The Register has a few choice quotes from Steve Jobs' new biography which is out on Monday. He has some particularly incendiary stuff to say about Google and Android.
Android is "grand theft"
I have some sympathy with this. The iPhone was the first smartphone to get it 'right' in my experience - i.e. produce a smartphone for ordinary humans that was quick and easy to use.
I had a smartphone (the O2 XDA exec) and while it did everything it said on the box, it wasn't particularly nice to use. You needed a stylus to make it have a chance of hitting the icons on the screen and it was darn slow. Sometimes, due to button placement and the time it took to get it out of its case - you either accidentally disconnected the incoming call or it went to voice mail because you couldn't open it up in time.
If you were going to pick a phone to copy...ahem...improve on - the iPhone was definitely it.
So Android definitely learnt a lot from iOS. But who doesn't stand on the shoulders of giants in the tech world nowadays? And it's clear that Apple is not adverse to learning from Android from time to time either (notifications anyone?)
"I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."
Never going to happen, Steve. Here's why. There will always be a market for Android while Apple's phone offerings are either 2+ year old tech (3Gs) or £400+.
I had the first generation of iPhone because I needed a new MP3 player and I managed to buy it new for £150 and unlock/jailbreak it. That seemed like decent value. It was fifty quid more than an iPod touch and the extra cash bought a camera and a phone.
Fast forward a few years and my latest smartphone is an Orange San Francisco. Under a hundred quid and better specs in most respects. Similarly, the Android OS has quite a few more features than iOS and they aren't locked down (e.g. tethering). But it's real clunky compared to iOS. Settings are often buried deep. There's plenty of interface clutter and Marketplace...
Sure I'd like to have upgraded to the iPhone 4 earlier in the year but it's not 4-5x as good as my San Francisco. Siri may yet help tip the balance back again though. Android's voice stuff is an embarrassment (at least in the UK).
The caveat to all of this, of course, are all of the patent battles going on between Apple and practically everyone else. I suspect no-one, except the lawyers, will come out smiling after those.
Google is making products "that are adequate but not great. They're turning [Google] into Microsoft"
Steve is absolutely right on this. Outside of search (and perhaps Gmail), including Android, Google's recent offerings lack a certain polish or even vision.
For all of the hoopla around Google Plus it isn't yet a place I'd go to instead of Facebook (or even as well as if I'm honest). Circles is a considerable step forward in managing your contacts and the uploading of pics from my Android phone is great but Plus seems like a collection of bits and pieces rather than a proper destination at the moment.
So like Buzz and Wave before it - I don't quite get it. Now that was true of Twitter to start with but within a few minutes it just clicked. I'd love to be wrong about Plus. Perhaps there is a simple profound vision for Plus - but I'm not seeing it yet.
There's no excuse for it either - Google have some of the best techs in the world and must have reams of useability/market data. I'm not sure the approach of letting a thousand flowers bloom is entirely working right now.
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