPhone launch? memory, and lots of it, to store their music. Apple quickly killed the iPhone 4gb when they discovered it wasn’t selling, and although they offer two phones in the iPhone 3G, the 16gb model is the stronger seller. Now not everyone needs that amount of memory for their music collections, but 1gb doesn’t go far at all. Presented with two phone options, one with a “basic music player” as Walt Mossberg called it with 1gb of memory, or a phone with 16gb of memory that is a full blown iPod as well, which phone will people pick? Mossberg may say the G1 offers the iPhone competition, but it won’t be in the consumer market of music listeners who want their music on their phones.

Data/ speed

AT&T and Apple took a hard kicking in the press this year over 3G data coverage and data speeds on the new iPhone. We know that part of the problem was hardware related, and if you’re in a coverage area now with the latest iPhone OS installed, you’ll be experiencing less problems, but there’s still the issue of network coverage. Unlike 2/2.5G GSM, 3G coverage in the United States lags behind the rest of the world, but some networks are better than others.

To quote Walt Mossberg

Finally, a word about networks. In the U.S., the G1 will initially only be available on T-Mobile, whose high-speed 3G network will be up and running in many fewer cities than those of its larger rivals, AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ).

So if you’re considering a G1 for data because you have a use for mobile data (or simply like having access to it) and you want high speed access, the G1 isn’t going to work for you unless you live in selected coverage areas.

Other areas

There are other areas with concern with the phone and the community around it. While the Android Marketplace may offer open access, others are arguing that developers will likely favor the iPhone due to the money some are making from the iPhone app store.

The phone doesn’t offer a video player and only basic multimedia functions (naturally YouTube is built in). The marketplace will offer choices here, but out of the box the G1 doesn’t offer a strong range of apps.

And I nearly forgot: non-standard headphone jack…why?

Conclusion

While the Android operating system offers a glimpse of something great, the G1 has been retarded by a HTC phone that fails to deliver on hardware or looks, coupled with some strange decisions from Google that handicap the phone even more. Having said that, when has Google ever really launched a product and got it right the first time, and yet slowly but surely they build marketshare. Android the platform has a strong future, it’s just not going to be with this phone.

Also see Mark Rizzn Hopkins for a different take.

Repeat after me: the Google Phone is not an iPhone killer

Duncan Riley — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:10:38 +0000

As the fabled first GPhone gets closer to launch (T-Mobile is expected to make the formal announcement tomorrow) the blogosphere and press have run heavy coverage comparing the Android powered HTC Dream to Apple’s iPhone, complete with the lines iPhone killer and Apple’s nightmare among others. In the school of sensationalist journalism 101, these headlines pass with flying colors, but they fail on another test: the school of stop drinking the kool-aid reality.

The first GPhone is not an iPhone killer.

The HTC Dream is as ugly as sin, the iPhone isn’t

Looks may not be everything, but the iPhone has good looks in spades, a supermodel compared to the Dream’s Ugly Betty. iPhone users like shiny things, and the iPhone is the shiniest of them all. People who have purchased iPhones, or are about to, are not going to be swayed by the Dream. We already know that the iPhone doesn’t deliver the best feature set, and yet it has sold millions. Android does seek to compete via on screen visuals, but the best platform in the world in an ugly box still looks ugly.

Sweet sweet music

Consider that various reports have shown that iPod sales have flatlined or even declined (the latest refresh to the iPod line was about stimulating sales). But people haven’t stopped listening to music, nor have they started buying non-Apple MP3 player, it’s just that their iPhones are also iPods. Really good, kickass iPods at that. Like or hate the iTunes/ iPod music lock-in, it’s the biggest game in town, and only one phone operates natively in this space, the iPhone. Android may offer open access, but it isn’t an iPod, and it won’t play with iTunes, at least not easily. Strike a sizable portion of music lovers off the list as GPhone buyers.

Business users

There is of course one area where the iPhone has struggled in its uptake, and that’s in corporate buys. The 3G iPhone does offer more features that its predecessor, like Exchange support to support the business case, and certainly no one is suggesting that businesses haven’t purchased iPhones, but at the top of the business market, ignoring SME’s, the most popular phone is the Blackberry. And what line do we hear from Blackberry addicts who won’t consider an iPhone over and over again? keyboard. They want a real keyboard. And what does the HTC Dream offer that the iPhone doesn’t? a keyboard.

What we see in this phone is some of the best features from the iPhone placed into an ugly as sin BUT practical handset that offers a real keyboard. If the Dream was a consumer play directed at the iPhone, they wouldn’t have picked practicality over aesthetics. T-Mobile wants Blackberry customers who like the features of the iPhone, but want a keyboard. If we have to call killer on anything, the GPhone is a potential Blackberry killer, because they’re the high end users most likely to buy it.

Where it might go wrong

We’re making presumptions that the first GPhone will be smooth sailing and a viable competitor to the Blackberry, or any existing phone. But it can go wrong. For starters, the phone is made by HTC, and while they’ve improved their product in recent years, the company has a track record of releasing awful phones, as most people who have used a HTC phone in the past can attest.

Then there’s the open nature of the phone. Google and T-Mobile see the open app marketplace as a selling point, offering more variety at a lower cost. It’s a great marketing line, but what happens when people take advantage of the marketplace and upload bad applications that either cause stability issues in Android, or compromise security on the phone. If Apple can’t get it right with a closed shop where they vet every application, the odds of the same issues, or worse situations occurring here are a sure bet.

Conclusion

Steve Jobs may be the worst for wear health wise, but he hasn’t lost one nights sleep over the GPhone. Google entering this space, and driving innovation forward is a positive that should be rightly celebrated, but lets not go over board, at least not yet. We will see new GPhones in the future that may seek to tackle the iPhone head on, but the HTC Dream isn’t that phone. My recommendation: start selling your RIM shares.