Storm in a Tea Cup or..............?

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Technofreak

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Topic # 113142 7-Jan-2013 22:15

Tech giants mobilise for war

Is the Google V Microsoft thing just a hyped up news story to make it newsworthy or are we to see more "action" in the coming weeks/months.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10857574

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Wade

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Reply # 741320 7-Jan-2013 22:22

I believe the Google Maps issue is being resolved by Google, it was afterall "just an oversight"

FWIW I don't seem to have any issue viewing GMaps on my 920 browser

macuser

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Reply # 741321 7-Jan-2013 22:25

The biggest problems are with the 'mobile web' where Google has a strong monopoly on mobile oriented services. Email, Maps, etc. With the desktop OS things are easier, but since many features of mobiles are integrated at a deeper level, Google is using its monopoly in services to drive users to its platform, mostly by dropping non Google standards support.

Only reason Google makes apps for iOS as they have the user base that Google can't afford to miss out on...

mattwnz

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Reply # 741333 7-Jan-2013 22:53

macuser:
Only reason Google makes apps for iOS as they have the user base that Google can't afford to miss out on...

Can you see them making apps for samsungs new mobile platform? I can't. Even googles support for windows phones isn't good. I think google have turned, as they are now charging for services that were once free. But I guess the free services were never sustainable anyway in terms of a business model, it was to get people hooked to them.

macuser

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Reply # 741343 7-Jan-2013 23:31

mattwnz:
macuser:
Only reason Google makes apps for iOS as they have the user base that Google can't afford to miss out on...

Can you see them making apps for samsungs new mobile platform? I can't. Even googles support for windows phones isn't good. I think google have turned, as they are now charging for services that were once free. But I guess the free services were never sustainable anyway in terms of a business model, it was to get people hooked to them.

Isn't the point of Samsung's new OS is basically to be risk diverse encase working with Google's platform becomes too difficult? But then Samsung always has had a history of having its own second tier in-house operating systems. Their in house OS's probably have less 'licensing' costs because they don't inherit Androids legal problems so are better suited to emerging markets.

These 2nd tier OS's won't succeed in an developed market where ecosystem is the keystone.

I would just imagine that Samsung's board members don't like their future being determined by another company.

Technofreak

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Reply # 741417 8-Jan-2013 09:37

I agree Samsung probably doesn't want to have their future determined by another company.

I'm not so sure about an ecosystem being keystone to a market, I don't buy into that argument. Sure it may be important to some users and touted by some manufacturers as being important but for the majority of users especially outside of the Mac environment I don't think it's the case. In fact I know of Mac users who have an iPhone, Andoid tablet and Windows PC.

Most manufacturers cannot be so arrogant as to ignore other systems and they or second parties make apps that link with other systems. While they espouse ecosystems they have to provide interoperability to avoid alienating some of their market.

Geekzoners and the likes know what OS they are using, I would suggest most people don't even know what OS their phone or tablet uses. It comes down to what features are important to each individual user, an ecosystem is nice for some but not all. Humans are fickle, whats popular today is out of fashion tomorrow. Hotmail was very popular once then Gmail became the de rigueur, now Windows Live is becoming popular again.

Whether or not the likes of Samsung's in house OS succeeds in a developed market will depend on how good it is and the hardware the OS is put into. Samsung is a huge player and has the resources to make it work.

Also don't underestimate the power of developing markets, they have a habit of becoming a mature market. Some of these markets are huge, way beyond the size of the US market. They have the potential to dominate what the manufacturers decide to make and what OS they put their development money into. A second tier OS could become a major OS.

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macuser

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Reply # 741452 8-Jan-2013 10:18

Sorry by ecosystem I wasn't more suggesting that a device needs to have an ecosystem around it, aka have apps people want to use. I don't see most people caring if iOS or Android long as they can get Instagram and Angry Birds.

Regarding Tizen, I think it's a bit like there being over 1.4 Billion Series 40 devices, although there was java Maps and Gmail apps made for S40.

tdgeek

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Reply # 741456 8-Jan-2013 10:25

Well written TF.

To me, the question is, will app devs support extra and smaller OS's when they are meeting the early vast majority of the the market by writing for iOS, Android and Windows Phone?

Technofreak

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Reply # 741615 8-Jan-2013 13:49

macuser: Sorry by ecosystem I wasn't more suggesting that a device needs to have an ecosystem around it, aka have apps people want to use. I don't see most people caring if iOS or Android long as they can get Instagram and Angry Birds.

Regarding Tizen, I think it's a bit like there being over 1.4 Billion Series 40 devices, although there was java Maps and Gmail apps made for S40.

OK, now understand what you're getting and agree that so long as the apps a user wants are available they don't care what OS.

To follow from the apps thing there's a big deal made out of the number of apps that are available for an OS. There's 1000's of apps out there but how many are actually regularly used by a large numbers of users?

Regarding Tizen and comparing it to the number of S40 devices and the number of apps for S40. I think this is a false comparison. S40 phones were never really in the current apps market as most of these devices were not well suited for use with many of the "modern' apps as most screens were way too small. I think the Tizen phones will be quite suitable for use with the apps we have today and because of this will have an impact on the market.

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Technofreak

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Reply # 741635 8-Jan-2013 14:08

tdgeek: Well written TF.

To me, the question is, will app devs support extra and smaller OS's when they are meeting the early vast majority of the the market by writing for iOS, Android and Windows Phone?

Good question.

Some developers won't bother.

In the case of Sailfish OS being developed by ex Nokia employees (Meego developers) at Jolla (Sailfish has the same roots as Tizen) I understand that by using an "Application Compatibility Layer" that could be incorporated into the OS it will be possible to run Android apps. This solves the problem of not having many apps when the OS launches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolla Scroll down to Ecosystem

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tdgeek

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Reply # 741651 8-Jan-2013 14:22

Very interesting. Apple makes iOS devices, Nokia makes Windows Phone, Samsung makes Android, Windows Phone and Tizen.

Given Samsungs size and reputation, they can drive Tizen into one of the four predominant OSs. If its popular perhaps devs will provide support. As you imply who cares if an OS has 800,000 apps, you should find that Tizen supports the few hundred main apps as Samsung may step in to pay or subsidize to get the initial app base to cover the mainstream apps. Then it's a real option