Simon’s Blog

Up until today, one of the criticisms of Android was that the “desktop” looked really clunky.   That’s all changed.  It’s looking much sleeker now.  Check out what are the first demos of the new-look Android.

OK - so you’ve checked out the demos.  Welcome back! What were your first reactions when watching them?  Mine were (in order):

• Well, at the very least, Android is looking a hell of lot better than it did
• The particular device they’re using for the demo seems to run Android pretty quickly… so, the demos run well - which is a start!
• Hmmmmm… it sure looks like they’ve been almost totally focused on copying Apple’s work with iPhone.
• Why are they showing a demo of Pacman?   Surely, they have enough knowledge of the mobile space to know that every classic old video game ever developed has run perfectly for years on probably billions cheap Java ME enabled feature phones.

The first two points above are definitely positives for Android - it looks to be coming along really well technically as a mobile platform  The last point is a bit odd, but not too important - it’s just a really surprising of choice of demo. Having said that, it might suggest that Google hasn’t yet attracted big games developers to develop new games for Android, in the way Apple has done successfully with iPhone.

However, I think it’s the third bullet point that’s most important. I defy anyone to watch those demos, and not think, “iPhone”. Is that a good thing? Well, I’m not so sure it is.   The question is this: how are handset makers and mobile operators going to persuade consumers to buy an Android phone if the value proposition in the minds of customers is, “This is just like an iPhone!”?   Because if they do think that, the potential customers will say, “Well, I think I’d prefer the original iPhone rather than a copy; but thanks anyway.”