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from the if-Google-won-did-we-the-people-lose? dept.
Android is 10 years old this week. In part one of a larger story, The Register looks at the beginnings of Android, including some early competition, and a brief comparison to Microsoft.
Google was in the game, at a time when others didn't realize what the game was. Or did, and couldn't turn the ship around fast enough. Android succeeded because it was just about good enough, and its parent was prepared to cross subsidize it hugely. Android wasn't brilliant, but it was better than Bada, and uglier than WebOS. Symbian simply wasn't competitive. If you were a Samsung or Sony or HTC, then Android gave you what you needed, it gave users a better experience. Developers were happy writing for a Java OS, it was a doddle after writing for WM and Symbian.
[...] Motorola also had a significant part to play in Android's success . . . as did Verizon. Carriers like Verizon had been snubbed by Apple's carrier exclusive strategy, and Verizon was badly burned by the BlackBerry Storm. It went all in.
[...] Android is far bigger and far more invasive than a PC could ever be. Google's dominance over our personal lives is far greater than Microsoft's ever was. The clunky laptop in the corner did not track your every movement or read your emails.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 14 2017, @02:53PM (1 child)
Well, now I'm being nitpicky. There are signs of the features that Android needs to gain ground on the laptop and desktop market. But what I am not seeing is actual consumer adoption of Android in laptops, all-in-ones, or desktops yet. I expect it to happen, but I'm not seeing it.
Three or four years ago you could buy Android monitor all-in-ones and there were docking stations for phones and attachable keyboards for tablets. But it was too early, Android didn't have the features it needed for a pleasant desktop experience and the hardware lacked the processing power and RAM required to come near the performance of a cheap traditional laptop. I bet a laptop with Android 8 and a Snapdragon 835 with 6GB of RAM would work pretty well for more than half of the people currently using a Microsoft Surface or similar.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday November 14 2017, @03:08PM
I think Google is to blame. They don't recognize the opportunity. It is probably internal infighting and factions, just like what killed Nokia. But Android vs Chrome OS. Ok, now Chrome OS can run Android, so problem fixed, right?
How about if Google got behind a pure Android desktop OS? Introduced the necessary APIs so that developers could adapt their apps to run in dynamically resizable windows.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.