Begun, the phone war, has.
Steve Jobs has been fairly vocal lately about what he thinks of Google. He’s been quoted as saying that Google’s “Don’t be evil” company policy is BS and that Google is out to destroy the iPhone. Now I can’t confirm or deny that Google is evil, but I can say one thing about Google wanting to destroy the iPhone… Duh? Google is a competitor and up until a few days ago, a fairly civil one. I don’t think that it was coincidence that Google announced multi-touch for their apps on Android (only the Nexus One for now) the day that Jobs called their policy BS. Of course Jobs’ remark was made after Google CEO Eric Schmidt made this comment about the iPad “You might want to tell me the difference between a large phone and a tablet.” So the once partners (Eric Schmidt used to be on Apple’s board) and then friendly rivals are now just plain rivals.
This can only be good for consumers. Google has got a fire lit under them now and will be cranking out the Android updates as fast as they can. Meanwhile maybe Apple will find the magic that is supposed to be in the iPad. Of course they can’t just forget about the iPhone. And on that front they have introduced even more rules into the app store. Developers can now, no longer make reference to Android (like if their app won the Android Developer Challenge) in their app descriptions or apps themselves. They have digitally thrown down the gauntlet.
I’m also interested to see what Microsoft comes up with in their mobile devision. They knocked it out of the the park with the Zune HD so a phone based on that would be pretty incredible. Microsoft became complacent and content with their place in the mobile world until Apple came and unleashed the iPhone. Apple is in danger of doing just what Microsoft did; that is, stagnate and assume that you will always be the leader.
It’s going to be an interesting year and I personally can’t wait for the upcoming throw-down of innovation and technology.
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I actually wrote this about a week ago and now saw this infographic that sums it up pretty well.
