It seems like every 6 months or so the blogosphere, and now the Twitterati, picks an anticipated product to hate.
Remember the furor around Hulu? People had nothing good to say about them either. Remember how that turned out? The peanut gallery was way off base, Hulu is a great service.
I can't say for sure how Android will turn out but I know that anything that makes the development for mobile platforms easier is a much needed solution. As it stands, developing for mobile is like herding cats. There needs to be a standard.
Mobile is a huge potential revenue generator for everyone in the tech biz. I want my piece of that pie as I'm sure all of you do too. Instead of hoping for google to fail I think we should all hope they succeed here. At the very least they will make it easier for all of us to make money if they do well.
benton.yetman
· 1 year ago
yah I've got high hopes for the G1! The 5" x 3" touch screen is impressive, as is the 3-mp camera, keyboard, and UMTS. Honestly, I can live without GPS and the other flashy demos we've seen as long as the user experience is open and seamless, something which seems core to Android. Fred, your vision of a device that's less phone and more "a mobile browser that supports voice" is spot on...
howardlindzon
· 1 year ago
i read I saw I keep an open mind and I still conclude....black hole. Not saying google is a short, just apple keeps looking better and better
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
not in my book. i got the new iphone and it sucks
simondodson
· 1 year ago
ditto .. i cant wait for a phone to surpass the iphone .. then ill move on it ..
tim
· 1 year ago
Nothing annoys me more than someone saying something sucks and doesn't follow it up with a reason. I don't know how android will fair as I haven't seen anything real concrete on it. However google is taking pages out of the Microsoft skewl of product releases - announce something, over promise, and delay the living hell out of it. The next logical step is to under deliver. Based on that - I have no real hopes that android is the new jesus phone. Matter of fact - I think it will be a disaster based on how the launch is being handled.
I've owned two iPhones and it has flaws but still the best experience of a phone I've used to date.
fredwilson
· 1 year ago
i think you can say something sucks in the comments. a post that says that needs an explanation. but this is a comment. i have bought two now. the first gen and the new one. and both of them are paper weights for me. i don't find them particularly useful. certainly not the way my blackberry curve is useful.
Soren Macbeth
· 1 year ago
I'm going to have to side with Howard on this one. Ask a developer how they feel about Google's commitment and support for Android. Not good at all from the people that I've spoken to.
It's Google's half commitment that will sink it. Saying 'Here's a toolchain, we're done.' is not going to be good enough, especially if you are not lightning fast in addressing concerns of the very people you are counting on make your branded mobile OS #1.
howardlindzon
· 1 year ago
nobody likes a brownnoser, unless they agree with me.
Jeffrey McManus
· 1 year ago
It seems quite possible to me that you could both be right -- the phone could be a hit and it could be a huge money sink for Google.
I'm thinking of this in terms of what Java has done for Sun.
neekolas
· 1 year ago
I want to believe Android will be great, but I can't. I think the carriers are going to have too much say in the matter - and building great UIs are not their strongsuit. The phone doesn't natively support vector graphics, so many of the iphone-esque transitions are simply impossible.
Then, there is the elephant in the room: fragmentation. There is only one iPhone, but there are going to be many many types of Android devices with different input methods, screen sizes, and features. That is going to be a major pain for small developers who will ultimately move back to the iPhone to avoid the struggle.
I hope Android inspires smaller, newer, entrants to the field of handset design. I hope the web browser is wonderful and the carriers beat expectations on UI. I hope the problems I've listed above can be conquered but I'm not sure hope is enough.
Javed Alam
· 1 year ago
Actually, I have been waiting for that phone myself simply because I would like to support open source software as much as I can.
Also, I have been with t-mobile for long time. I have no complains with the service.
The video seems to be real. Here is my write on the night the news broke:
that video is actually an adroid powered phone. i've played with it. And I'm looking forward to getting my very own when it comes out.
Joseph Weisenthal
· 1 year ago
I'm intrigued by Android, though I think it's a mistake how a lot of commenters (not Fred) are hyping this up as iPhone vs. GPhone.
While the iPhone is a pure consumer device (with the potential to appeal to business users), the "GPhone" is obviously much more a traditional smarphone. A device made by HTC on T-Mobile without a sexy marketing push isn't going to rival anything from Apple for a long time. On the other side, it's going to be a tough slog breaking into the business market, given companies' reticence to bring anything new and unproven into the network. That leaves a narrow slice of mobile enthusiasts and guys like Fred as the natural buyers. And only a mall group of this group will end up buying the early models.
Point is: It's not going to be an overnight sensation or instantly revolutionary. It's going to be a long time, if ever, before this really makes waves in mobile.
kenberger
· 1 year ago
I'm relieved to hear that comments don't have to really backup their thinking, as posts do, since I have too many long-winded thoughts on this one to air right here. (although I did blog a bit about Fred's fPhone concept previously: http://bit.ly/CkRjI)
But it cracks me up too that it's called the dream phone, because it may remain just that.
James Adams
· 1 year ago
I think Jeffrey's analogy with Java is closest. It might be great in providing a more standardised development platform for mobile apps, although "write once anywhere" will be never be fully true across multiple handsets and I'm not convinced Google will make money from this long term based on what I know about their current strategy.
The other issue with a more open platform of course is security/viruses, a semi-centralized authority (Apple) definitely has benefits in this regard.
markslater
· 1 year ago
whats with the disturbia breathing? i was waiting for him to start android stalking
richrosen
· 1 year ago
The Android SDK is more open than the iPhone SDK. The result will be "more of what we want on a phone" and more innovative applications.
kyle_s
· 1 year ago
Fred - completely unrelated topic, so bear with me. Also, this post includes a spoiler for the men's 100M final in the Olympics, so if you want to be surprised tonight skip it...
I'm furious at NBC for not showing Usain Bolt's record-breaking run on their website in order to drive up viewership. This is especially irksome since they've been relatively good about having live event coverage in many other things (like baseball). But beyond just not showing the video on their website, they're going above and beyond to really piss me off.
The BBC is happy to show video of the race on their website... unless you're from the US. While it's certainly within their purview to decide to honor a request by NBC about that, it's still irritating.
Not only is NBC blocking people from uploading Tivo'd coverage of the race from territories outside the US that show it live, they're also not allowing people who recorded the event with their own cameras to upload that footage on YouTube! Why would YouTube agree to a restriction like that? NBC certainly doesn't own the copyright to Mike's camera footage.
Ugh, this whole episode just infuriates me.
simondodson
· 1 year ago
ditto .. i went thru this . this morning .. i installed all there bloatware etc .. then whammo
All Comments
Remember the furor around Hulu? People had nothing good to say about them either. Remember how that turned out? The peanut gallery was way off base, Hulu is a great service.
I can't say for sure how Android will turn out but I know that anything that makes the development for mobile platforms easier is a much needed solution. As it stands, developing for mobile is like herding cats. There needs to be a standard.
Mobile is a huge potential revenue generator for everyone in the tech biz. I want my piece of that pie as I'm sure all of you do too. Instead of hoping for google to fail I think we should all hope they succeed here. At the very least they will make it easier for all of us to make money if they do well.
I've owned two iPhones and it has flaws but still the best experience of a phone I've used to date.
Ask a developer how they feel about Google's commitment and support for Android. Not good at all from the people that I've spoken to.
It's Google's half commitment that will sink it. Saying 'Here's a toolchain, we're done.' is not going to be good enough, especially if you are not lightning fast in addressing concerns of the very people you are counting on make your branded mobile OS #1.
I'm thinking of this in terms of what Java has done for Sun.
Then, there is the elephant in the room: fragmentation. There is only one iPhone, but there are going to be many many types of Android devices with different input methods, screen sizes, and features. That is going to be a major pain for small developers who will ultimately move back to the iPhone to avoid the struggle.
I hope Android inspires smaller, newer, entrants to the field of handset design. I hope the web browser is wonderful and the carriers beat expectations on UI. I hope the problems I've listed above can be conquered but I'm not sure hope is enough.
Also, I have been with t-mobile for long time. I have no complains with the service.
The video seems to be real. Here is my write on the night the news broke:
http://randomthougts101.blogspot.com/2008/08/ip...
While the iPhone is a pure consumer device (with the potential to appeal to business users), the "GPhone" is obviously much more a traditional smarphone. A device made by HTC on T-Mobile without a sexy marketing push isn't going to rival anything from Apple for a long time. On the other side, it's going to be a tough slog breaking into the business market, given companies' reticence to bring anything new and unproven into the network. That leaves a narrow slice of mobile enthusiasts and guys like Fred as the natural buyers. And only a mall group of this group will end up buying the early models.
Point is: It's not going to be an overnight sensation or instantly revolutionary. It's going to be a long time, if ever, before this really makes waves in mobile.
But it cracks me up too that it's called the dream phone, because it may remain just that.
It might be great in providing a more standardised development platform for mobile apps, although "write once anywhere" will be never be fully true across multiple handsets and I'm not convinced Google will make money from this long term based on what I know about their current strategy.
The other issue with a more open platform of course is security/viruses, a semi-centralized authority (Apple) definitely has benefits in this regard.
I'm furious at NBC for not showing Usain Bolt's record-breaking run on their website in order to drive up viewership. This is especially irksome since they've been relatively good about having live event coverage in many other things (like baseball). But beyond just not showing the video on their website, they're going above and beyond to really piss me off.
The BBC is happy to show video of the race on their website... unless you're from the US. While it's certainly within their purview to decide to honor a request by NBC about that, it's still irritating.
But I just saw this twitter status: http://twitter.com/SeeMikeWrite/statuses/889545773
Not only is NBC blocking people from uploading Tivo'd coverage of the race from territories outside the US that show it live, they're also not allowing people who recorded the event with their own cameras to upload that footage on YouTube! Why would YouTube agree to a restriction like that? NBC certainly doesn't own the copyright to Mike's camera footage.
Ugh, this whole episode just infuriates me.
US residents only
bah