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Google's Better iPhone
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Today’s Google-Verizon marriage means feature-rich phones will now be available on the top wireless network—and spells the end, writes Douglas Rushkoff, of Apple’s dominance.
I feel a large dose of schadenfreude whenever iPhone users get dropped in the middle of their calls with me. Somehow, the failings of the overtaxed AT&T network (through which all iPhones must connect) make me feel better about staying with a cheaper, less feature-rich phone on a more reliable network.
If today’s announcement of a Google-Verizon partnership plays out as planned, that's a tradeoff we won't have to make anymore.
That's right: The biggest and most notoriously closed wireless carrier on Earth is partnering with the biggest and most open Internet company ever, to bring Google's new Android phone platform to users who want a truly expandable smart phone, yet still require a robust and dependable carrier.
Verizon has learned the most important lesson for a technology company: The easiest way to make money is simply to do something really well.
I first played with an Android about a year ago, when handset manufacturer HTC gave me a demo unit of the first Google phone to hit the market. The phone and software were very cool. Problem was, I couldn't get a signal in my neighborhood from the phone's exclusive carrier, T-Mobile—and it ended up being the first free handset I actually sent back before the demo contract had expired.
By partnering with Verizon, Google guarantees its Android system will be unencumbered by such networking issues, and capable of serving the kinds of enterprise and corporate customers who purchase a few thousand contracts at a time for their employees or sales forces.
The Google-Verizon marriage is big news, not least of which because it throws a tag team into the ring with greater technological and financial reach than its adversaries, Apple and AT&T. It's an interesting and counterintuitive matchup. Apple is offering the highly branded, very advertised, closed, and consumer-ready phone operating system, tied to an Apple-produced device (the iPhone) through an exclusive arrangement with AT&T. Google, on the other hand, is giving away a phone operating system to any handset manufacturer who chooses to use it, and requiring its network partners to utilize open standards when implementing it.
For Google, those open standards mean handsets capable of using Google's latest and greatest potential killer apps, such as Google Voice—a free suite of phone applications so useful they threaten to make many aspects of pay telephony obsolete. That's why Apple famously banned the application from its iPhone store.
For Verizon, however, it means the final step in a reversal of policy. Remember, this is the same phone company that has successfully leveraged its "best network" status to offer the most limiting software and expensive contracts in the industry. Verizon's versions of handsets often lacked basic features—like file exchange or emailing photos—because the company wanted to sell these services itself.
Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam began to see the error of his ways in 2007, when he realized that his company's take-no-prisoners policy was fine with big businesses (who don't like employees using unauthorized applications, anyway) but an increasingly tough sell to regular users demanding more flexibility from their cellphones. After visiting Europe and Asia, and seeing how freely a cellphone culture can actually work, McAdams decided to adopt an "open-access" policy right alongside its closed one.
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The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
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Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
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Douglas Rushkoff, a professor of media studies at The New School University and producer and correspondent for the PBS Frontline Digital Nation project, is the author of numerous books, including Cyberia, ScreenAgers, Media Virus, and, most recently, Life Inc., released this month by Random House.
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bobdow
As a tech professional working in an OS X environment, I'd say Apple has the edge on their established market because of ease of use and reluctance to change. (VHS Betamax anyone?)
Android is awesome, and I welcome the competition in the marketplace, but most current users aren't going to switch... they are going to hold their breath until the AT&T exclusivity ends and Apple allows another crappy U.S. partner in.
There are decent phones on better networks, we know that... but we are already hooked on the iPhone, the apps an the easy sync with iTunes.
If I was Google, I'd leverage Google Business Apps and give new Android phone users a year of Premium to get them hooked. They would get Postini spam protection, 50 gigs of space, a calendar and contact database that syncs with their new phone right out of the box. That's a better MobileMe for less.
Verizon sales people could have customers set up with a personalized domain and account in 10 minutes.
bgeasyas123
What do you know, someone working in the apple world believes they will hold the competitive edge......just wait and see what happens because the only "ease" that you refer to is itunes, and that will no doubt works it's way onto Androids.
flyoverland
but, do they belong to the Chamber of Commerce?
sophia5
I've had "questionable" customer service
experiences in the past with AT&T,
and won't even consider the I-Phone at this time.
Any chance cost effective quality competition
would break an AT&T monopolistic stranglehold on the I-Phone,
opening it up to other carriers ?
Are exclusivity contracts between
one carrier and one phone model so unbreakable ?
It's a turnoff to many consumers.
tnflyboy
Ah, yet another iPhone killer... I grow weary of these. Exclusivity contracts are a huge turn off, but what the iPhone has going for it far outweigh the occasional connectivity issues (personally I can't remember the last time I was dropped from a call, the 3G service area could definitely use an upgrade though). One of my coworkers put it best when he said something along the lines of "Apple is for people who like Linux but would like it to run more solidly and who don't like to search for and download new drivers all the time."
Good luck Android. The simple fact that the iPhone remains the yardstick that consumer smart phones are judged against shows how big of a hill they have to climb.
sophia5
Why do I get the feeling Mr. Rushkoff has "Apple" Envy,
and should I take this article with a grain of salt ?
A few of his previous articles about Apple and it's users don't seem exactly "glowing."
Matt572
Why would articles about apple be glowing? Apple is the AOL of hardware, the idiot-proof pc. And who do we build idiot-proof things for? Oh yeah, idiots... The same things that keep one person from screwing their device up and needing a fix keep someone else from making it work better for them. Apples are designed to be one size fits all. Just like straight jackets.
Ahimsa
Matt572, you have never used an Apple device, haven't you...
Brendino
@Matt572 - Macs are only "idiot-proof" in that you can do everything you need to do out of the box. And also that they don't get as many viruses (though I know that's really only because of their smaller market share, no one goes after them). I think that the GUI is actually a little less intuitive than Windows for a beginner - OSX is more list-driven, while Windows is a little more task driven. With the Mac, you have a list of applications in the Dock. With Windows, you have a start button. With OSX, you have the Preferences Pane with a list of options. With Windows, you have something more intuitive.
As someone who's had a Mac for two years now, I find that power users (not a Terminal kind of power user, just someone who does a lot of work on their computer) can get a faster workflow going on a Mac. So it's not just one size fits all - I've done plenty of customization.
Matt572
Ahimsa, have you got excellent grammar... and I'm posting from an Ipod touch (now running linux, I admit I haven't used Mac software extensively in a few years.)
bravian
"If today's announcement of a Google-Verizon partnership plays out as planned, that's a trade-off we won't have to make anymore."
The history of this industry is littered with failed partnerships and neither Verizon or Google have a track record in this area. You are making a huge assumption here.
DayJub
Verizon has no track record of working in a partnership?
Weren't they formed by one of the largest mergers ever in US business history?
NickGonzo107
Apple's biggest mistake was getting into bed with AT&T. I am a huge Apple fan, but AT&T is an awful company with miserable customer service and coverage. I was praying Apple would end their exclusive contract with them, hopefully it will happen sooner than later.
velvetsmog
I disagree. Remember the "old days", when companies like Verizon and TMobile would dictate to mobile manufacturers what hardware and software would go into each device and how the device's software would function? It's only because of Apple and Cingular's (now AT&T) willingness to throw this model out the window that we have decent choices for mobile phones. Apple and AT&T should be thanked, as they are the reason we have the Android platform with the MyTouch and G1 and the Palm Pre.
Mr. Rushkoff lacks a basic understanding of our lackluster mobile internet infrastructure that all mobile companies suffer from. The only reason Verizon hasn't shown its cracks is because the devices they have green-lighted thus far have sucked. Wait until an Android phone is picked up by a few hundred thousand people and sucking up the bandwidth. I'll be glad to celebrate Mr. Rushkoff's pains with a bit of schadenfreude myself.
The idea that Verizon wants to marginalize itself and become a commodity mobile internet and voice pipe is laughable. You're drinking the VZW kool-aid, Doug. They aren't willing to give up the additional ARPU service add-ons like VZNavigator would bring them.
jomama
I work in the industry the above is not quite true. Only Apple has been able to toss 'the 'old model' aside because of their special position.
velvetsmog
You realize that the reason AT&T's network is suffering is because internet usage for the iPhone set is nearly 10 times that of its nearest competitor phone. Verizon only has a stable network because they foster mobile devices that discourage mobile internet usage. If usage goes up, network quality and stability goes down.
This is why I hate when journalists try to act like technologists.
Brendino
Yeah, but isn't Verizon's network bigger? That's what their ads say at least. And does more coverage = more bandwidth available?
curiousbluedog
Not true. I too like Macs better and love my Iphone. And I get it that the Iphone has put additional stress on the AT&T network. However, AT&T was terrible before the Iphone. In my town of approximately 350,000 we have never been able to get cell service in the downtown buildings. It's kind of funny-- you get to know the AT&T customers because they are the ones out on the street with their mobile phones trying to get a signal. Still, I love the Iphone.
DakLak
The cell industry is where the landline business was when Carterphone came along and challenged ... AT & T.
The Apple business model is terrible for the user as they control everything their product does.
The communications networks should be like an electrical system with the user free to plug in anything they wish to or, in the case of cell phones, use any certified product that conforms to regulator specifications.
Google should be congratulated on breaking up these technological dictators.
kyuuness
I, for one, am quite ecstatic at the news. I think what a lot of you naysayers don't realize is that there is actually a population who is quite anti-Apple but for the most part deals with it, as there is no reasonable alternative. If anything, hopefully this will open the market for smart phones.
Verizon has fios. I think it'll be okay.
Ahimsa
LOL, Anti-Apple. funny.
PC's are crap, but who would be anti-PC?
Some people have too much time, or are in desperate need for something to hate.
Ease up, it is just a phone that you don't have to buy if you don't like it.
soporifix
Anti-Apple, but you "deal with it" because there's no alternative? Last time I looked, Apple was thrilled to be gaining a 10% market share in PCs.
In the smart phone market, I can count at least two dozen off the top of my head that a person can buy if he or she doesn't like the iPhone -- in fact, has to buy if he or she isn't on AT&T. Sounds like the market is pretty open already.
amigosito
Douglas, you are smoking some serious crack rock.
ChileConCarnage
No offense, but I don't think you understand how normal people think. Yes, you would theoretically be right if the world were full of mouth breathing tech nerds like you, but we live in a world of singing wall mounted bass and microwavable breakfast sausages wrapped in pancake batter. When it comes to your average person, style will always beat the living shit out of substance, hands down. Style is where Apple excels. I myself am part of the so-called iPod generation, for example. They've elevated the iPhone from more than just a smart phone, but a status symbol. Despite terrible word of mouth, scathing consumer reviews, and endless attacks from their competitors, Apple and AT&T have them lined up out the door, and they'll do it again next year. Unless this phone can suck your dick, it will be a blip on the radar, next to the HTC Hero, The G1, The Pre, and all the other phones that likely wouldn't exist if not for the phenomenal success Apple has and will continue to enjoy with their iPhone.
Sent from my iPhone
KofTX1
couldn't have said it better myself!
anxious-appliance
What if you have a pussy?
hammer
1) Verizon will slow to a crawl if the Google Android platform is successful. 3G data requirements would place a severe constraint on any system. The AT&T system has been dogged by the iPhone data hog. The same would be applicable to Verizon.
2) Microsoft is the odd man out. AT&T has hooked up with Apple and OS/X. Verizon has hooked up with Google. Microsoft has T-Mobile.
3) Microsoft's software ability has been unsuccessful in cracking the Apple dominance in hardware elegance and usability. There is severe doubt Google's software abilities could overcome Apple's excellence in hardware and usability.
4) Google makes its money in paid search. There are limits to growth in that business as the advertising market has retrenched. The Google/Verizon hookup will generate more usage on the Verizon network. But, how does Google make money on Android if it is giving it away for nearly nothing. And does Verizon have to spend tens of billions to upgrade its system to handle the added 3G data requests.
4) Smart phones are okay today, but in 5-10 years they will be unbelievable in their capabilities. Apple will be there.
TravisStark
So since the Android's going to be a iPhone killer that must be an Android featured in the picture with this article. Oh, wait. It's not. That's an iPhone, isn't it?
Ahimsa
I'll believe it when I see it work.
Until then, this is just a copy of a very innovative product and platform that came out years ago; it is feeding off somebody else's technological revolution. As far as I know, Apple's products are beaten only in price by competitors, not in quality of performance or user experience. AT&T sucks, not the iPhone.
Veronicaxy
"partnering with the biggest and most open Internet company ever"
You need to do more research on this assumption (ironically Google search can help out here). Let me get you started. There is so much to this story, will show itself over time I'm sure.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/28/google_android_developers_reacti on/
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