Rooting for the dream
MG Siegler’s posts on Techcrunch are the running joke of the blogosphere, but for some reason, his latest article just prompted me to react.
And that quickly changed to $199 phones subsidized by carriers. In other words, nothing changed. Google seemed to think they could go around them and sell phones on the web directly to consumers. The carriers didn??t like that idea too much. They pulled their backing of that plan. And Google had to pull the plug.
Google is trying hard to remove power from the carrier in order to give it to customers. Their initial attempt didn’t work as well as we all expected but somehow, you find this to be a reason to rejoice?
I don’t know about you, but if anything, I want Google to keep trying, and trying, and trying. Because that’s how change happens.
Besides, Android did change something: we’re in 2010 and the iPhone is not a monopoly. Now that’s something to celebrate, even though it seems to make you sad for some mystifying reason.
Soon, the vast majority of Android owners will have VCAST apps shoved in their faces
Getting something shoved in your face is never a pleasant thing, but this accusation coming from someone who is such a fan of Apple and Apple’s products is quite humorous. At least on Android, you can buy a different phone if you don’t like what’s coming preloaded on the one you buy. Good luck with that on the iPhone.
And what??s most disturbing about this is Google??s rhetoric. It has morphed from ??wait and see?? to ??we think the carriers will get the message?? to ??we hope the carriers will get the message??. Newsflash: the carriers are not going to get the message as long as they have any shred of leverage.
Hey, I actually agree with that. And Google is trying to take away that leverage, so why are you so mad at them?
Again, dream world. Google set out with the idea that they could change everything on their terms.
A lot of the technology you and I use and love today exists because at some point, someone dreamed it. And they built it despite the opposition of people like you.
And again, just to be perfectly clear, I??m not saying Google shouldn??t try to change these industries. All of them need to be disrupted ?? in some cases very badly. I??m just not sure about Google??s execution on any of them.
Well, sure, because you picked all the examples were Google wasn’t very successful while carefully omitting to mention the ones where they did change everything. Android, Gmail, Maps, Earth, just to name a few.
All in all, it feels like the only reason why you dislike Google is because they are challenging your favorite company.
Your motto: “Try to make the world a better place, and if you fail, give up”.
Lame.
Comments (14)
I agree with you. But.... I know sometimes you have to cut the cord and that there are plans at Google I'm not aware of but I sometimes wish Google wouldn't let go of the dreams so quickly.
Cedric, you're taking this far too personally. Aiming simply to be non-Apple is not good enough, nor is saying "Heck, we tried". Siegler has been more right this time around than he normally is. It is indeed disappointing how so many of the promises from Google entering new spaces have not panned out. Google is a mature company now. It has to decide where it becomes the next Yahoo or not.
Cedric, I think you misunderstood MG's post. MG is an Apple fanboy, as he freely admits http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/14/fanboy/ but here he's not arguing that Google should give up; on the contrary, he's saying that Google's goals are laudable, but its execution is terrible -- and the people who work at Google don't seem to realize that yet.
Dan, I understand that, but his point is basically "Google executed well on certain things and bad on others, but I'll just talk about the bad". How is that interesting?
The story is that Google hasn't achieved any of its main goals on anything, in years. They've lost their mojo, but they don't realize it. Being talked up at the Google I/O Keynote is like a curse! Android gives carriers more control at the expense of users, AppEngine suffers crippling downtime (a success disaster), Google Wave, Google TV, Google Music... What does it take?
I've read the original post, and fanboy as he may be he does have a point. There are two things I completely disagree with in your post : that Google is trying to remove power from the carriers, and that without Android the iPhone would be a monopoly. Google may have tried to remove power from the carriers, but they thoroughly failed, and I'd argue they never had a chance, because Android does exactly the opposite, it gives the carriers back the power Apple had wrestled from them. You don't buy an Android phone, you buy a carrier phone running Android underneath, with plenty of custom stuff and branding all over, just like it's always been. The iPhone remains the only exception. And if you take Android out of the picture, you still have Nokia, RIM and Palm, not exactly an iPhone monopoly.
To add to Dan's list, let's not forget getting into bed with Verizon on a proposal on net neutrality which deliberately excluded mobile carriers from any gaurantees. If that's "removing power from the carriers" I'd be interested to see what Google would do if they were on their side!
I don't know why you have disabled comments on your Buzz post (from where I came here), but I strongly disagree with you. MG Siegler is actually and constantly showing that he does care about success of Google technologies. I don't feel such a negative attitude in his posts as you are trying to show. MG is trying to push to critic and push Google to right direction. It's a necessary counterweight to strong negative influence from carriers (Verizon, etc.) which are pushing Google from wrong direction; such article may help Google to stay right. Besides, MG's articles are among the best in techno-blog sphere. And I think MG is right that current Android phones are coming full of carriers' crapware, unremovable by regular unsophisticated users. Carriers cannot impose putting their garbage to iPhone.
Vladimir: I disabled the comments on Buzz to have them all here. It's just painful to follow comments on my posts in different places.
I suspect MG's feeling about Apple are a bit more nuanced than 'fanboi'. In particular I have talked with Apple fans who are mad at Google for not forcing *Apple* to change. People who like the hardware and UX of the iPhone but like the openness of Android. Perhaps MG's biggest beef with Google was that their inability to emasculate the Carriers meant he was stuck using his iPhone on AT&T. That being said, Google does have a huge issue around collective action. Its one of the reasons I'm not working there any more :-) --Chuck
I'm not sure what some of you are talking about-- I have an Android phone (Nexus One) that has completely liberated me from any carrier. It's unlocked, runs stock Android and works anywhere in the world on any GSM network. I love it. I always get the first OS updates, it has worked flawlessly when I've taken it to other countries and used prepaid SIMs and I'm not locked into any sort of silly contract. I had an iPhone and I don't miss it (or AT&T) one tiny bit.
Liberated? Nexus one doesn't work seamless and flawlessy with every carrier. The first version of Nexus One only has Edge for ATT. For a 500+ phone that's not exactly liberating.
http://www.techeye.net/business/google-slapped-with-a-lawsuit-over-nexus-one-3g-connectivity
"Getting something shoved in your face is never a pleasant thing, but this accusation coming from someone who is such a fan of Apple and Apple??s products is quite humorous. At least on Android, you can buy a different phone if you don??t like what??s coming preloaded on the one you buy. Good luck with that on the iPhone." Have you actually ever *seen* an iPhone let alone use one? The only software that comes preloaded on an iPhone is a small handful of apps like calculator and clock. There is no carrier-installed stuff there. There isn't even a carrier logo on the thing.