Friday, November 09, 2007

Why gPhone could fail Google

Last week's much anticipated announcement from Google turned out to be not much of of what most people wanted to hear. That is, it wasn't actually a Google gPhone. That said, a major development was announced. That announcement from Google was essentially:
If a gPhone arrives, it will have a consortium of stakeholders interested in its success from developers to carriers. But there is still no actual gPhone, just a group of people dedicated to its success. Incredible.

Apple has done an interesting thing with the iPhone, something it has continually done with the development of such products as the Apple II, the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone. It has set functional and design benchmarks that have been, and will continue to be emulated until their relevance is no more. That day seems far, far away.
Currently, Apple is very relevant. The iPhone and and iPod are the hottest thing in mainstream small electronics. And they still do computers, by the way; computers with...panache.

Google is of the same ilk. The company was born of the desire to locate information on the Net, and has become synonymous with Web 2.0+. Many look to Google for the Meaning of Net. Google is the Net oracle for what shall become of the Net. Its relevance is felt far beyond the simple search. With Google Apps and all other products over the last five years, it has become, along with MySpace and Facebook, well, the Net. An entire generation, from about 2005 to present knows of no other more prevalent brands than Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, MySpace, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Target and Facebook, and probably in that order.

But to date, a major Google failure has not been seen. Shareholders, in the face of a subprime meltdown and an ever weakening dollar, find inspiration in Google, whose shares have risen nearly 1000 percent since it's IPO. The gPhone might be the next big nothing. Google must come up with a more relevant offering than Apple's iPhone for longevity's sake. If not, Google might just be facing it's big disappointment. And Google is not really used to disappointing. In that realm, they can take a few pointers from Microsoft, a company with a huge amount of cash and leverage that still couldn't deliver what the consumer expected with its release of Vista. The story goes that Vista was released in a hurry so as to beat Apple's Leopard to market. Leopard, although released six months later, was well received and lauded by critics as a stellar OS. This further marginalizes Microsoft's position as THE OS factory. Google take notice! While the android platform is very exciting, and the group of companies and developers that have signed on is encouraging, above all, the product has to make the buyer, well, fall in love everyt ime she turns it on. Otherwise, you're stuck with Vista

1 Comments:

At 9:11 AM, Blogger Jim Neitzel said...

Interesting angle, for sure. Love reading your stuff.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home