Mobile App Reviews

Just a quick update today.  What would you all think of some down to earth App reviews?  I would try to approach it from a user’s perspective and how the app would make your life easier or more fun/productive.  I notice that there are certain apps that don’t get enough fanfare considering their quality so I would like to start by highlighting them.  I’d focus primarily on Android since it is the device I use.  Post in the comments if this would appeal to any of you.  Thanks.

Amazon: the Herald of destruction for Android

Amazon this week launched their own competing app store for Android. With only a fraction of the catalog that the official Android Market has, it is still off to a strong start.  Various promotions and free paid apps of the day are being used to lure people to put forth the effort to install the Amazon App Store itself. This is bad news for the longevity of the platform.

Let's be honest, greed is the elemental focus that is driving Amazon's motives.  They see the money being left on the table and being the huge superstore they are, expansion into mobile apps is good from a business sense but ultimately the death knell for Android as a leading platform.  Android is already suffering from the latest industry buzzword:  fragmentation, whether real or perceived, the mobile OS surely doesn't need any more.

The problem isn't so much at present but fast forward a year and now, thanks to Amazon paving the way, we have app stores from Target, Wal-mart, buy.com, Facebook, Walgreens? What a mess! Why put the burden of app management for updates on the user? Each store will undoubtedly have their own update mechanisms and each store will certainly not have identical app catalogs meaning the user is always in question to which store has the app they want. Don't forget the versioning problem either, you may be running an out of date app due to which store you bought it from thanks to approval processes.  App fragmentation now? Imagine the incompatibilities that could arise from such a system. The seeds of that system have been planted this week.

I reiterate: why is this added complexity being pushed to users? A central repository for apps and updates is easy to manage and to communicate. For the sake of money this idea is fading.

Why Apple needs Verizon

If one looks at the current mobile OS landscape, it’s not difficult to draw certain parallels with the history consumer desktop computing has endured over the last 30 years.  Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android are arguably the two hottest players in the smart phone market currently.  While Blackberry and Windows Phone are there, they aren’t generating the same degree of buzz or interest (yet) and that is producing a not so unique rift in consumer philosophy.

In one corner Apple maintains its closed environment with both hardware, software, and development.  In the other corner you have Google with Android, which as strange as it sounds mimics the position Microsoft had with Windows during its rise to dominance during the early 90s.  Google has a fast and growing mobile strategy that takes advantage of a variety of handsets and giving the end user freedom to develop and install software as they see fit.  Apple wants total and complete control, period, while Google is promotes more consumer choice and freedom.  I won’t argue which way is correct because it’s highly subjective based on user preference and arguments are had from both sides.  However one other differentiating factor is while Apple has been locked in with a single wireless carrier (AT&T), [another means to exert control over the user experience of the iPhone] Android is available on all major US carriers with flagship products on 3 of those 4:

• Droid Incredible (Verizon)
• Nexus One (T-Mobile)
• EVO (Sprint)

Each of those offerings provide exceptional competition to Apple’s iPhone 3GS on AT&T and from recent reports Android on a whole has a growth rate that is astonishing.

Apple needs to diversify their carrier options if they want to keep their lead.  Verizon has long been thought of as the logical choice for the iPhone (even Apple thought so during the initial launch but Verizon turned down the offer) thanks to their excellent network:  both in speed and reliability.  If Apple chooses to remain only on AT&T they limit their customer base and for various reasons (contract, dislike of carrier, etc.) make it difficult to get new users.  Meanwhile with Android being a solid OS that Google is grooming into quite a pedigree that is available on a variety of devices on a variety of carriers, it compounds Apple’s competition. 

People not willing to switch to AT&T are finding great alternatives just about everywhere else they look.  That is something that Apple must consider to stay relevant in this rapidly growing segment of computing.  If they don’t they risk repeating their misstep with their battle with Microsoft.  In early June it is expected that the next version of the iPhone will be announced at Apple’s WWDC, the world will surely be listening for another carrier to be revealed.

The next phase of computing

Over the last few years it has become increasingly apparent that the mobile phone and in particular the smart phone has gained in prominence not only as a communication device but also as a multi-function tool that facilitates our ability to complete our everyday tasks efficiently. In some cases enabling us to do things that weren't possible in recent memory. This trend is not an isolated instance but rather part of a much larger wave that  has every indication of growing and accelerating the more we become comfortable and reliant on being always connected to the Internet and each other.

Five years ago the world was accessing the Internet and staying connected to each other primarily through their personal computers. With the desire to be more mobile and the speed increases and advances in smaller and smaller hardware the desktop gave way to the laptop for many people and it sufficed. In present day the smart phone has increased in great strides in terms of computational power, storage capacity, interface methods, and screen size and resolution. This in combination with an always on 3/4g connection to the internet and the mobile phone is truly becoming or has already supplanted the main computer system for many.

This has come about by no small part from the iPhone and its associated app store, which greatly expands the perception of what a mobile phone is capable of. Granted these concepts that Apple has brought about have existed in some prior form but they do deserve the credit of popularizing it to the masses which opened the door for competitors such as Google to attempt and attract more people to the idea of mobile computing with their Android operating system. Microsoft also is taking their Windows Phone 7 in a new direction which again takes advantage of a ripe market that is eager to have the best. Apple, RIM, Microsoft and Google all are working frantically to snatch up those on the fence with the assurance that their platform is that mythical "best".
For certain though with this level of competition and the degree of quality we are already seeing in shipping products; the mobile computing platform will be and is the battlefield to watch going forward.