I guess consumer GIS and mapping services don’t count? Email? Blogs (remember when your personal site was choked with yahoo and geocities popups)?

Google is moving into new markets so they will fail!? Again, GIS, Keyhole.

You people are out of your minds. Buy iPhones if that makes you happy. I am not knocking Apple’s accomplishments. But don’t pretend Google has not succeeded at anything when the past six years has seen nothing but unprecedented growth and successful products/services — even if you don’t personally like them.

I personally can’t stand the way Apple locks-in and strangles their own customers. But if having a device whose name starts with “i” makes you happier, then buy the Apple device.

The point of the SDK restrictions is that iPhone cannot possibly compete with an open source mobile platform with those kinds of restrictions. This ensures the iPhone market will always be a small niche of Apple fans.

I think the difference between Android and “everything else” is that the viable alternatives to Android aren’t very good… thats the purpose in Android. Combine that with the fact that 30+ companies are backing its success, including manufacturers creating handheld devices built specifically for the platform who will contribute millions of marketing dollars to make sure they float… I think the power is there to make it work. Android just has to be “good enough” when it is released.

A lot of what will make it “good enough” is a wealth of applications and a huge number of consumers who are using the applications and able to connect with eachother BECAUSE of the applications. Those two remain to be seen.

Just because Google hasn’t “hit it big” with anything besides web search doesn’t mean they won’t on the “next try” – you can’t deny that Android has huge potential. Look at Gmail and Google Maps… these are services that AREN’T search functions that have gained mass appeal.

I just think Android has all the stars in alignment for revolutionary success. Although, I am willing to admit that your argument does hold some weight and in that sense is a fair criticism.

I wont say that Apples software is bad, as far as I know its actually very good. Lets just hope that we wont see another war in the industry like the one between MS and Apple. It wouldnt do anyone any good.

I can obviously see the interesting applications that are not able to be created — at this time — but that doesn’t mean that all interesting/useful/popular applications are nixed because they can’t run in the background or run interpreted code. There are going to be thousands of programs and games available for people to download that fully comply with the restrictions, and a whole lot of iPhone owners will be going crazy downloading, comparing, and reviewing these apps. Also, the SDK is currently in beta and Apple is actively seeking feedback to make it better, so there might be some restrictions lifted and functionality added in the coming months. So if the things that make Miner upset about the SDK are remedied, what will his quote sound like then?