June 11, 2010

Yes, lately we have seen Apple/AT&T all but boot Mother Google and it’s children (Android OS Phones) out of the IPhone Apps Store.   Apparent, by Apple’s showing nervousness,  by the placing of “new data restrictions” on AdMob (recently acquired by Google) and others that are associated with Google,  by  Apple’s IAd Mobile Phone campaigns.

The fear factor tends to kick in when you have an “Android” , of the family of  Google Titans , sitting in your living room, and eating at your table and munching out of your fridge.  So what else could Steve Jobs do but say , “Get that Soon to be Gigantor” out-ta here.  Steve Jobs made his bed with an AT&T marriage and is nervous  about the future bottom line.   And  “Think about it, as a side note”,  if you as a Free Consumer, want an IPhone reasonably priced, you too need to wear the AT&T handcuffs,  and do time in the AT&T prison for a two year stint… An unpleasant experience.  I guess that’s why they call it a jail-break if you unlock the phone. (Note a Plug: To avoid this unpleasant experience.. check out the Upper Right Link to an alternative Free Cell Phone Plan available.)

 So, it’s obvious, anyone who’s not in locked step with the Apple/AT&T venture, is viewed as a distraction and on the front-line of the opposing team.   

Apple’s actions are reminiscent of the of the years of Jobs leadership  back in the “PC Wars of Apple vs IBM/MS DOS”,  when the two Titans of the PC world, were at battle for the dominate position of operating systems.

This strategy  appeared to set  Apple back in market share, by closing their Operating System and not letting it out to open source development.  Thus, Bill Gates and Microsoft took off, by allowing other developers to collaborate on the MS Operating System and allowing them to design many different applications to work with the Windows system.  Mr Gates was a visionary in doing this then, and I believe that an open source environment is a better ecosystem for both developers and consumers today.  This is not to say Mr Gates was not a “Great White Shark”, in the “Sea of Business Compreditors” , but I am saying that he was a “Smarter Great White Shark”.  

This does not mean any one system will be the dominate system. But, at least we will have a choice and the competition will be fierce.   As a consumer I want this, it tends to keep the price of new gadgets and plans honest and sometimes affordable. 

 If you recall at one time Ma Bell /AT&T was the only game in town if you needed a home phone. And that’s why it was broken up by Uncle Sam to be Baby Bells ie (Pacific Bell, SW Bell, Bellsouth, NYNEX etc.)  to make it appear less of a monopoly. And I do mean “appear”.   Funny though it went out as Baby Bellsouth only to be re-combined again under AT&T.   Government allowed,  possibly due to the fact so many households have dumped the hard phone lines in the home, to move to wireless home phone options. But that’s another story.

Today, in The Cell Phone Wars the Battle Lines are being Drawn , and again the developers have to choose which horse are they going to ride. Do you develop apps for the more open source  Sprint  / HTC / Android / Google smart phones or do you develop for Apple/AT&T Iphone? These are hard times and hard questions, since  Financial Futures are at stake,  and many small developers have limited cash reserves dedicated for R&D  to get their “baby App” to market.  So, if one is an Apple fan, and a developer, and if your not accepted as a red-headed step child in Apple, you might have a chance.   But, now with these new events in the News , it appears many developers will have a choice, they can jump over to Mother Google’s side for a while.  While we, as consumers, on the sidelines, may be in a front row seat at “The Shootout at the  OS Corral”. 

History will show, there will be a Winner and a Looser in this contest, but as a Consumer, I think we will win just from the competiton.  That is of course, if a Government “Politician” doesn”t step in and tip over the Scales of Capitalism with some act of “Social Balance” with a New Law or New Regulation.

Steve Echols, Systems Consultant

A Humble Observer and My 2 Cents