Google Codes No Evil (For the iPhone, At Least)

Google officially introduced an iPhone-optimized Google.com--just go to Google.com on your iPhone to see it (or just look at the picture on the right). The coolest feature is the auto-suggestion.

There aren’t many companies that would improve the functionality of a competing product, but Google continues to do that with the iPhone. Google is smart enough to know that people using mobile Google search is more important than the success of their Android mobile OS.

No Multitouch for Android

Great read over at Crave about Android and java. From the article:

"[Android] supports touch-screen technology, but Horowitz declined to comment on support for multitouch, a notable iPhone ability that opens up user-interface possibilities, beyond saying multitouch support isn't in the first version of the Android SDK."

There will be no multi-touch pinching in Android, or at least, it's not built into the SDK. But it could be added later. Is multitouch really that important? Multitouch on the iPhone is used mostly for growing and shrinking the browser view, pictures, and maps. I rarely use the pinch or grow multitouch features on anything but Google maps. The biggest benefit of touchscreen technology is quick menu selection, and that only requires a single touch. The omission of multitouch from Android is probably to keep the hardware cheaper, and I wouldn't consider it a big deal. Multitouch seems like it'd be much more useful on a larger screen, for instance, on a MacBook Touch tablet.

SDK Quick Thought

Apple has a phone but won't have an SDK for a couple of months. Google doesn't have a phone but has an SDK. So really, it won't be until next summer until both are on level playing fields. What it may come down to is who attracts more and better developers. I hate to quote Steve Ballmer, but it's the developers, developers, developers.

A great core system is built by the giants like Microsoft, Apple, and Google. But the diversity--the catering to the long tail--is done by the developers.

Uh Oh, Spaghettios

I just finished watching Google's YouTube videos for Android. I'll write up a more in-depth analysis later, but for now, some quick thoughts.

First impressions are that Google's Android does not look like some crappy open source software. It looks slick. It looks flexible. You would not be able to tell the difference from a Nokia or Blackberry. In fact, it looks better than those device's OS's.

I'm thinking about the possibilities of Android, then looking at my iPhone, which doesn't yet have a version of Sudoku on it that I can play on my commute. It seems the iPhone has competition. Not HTC Touch competition, no, this is serious competition. I'm sure Steve Jobs will eventually respond--maybe he already has with the Apple SDK.

All I can say is, I'm waiting, Apple, and I've been waiting for 5 months now (see previous post). You got me for 1.5 more years. Show me what else your phone can do.

Valleywag Google Phone Screenshots

Valleywag is claiming to have exclusive first screenshots of a Google Phone app. The app appears to something called WhatsOpen.com that combines search terms with your geo location (which you apparently won't have to input manually) to tell you what businesses are open around you along with other useful information (address, telephone, etc).

My first thought is, that's pretty awesome. However, privacy issues aside, the one big immediate flaw might be the local information supplied by Google (I'm assuming that's what Google has in mind in terms of making $). Google Maps on the iPhone has been a huge let down for me in the past. It couldn't tell me the correct closest Starbucks in downtown Chicago. From my experience, Google's local information is incomplete and inaccurate. However, that could easily change if local businesses have enough motivation to supply Google with updated information.

The Dream

One thing is for sure, people hate vague intellectual concepts. That is why so many are still searching for a Google phone instead of salivating over the Android OS concept. Well, Engadget always delivers in terms of photoshopped mock-ups or glossy marketing photos. This time, they're showing pictures of the HTC Omni as the possible Google Dream phone. If this is it, the iPhone has nothing to worry about. Where exactly is the touchscreen anyways? And, where is the phone part? Looks like the same clunky interface that Steve Jobs wants to replace, except with more glossy black glass.

My favorite Google phone photo is still the one below. It looks simple, cheap, and all about function over gloss, kind of like Google's search engine.

Quick Thought on Google's Android Phone

Many major news outlets are wondering, why would someone buy an Android OS phone over a Symbian, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, etc? Here’s one example, and you can extrapolate from there:

The ability to play any mp3 as a ringtone…for free.

Rubin Is the Google Phone Guy?

Another great article from The New York Times about Google's Andy Rubin, the man who is probably leading the Google Phone team.

Rubin's big invention was the Sidekick, an average smart phone that gained a cult status by catering to the youth culture (Paris Hilton had one when she was still, eh, "hot"). I doubt the Google phone's hardware or software will be anything we haven't seen before (unles it's as sexy as the picture on the right). People will probably be disappointed. The revolutionary part should come from how cheap the phones will be to use and the huge spectrum of third-party apps the phones will eventually have. My prediction is that the available functionality (through third party apps) of a Google OS phone will be ten times any other phone (including the iPhone) two years from now. Whether it will work as well as the iPhone is another story.

Who's Afraid of Apple and Google?

Apparently, not Symbian. I think they should be at least worried about their growth. Another interesting piece by GigaOM.

The Google Phone.

The news world is taking the Google phone seriously. With rumors of a Monday launch, the blog world is in a flutter. There is nothing but rumors to work from, so everyone is speculative. One of the more interesting quotes is from a post on GigaOm. Om Malik quotes Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International and CTO of Deutsche Telecom:

"When AT&T and Apple partner on the iPhone or T-Mobile partners with Google on mobile advertising, these new arrangements force the question: “Who pays whom and when?” Billing, payment and content management for broadcast, advertising, search and music all are significantly different. Carriers are having to develop new business models that are compatible with the changing business models of the other key players in the ecosystem. The business models have to be as interoperable as the technologies."

Essentially, there are several new revenue streams both going into and out of cell phone companies. Google wants to make it easier to share the wealth of a big one, advertising. Why share? Because it gives Google a bigger slice of the global search pie. Cell phone search introduces Google to people who can afford a free wireless phone, but not a thousand dollar computer.

However, how and where Google will find the space to display those ads without hampering usability, or even improving usability (like the iPhone does), is beyond me. And it's maybe why they feel the need to create an open cell phone OS.

Stupid Article Title of the Day

"Will Google Crush the iPhone?" at Forbes.com. The Google phone and the iPhone are at opposite ends of the phone spectrum. Now the real question is "Will Google Crush Symbian?"