Android’s Perfect Storm
November 19th, 2009 by Paige Payne
Along with the unveiling of the Android mobile platform in 2007 came the debate comparing the Andriod operating system head to head against Apple’s iphone operating system. Today, as more and more android powered phones come about, phones like Verizon’s new Motorola Droid, more people get wrapped up in this debate.
Regardless, to me, it really doesn’t matter which particular phone holds the crown today. What I am more interested in is the tomorrow and the direction in which these open standard powered mobile devices are headed under the guidance of the Open Handset Alliance. Particularly, to what magnitude will these implementations affect Social Media, SEO, and PPC?
As for tomorrow, yes I am slowly becoming a believer that Andriod mobile operating system will succeed. This is of course under a few conditions: (1)The iphone must stay exclusive to AT&T, and (2) They must continue to charge a premium price for their niche product. Yes it is Apple and yes they do currently have a monopoly with the iphone.
The Problem is, while the iphone may be the coolest most popular phone out today, they don’t necessarily provide the best service (Apple probably went with AT&T because they were the highest bidder, not necessarily the best phone service provider).
This opportunity attracts competition. At first the competition was a small mobile software developing company Andriod inc, which was later purchased by Google and as of late, by the Open Handset Alliance. In case you’re as unfamiliar as I was with the Open Handset Alliance, they are comprised of large mobile service providers, mobile phone manufacturers, and software developers such as Texas Instruments, HTC, Intel, LG, Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, Sony Ericson, Toshiba Corp, Verizon….the list goes on.
When you combine:
opportunity +level of competition + collective goal of providing an open standard or free operating system
= Android’s Perfect Storm to break into the mobile industry
Think of the iphone as Chuck Norris with a broken leg, trying to fight off a coordinated attack by 50 of, his toughest opponents of all time, all at once. Chuck might put up a good fight but eventually he’s probably going to go down.
What does the Alliance mean for consumers?
Speaking as a consumer on behalf of Verizon’s new Motorola Droid, it offers an affordable device, on a wider network, that works in ways I never could have imagined. For example, import your contacts from a preexisting phone, enter your user name and password for G-mail, Facebook and other social networking sites just one time, and all of your contacts are automatically synced in any way you could possibly ever want to get in-touch with someone. Contact photos are displayed as their Facebook profile pics along with their current status. In addition, you get Google Maps, navigation, voice search, and even access to your personal Pandora account that won’t cut off after you reach your 40 hour limit. The best part about all of these features are that because there are so many hands in the Andriod cookie jar, in order to compete with the iphone, all these functions really have to be free.
What does the Alliance mean for businesses?
By leveling the playing field, all of the mobile parties that were affected by the Apple iphone and AT&T duo will hopefully get their share of the market back. This eliminates just about everyone that is a part of the Open Handset Alliance from the mix except for Google.
So what does Google have to gain by participating?
Thanks to this rare instance, Google has now been given the opportunity to get its foot into the mobile world unlike ever before. All because everything you do on your phone is tied to your Gmail account. Before they could only take a peak at what you were doing online, with whom you are emailing, subject lines, or what you were searching for online. Now in addition to these things, they have the capability to target online advertising with everywhere you take your cell phone, for every app you use, and every person you contact with your phone by whatever means you use to contact them.
It’s crazy to think about the realm of possibilities with this endless amount of information and resources. If there ever was a small window of opportunity for another search engine to come along and dethrone the champ, with the way things seem to be shaping up now, not only has that window has been slammed shut, but it’s been reinforced with something from another planet………
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Tags: android, Google, Mobile Search, online advertising, Social Media
