iPhone vs. Android is déjà vu all over again for Apple?

deja vu

Oh no. Not again. Living with third rate products that are priced to sell, all in the name of open systems.

As we all know, Google is

As we all know, Google is funded by getting advertising out to the individual consumer. You and me! Maybe not right now when a service is first introduced, but sooner or later - once people are hooked - out come the banner and targeted ads. Look at Google search, mail and maps these days. Google phones will be next. Fine if you don't mind, but at least Apple is there if you do.

Apple once again is

Apple once again is shackling their software to their hardware. They have also now gone an extra step to attach them both to a single carrier.

The reasons? Money. My understanding is that they get a cut of the monthly charges from at&t. Verizon didn't like the profit sharing percentages and took a pass. Also, Jobs like the control and the credit. He's never really played that well with others. You play by Steve's rules or go elsewhere.

Now they are up against a free & open platform that is attractive to app developers. So what are the relevant questions?

1) Is apple happy with 10-20% marketshare? If so they may just continue their current arrangement and hope to attract apple fans to a profitable arrangement of iphone hardware locked to att&t.

2) Do people really care about mobile apps? Not sure. A lot of people were happy to adopt itunes & AAC and the apple ipod dominated. Will the same be true of phones? Maybe the iphone has enough software to make people happy.

3) Will apple scale the iphone software to cheaper devices? There is a large segment of the population that will just never pay $200 for a phone. Phones break too easily and people have gotten used to the pricing of the last 10 yrs. Google on the otherhand has plans to scale android to simpler devices that increase the likelyhood their platform will reach critical mass.

not the same as Beta vs. VHS

People often equate the Beta vs. VHS battle as one where advertising and promotion allowed poorer technology to win out over superior technology. While Beta was superior in a few ways (a third generation copy looked noticeably sharper made on Beta vs. made on VHS.... whoopee), there was one key aspect that was far superior on VHS, and this is what made the difference. VHS could hold a full 2 hours of program material, enough for most movies. Beta could hold only about 100 minutes. Later, when thinner tape came out, VHS was extended to 160 minutes, enough for 99.9% of all movies. Beta barely broke the 2 hour barrier. With the slower recording speeds, this advantage became even more apparent. People needed to hold programs on their tapes. The one that held the most material won out. I would guess that if Sony had designed a larger shell for their Beta tapes, then Beta would have won.

Steve Jobs has definitely

Steve Jobs has definitely learned from his past mistakes..... a sureshot sign being 'excusing' Eric from iPhone related Board meetings and launching the iPhone in over 70 countries....... the latter was one of the main reasons that Apple was and is below Msft in mac marketshare.

Besides... the rate at which Apple is innovating currently, I prefer to call this scenario one like the iPod and the Zune. The iPod came out when the market was full of junk like CD players and big clunky stuff..... saturated.... in need of a revolution. The same is with iPhone..... buttons and lots of buttons and the pathetic Symbian! Well I for one can definitely see where this is going.......

Apple was bound to AT&T by a

Apple was bound to AT&T by a contract, and opted to extend the contract. When that contract is up, Apple could sell the phones as completely unlocked so that they work on any world-standard network.

Apple's strategy is to get developers comfortable with Objective-C, and to ensure this they have closed iPhone development. Once enough good programmers have learned the language, Apple can release their crossplatform compiler for it (the Windows compiler is currently user in-house for application porting). If a programmer can code once, and then compile for all the major systems, Microsoft will lose their strangle-hold on Windows compilers.

Apple isn't watching Google very closely, but for now at least they are allies in the fight to bring down Microsoft.

It is not MS vs. Apple. It

It is not MS vs. Apple.
It is Linux vs. Apple aka MS.

It is freedom against slavery (ala MS style but to the extreme, as exemplified by Apple).

This time, however, freedom will win.
The Apple fanboys, all of which are of course former Windows fanboys may weep as loud as they will.

But they should remember -- they always have been the slaves because they have used the computer as an amplifier, no matter they have been enslaved over and over again -- "I just want to watch a movie, to listen to music" no matter what, and if only I could not learn anything whatsoever.

"I have farted always, that's all I do, and now the Apple computer allows me to fart even more smelly -- who-ho!"