Stories are hitting the web (including this one on WSJ) regarding developers’ frustration with Google’s new mobile
platform, Android. As Google goes for the mobile jugular, the operating system, the early release of Android for developer review may have been a little too early and over ambitious. Google doesn’t have many check marks in the failure column , and this is a big initiative – a massive mobile land grab. You can bet that development resources are being properly applied to Android.
I find myself quietly cheering Google on in the quest to break the mobile mold and help make the experience that much more competitive, innovative and therefore, simply… better for the consumer and marketer alike.
No way Google’s mobile efforts will go the way of Orkut, Google’s social network, which was a failure in the US, but oddly massively popular beyond belief in Brazil. Although social networking seems to be the next ubiquitous activity after search and email, Google didn’t launch nor support Orkut with the zest that comes with the potential of dominating the mobile OS. With this comes the inherent involvement in powering mobile activities that require the utility of search and other useful products that Google knows very well. This is about making the mobile web experience better by streamlining internet based activities and experiences for consumers, it’s about standardizing and broadening the ecosystem beyond just the carriers as gatekeepers, it’s about bringing relevancy to consumers’ mobile lifestyles. Google knows this game.
If only it were that simple.
This idealistic view has a long road ahead, complete with many detours, twists and turns. We are just at the first curve, and the major carriers still have 100% control over the “pipes”…for now.
Ok rant over…
