* Apple began developing the iPhone in 2004 and released it in June 2007.
* Android was founded in 2003 and Google bought the company in 2005. Google and partners announced the Open Handset Alliance in November 2007 and the first Android phone was released in October 2008.
So far, so good. Two companies that did not start out in mobile telephony/computing both began developing products and entering the space around the same time, competing with the existing smartphone manufacturers, particularly RIM and Nokia.
Google's competitive practices have consisted mainly in developing and iterating a solid product, partnering with a variety of hardware providers to develop a large ecosystem and market share, and occasionally releasing flagship devices to raise the state of the art.
Google has borrowed some innovations from its competitors and developed some innovations of its own.
Apple's competitive practices have consisted mainly in developing and iterating a solid product, partnering with developers via an app store to develop a large ecosystem, and maintaining control of the design and manufacture of devices to maintain standards of quality.
Apple has borrowed some innovations from its competitors and developed some innovations of its own.
Apple has also pledged "thermonuclear war" to "destroy Android", launched a patent war of attrition against Android hardware vendors, and is now, apparently, hobbling the functionality of its own device in an attempt to marginalize Google.
There's competition, and then there's anti-competitive behaviour. Apple would do better to stick with the former, since the company is obviously very good at designing, building and marketing highly competitive products.
That's correct but not particularly important to the discussion. Jobs set the direction for the company, a direction the company continues to take after his untimely passing.
Sure, Jobs set the direction. He also passed less than a year ago, months after the Samsung case began. Nothing changes that fast, so it's not clear at all that Apple's management wants to continue down that path in the future.
In fact, you don't have to look far to find "industry insiders" who claim just the opposite. Current CEO Tim Cook publicly stated that he hates litigation (his words) and he met with Larry Page recently to discuss ways to "live peaceably together" and avoid unnecessary litigation. Is this sincere or just lip service? I don't know, but if we're playing the game of predicting Apple's future, it's important to the discussion.
> and is now, apparently, hobbling the functionality of its own device in an attempt to marginalize Google.
...while we're basing points on pure speculation, I'd like to posit that Google is using the price and availability of its Maps service as a weapon in this iOS vs. Android fight. They're well within their rights to do this, and absent knowledge of what happened it's more reasonable than "Apple is hurting their users in a misguided attempt to compete with Android".
* Apple began developing the iPhone in 2004 and released it in June 2007.
* Android was founded in 2003 and Google bought the company in 2005. Google and partners announced the Open Handset Alliance in November 2007 and the first Android phone was released in October 2008.
So far, so good. Two companies that did not start out in mobile telephony/computing both began developing products and entering the space around the same time, competing with the existing smartphone manufacturers, particularly RIM and Nokia.
Google's competitive practices have consisted mainly in developing and iterating a solid product, partnering with a variety of hardware providers to develop a large ecosystem and market share, and occasionally releasing flagship devices to raise the state of the art.
Google has borrowed some innovations from its competitors and developed some innovations of its own.
Apple's competitive practices have consisted mainly in developing and iterating a solid product, partnering with developers via an app store to develop a large ecosystem, and maintaining control of the design and manufacture of devices to maintain standards of quality.
Apple has borrowed some innovations from its competitors and developed some innovations of its own.
Apple has also pledged "thermonuclear war" to "destroy Android", launched a patent war of attrition against Android hardware vendors, and is now, apparently, hobbling the functionality of its own device in an attempt to marginalize Google.
There's competition, and then there's anti-competitive behaviour. Apple would do better to stick with the former, since the company is obviously very good at designing, building and marketing highly competitive products.