So I’m finally back with another blog post and I  figured it was about time I covered something actually geeky. I’ve been following the whole iPhone movement very closely over the last couple of years.  The one thing Apple will always be known for under Steve Jobs is its ability to tremendously hype up new products whether or not they are actually any good.  Sometimes they create really innovative products like the iPod and iPhone but then there are other times when you get products like MobileMe which are DOA.

All in all I believe Apple produces very good products that come from its strict standard for design and customer service.  However as with any company of this size, there will always be problems that crop up some of which are unavoidable and others that are totally caused by bad management decisions.  Although I am an ex Apple employee, I will never claim any knowledge of why they make alot of their decisions concerning their product lines, other than a decision has to be made and stuck to.

Sometime in the next month or so, the first phone based on Google’s Android operating system will finally be released to the public in the form of the HTC “Dream”.  While this has been talked about across the net, the months leading up to this release have seen the public interest in Android drop substancially.  I’m sure some of this has been caused by the release of the iPhone 3G and a slew of other mobile phones across the market.  A certain percentage of this decline can probably also be attributed to the lack of marketing from T-Mobile and Google about this device and operating system.  Unlike Apple they seem to be taking the top secret approach, only allowing bits and pieces of information to be leaked out at any particular time.  I’m not exactly sure if this is the way I would handle the product launch, but we’ll find out soon enough how well it works.

Outside of marketing, there are a few reasons why Apple should ultimately be concerned about the release of Android and any devices that are built to run it.

Android is open source

Pretty much everyone has heard of open source software but the general public has never really cared much about it, due to Microsoft’s death grip on the personal computer OS market.  The main reason this will be important is the same reason the iPhone is so popular, applications.  To date Apple has reported millions of downloads from the App Store.  While the standard iPhone software is definitely nice, the true power of the iPhone is in the hundreds of custom applications that have been developed for it.  This also does not include all the apps that were developed and installed before there was a true iPhone SDK.

The biggest issue with the current business model for iPhone applications is that it is too tightly controlled by Apple.  First of all, to even begin using the iPhone SDK you must own a Mac.  Then to get your application listed within the App Store you must meet very stringent guidelines developed by Apple for rule compliance.  On the other hand with Android, developers can use a SDK that has been ported to Windows, OS X and Linux.  Apparently the powers that be at Google understand the success of Android lies in the applications that are developed for it, and are willing to make sure they reach the largest number of developers with their tools.  Even though a lot of developers are not currently taking advantage of these tools, I believe many more will once devices are released and the true power of Android is allowed to shine.

Android is open source

I repeat this again because the second reason why this is important is that Android is not tied to any particular piece of hardware or phone carrier.  This is hugely important because it frees Android from any device or carrier limitations.  Apple has a long held belief that the best way to maintain the quality of your product is to oversee every aspect of it.  This is why Apple is the only company that legally makes hardware to run their OS X software.  Ever since Apple’s inception, except for a brief period when they allowed cloning, this has been the case.  Many industry pundits attribute this rule to the reason why Apple has always trailed Microsoft in operating system popularity even though they arguably make the better product.

If Apple is the only company that makes both iPhone hardware and software, yet any company is allowed to make Android hardware and any developer is allowed to develop software for it, you do the math.  The biggest reason for most people not switching to iPhones has been simply the requirement for them to switch cellular companies and incur contract termination fees.  Additionally many people, myself included just don’t want to deal with AT&T’s service.  However over the next year, I’d be willing to be every major carrier will support some device running Android.

Android is Google

Google is the new Microsoft.  Almost everything they touch turns to gold.  They have the money to invest in any of their products to make them successful.  They have the brand name that instantly makes even the most non technical person curious.  A few weeks ago, they released their new Chrome browser and while I was hesistant at first, I almost use it exclusively now.  Sure it has problems rendering some sites, but it doesn’t crash nearly as much as Firefox has lately and it has nowhere near the compatibility issues as IE.  More importantly to me it runs on the Webkit engine which also powers the mobile browsers in Android and the iPhone.

I like Google because they get it.  They start with a simple idea and grow it until it becomes something greater.  The most important part of that sentence is that they start simple.  So yes the Android interface in its current state is very simple, and thats what I like about it.  Over time Google will invest more into it until it becomes a near perfect product.  But also in the meantime if I need something that it doesn’t offer I can probably find an application out there that does it.  And if even that doesn’t work, I have the tools I need to do it myself.

All in all Google runs the internet whether any of us like it or not.  Getting into the mobile game was a brilliant move for them because they know that’s where the Internet is headed.  I haven’t figured out how to predict the future, but one thing I will predict is that Android is going to be a game changer sooner rather than later.