Android’s Broken Development System
CNet writer Molly Wood has an interesting piece today about the problems with Android’s version fractures. For those of you who don’t know, Android is the name of an open source mobile operating system developed and supported by Google. Its primary purpose is to offer a free mobile OS that can be used by any mobile device maker. Though it’s unclear how this project drives money to Google, it has brought a lot of attention to Google. The OS has been featured on such popularly covered devices like the Motorola Droid and the Google Nexus One.
Since devices like the Droid have been heavily covered, and feature branding derived from the operating system’s name, you may be wondering what Google could possibly be doing wrong. After all, they’ve done well in the media and Android’s market share is definitely growing. Android has been successful, but the issue comes from its widespread adoption. Because Android is ending up on a wide variety of devices, its development is trapped in limbo. On the one hand, the software keeps advancing (up now to version 2.1 on the Nexus One); on the other hand, the newest versions don’t work on some devices released just months ago. Customers who paid top dollar for an Android-run phone now have a handset that is out of date and may have no ability to upgrade their OS to take advantage of new software and new features. This is a big problem for Google.
Clearly, technology will always keep advancing. Buying the best computer available today will always result in owning a computer that is not the best 6 months later. Buying the best cell phone today will mean paying more than if you would if you waited a few months. But because Google lacks control over what Android is installed on, they are faced with a difficult puzzle: either delay Android updates until it can be tested on all possible devices, or keep advancing Android at the expense of device compatibility. Neither is palatable and both options reveal flaws in Google’s strategy.
Delaying Android updates to complete full testing on a wide range of devices means that Android can’t adapt quickly to keep up with competitors. When Apple releases its hugely anticipating iPhone OS 4.0, it will be the talk of the town and will likely have many new features that Android will seek to imitate. If Google is forced to pause its own development in order to test those new features on the myriad handsets already running Android, they will be releasing their next update far after Apple, making Apple appear the only innovator in the mobile OS market. Google must keep advancing if it hopes to continue to compete.
But constant advancement means great pain for consumers, including the reduction in value of an Android device. Apple controls this by releasing both updates to hardware and software. When iPhone OS comes out, it will likely come preinstalled on the newest iPhone hardware. But it will also be available as a free upgrade to current iPhone owners. That means iPhones that are 2 or 3 years old can still have the latest and greatest software. At some point in time, hardware limitations on the oldest iPhone models will prevent them from running the newest software, but even then, Apple will not have sold those models for years.
This is opposite from Google because they have no control over what Android version is put on phones. Android 2.1 comes on the Nexus One, but you can still go buy brand new phones (like the forthcoming Motorola Devour) that feature Android 1.6. It is entirely possible that this won’t matter to the average consumer, or that the tech-savvy consumer will always go for the better hardware anyway. But the problem is that the iPhone is designed to appeal to both groups, and Apple’s complete control over the hardware and software gives them a leg up in terms of product clarity.
Maybe clarity won’t win the day and Android will overcome Apple’s market share. For phone makers, however, overall market share of a mobile operating system matters naught. Motorola needs huge success of one or two particular models in order to justify expense and become profitable again. That means they can’t settle for selling a million of one phone and a couple million of another. The success that Motorola should hope to achieve is represented by Apple, who sells just a few variations on the iPhone (2 currently, with 2 sizes of memory in the 3GS model) and sells tens of millions of them.
The worst part is that this whole debate is unimportant to Google. Their goal is to propagate Android, and then use the success of the operating system to make money. They have no stake in successful integration between hardware and software, because they aren’t the ones building the phones. In the end, it could come back to hurt them, especially if Android never really takes off. But right now, it looks like the only one getting hurt is the consumer whose new top-of-the-line Android phone is likely to be eclipsed by totally new features available just a few months later.
Related posts (automatically generated):