Mobile OS Wars And Casualties Part 2
The Mobile OS landscape is in flux. But the question is who will be the winners going forward. My guess is that the older operating systems will just not provide the experience that user will grow to prefer. They will still have their niches, but they will be squeezed out of new applications.
The two newest operating systems are the Apple iPhone and the Google Android. Google has had a slow start out of the gate than Apple, but the software will appeal more to developers and possibly users as Google uses its knowledge and money to port the Google applications to the Android platform.
Apple strength is that it keeps tight control over its platform and its applications. That is also its potential weakness. This rigid platform provided users who were unfamiliar with the mobile web and mobile devices in general a pretty and safe place to learn and experiment with their new devices. But more technical users are already chaffing to hack the iPhone.
By its very nature, Google is going to be as hands off as possible. This is not due to good will on its part. Google is interested in making money on ads, not being a type of mobile police officer. It is even ignoring the small amounts of cash that it could make from cut in app download revenues. Google is interested in preserving its cash cow and can be generous on every other aspect of its operating system and app store. What is really interesting is how older companies like Microsoft approach the new mobile market with the same outlook as before. Someone at Microsoft should really sit down with Ballmer and explain the rational in giving away software. They might want to start by showing how much money Google could make with mobile ads if it can corner the market the way that it did on the regular Internet.