Android, Google’s new cell phone operation system, is starting to get some traction, according to AdMob’s new Metrics Report. According to AdMob, the G1 (the new G phone) is the number 4 smartphone in the US behind the iPhone and two Blackberry models.
Phone app developers are going to have to start considering other operating systems. I really like the idea behind RIM’s new app store, and if the G phone get some traction then Apple could face challenges. Now, I’m not suggesting that Apple is about to fall off a cliff or anything like that, I’m just saying that they must keep from being complacent.
Last September I postulated that Google’s Chrome was targeted more at Apple than Microsoft. I stand by that. More and more it is becoming clear that the next wars between the big web players is going to be 1) mobile and 2) cloud computing. I’m really starting to think that the next browser wars will be on the phone… and we are in the opening moves of the OS battle. I wonder if Apple will continue to stick with its “own the device and the OS” philosophy – the same one that enabled Microsoft to steal away the PC market.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
That's a very interesting question. Apple seems to have a DNA of "own the device and the OS" which indeed allowed Microsoft to steal away the PC market back then. It sounds to me even more dangerous today to have such a strategy. They've made it so far with the ipod, let's how it evolves with the iphone.