Riiiiiight...

Story: Can Android Blow Wireless Industry Wide Open?Total Replies: 7
Author Content
techiem2

Oct 13, 2008
6:18 PM EDT
Quoting: "It's way too early to tell," said independent telecommunications analyst Jeff Kagan, who has had an opportunity to check out the G1. "It's cool, it's great, it's definitely good software and definitely worth looking at, but it's not that different from the iPhone. They both basically do the same thing."


And another analyst totally misses the Open factor...
dinotrac

Oct 13, 2008
8:05 PM EDT
>And another analyst totally misses the Open factor.

Here's a question:

Is the Open factor important to the market?
tracyanne

Oct 13, 2008
9:00 PM EDT
No
techiem2

Oct 13, 2008
9:00 PM EDT
I guess that's what we're waiting to find out for sure.

If the fact that Apple uses their Apple store as a big selling point is any indicator, I would suspect that the open factor and being able to install anything without being tied to the corporation could very well be a factor IF those supplying the Android, etc. are smart enough to make a point of it. Obviously it wouldn't be much of a factor to the typical consumer if they don't know about it.

jezuch

Oct 14, 2008
2:14 AM EDT
Quoting:Is the Open factor important to the market?


I reckon Apple and snafus around App Store and stuff will probably make people somewhat kinda aware of it.
dumper4311

Oct 14, 2008
12:28 PM EDT
Sadly, I think tracyanne is right. People don't want to think, they don't want to be responsible, and they're not to concerned about preserving their freedom; the vast majority of consumers just want things to work.

It's easy to lose sight of this in a community like LXer that values freedom, but the simple fact is that Apple and it's ilk have gotten rich off users who want flash and gratification without being concerned about control. Appease the mass market's impulses, and they'll give you their freedom along with their money, as they don't perceive any value in it.

As techiem2 mentions, there will be a part of the market that values the freedom offered by open systems (that's why we're all here), but marketing, perception, ease of use, and feature parity all come into play as well.
tuxchick

Oct 14, 2008
1:17 PM EDT
I imagine the open factor is more important to developers. It's futile to expect analysts to have a clue, but we can wish.
dinotrac

Oct 14, 2008
1:41 PM EDT
TC -

Open will matter if it leads developers to do something with the platform that makes consumers go "Wow!". Otherwise, it's an asterisk.

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