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I wanted to take a quick minute to point out an article today titled “Android Is Doomed” by Galen Gruman at InfoWorld/PCWorld. How anyone with any morsel of knowledge regarding the mobile phone industry could use “Doomed” in the same sentence as “Android” when writing an opinion piece is… I’d say ignorant at best.
So let me get this straight – seeing continuous innovation with new products as well as continued innovation on existing products through OTA updates is a BAD thing? Android users should tell Google and their carriers/manufacturers to stop sending updates and please stop launching so many phones? Fragmentation is a “challenge” but all platforms have challenges. And honestly, at this stage it’s great to see fragmentation is the main problem with Android – it’s mostly all rainbows and butterflies.
I could go on FOREVER about how this ridiculous, loony, nonsense article deserves to be deleted from the planet… but I fear I’ll waste my entire day writing what the vast majority of people with an IQ above 17 already know. Maybe this is the first time the guy has been on the interwebz in a few years – I’m not sure – but I guess he hasn’t read the statistics, the praise, the stock charts, the anything. Or maybe since is “co-worker” David Coursey already wrote about Palm being Doomed on March 1st, Gruman had to rewrite his own article which was on the same topic.
Rather than spend an entire day composing a “rebuttal” to a lunatic, I’ll just let you folks dispose of his viewpoint in the comments.
[polldaddy poll=2792357]
Oh before I leave… why does everyone at InfoWorld think everything is doomed?
- Rich Web Development? DOOMED.
- Operating Systems? DOOMED.
- Java? DOOMED.
- Firefox? DOOMED.
- Unit Testing? DOOMED.
BREAKING UPDATE: Infoworld has just extended their list of things that are doomed.
Have at it.
This article is a hilarious read and I encourage everyone to go check it out if you need a good hearty laugh. Eris shipped with 2.0? Nexus One is getting Sense UI to add multitouch? Some carriers updated their 1.5 and 1.6 phones to 2.1? “Sorry, Droid buyers — it too lacked multitouch and didn’t have a keyboard” – What does that even mean?
This guy is so funny. I don’t even know what to say or where to start. His facts are jacked, his idea about how OS OTAs work is jacked, the fact that he’s even writing about tech related stuff is – “evidently” – jacked. Go read it for yourself, I insist!
HAHAHAHA!!! I love it!
He sounds like an Apple fanboy, you can’t trust anything they say. They will buy anything with an Apple logo on it, and laugh at you.
I think its more of a case of trying to get a flashy story to boost readership and by having all the responses and catchy titles, they are getting what they want.
Infoworld used to be a great publication in print in the 80s and 90s. I even read it just a couple of years ago before they stopped printing. What’s the point of them now?
(Posted from my doomed Droid)
I have really had it with almost all media outlets as of late. PC World, InfoWorld, you name them. They let their “reporters” run any article/opinion they want to. You will even have two differing articles from the same outlet on the same day depending on the “reporter” writing the article. It’s all about the headline and grabbing attention, as there are always those for and against a topic. So rather than fragment readers they just kowtow to all of them to try to reach a wider audience. Heck, I could write an article that says that people don’t read web articles and get a million hits. ITS NOT NEWS ANYMORE!!! It’s just the opinions of the reporters.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! *snort* …MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
DOOOOMED! WERE ALL DOOMED! :)
lmao. i needed a good laugh today. thanks for sharing that article.
Although his facts aren’t exactly correct (Eris runs 2.0, Sense brings multitouch to all of Android, including Maps and other Google apps), he does have a valid point that I can’t help but agree with: their versioning is maddeningly frustrating. I have a Sprint Hero, stuck at 1.5 for the time being and will only get one upgrade. Every new app that is released for Android, and I mean EVERY ONE, is not available for Android 1.5. It’s very frustrating to have a 3 month old phone that cannot download one single f***ing piece of new coolness from the Market. It’s a terribly strategy to outdate phones released 3 months ago.
The iPhone and WebOS devices have it right: updates for everyone so everyone can have fun. It makes a device truly exciting to know you’re going to get constant updates from your phone-maker. Meanwhile, I’m languishing in wait-land for my 2.1 update from HTC. After that? Nothing. They’ve moved on and my phone is two thousand and late before it’s 6 months old while the ORIGINAL iPhone is still getting updates!
The Nexus One is the only phone that is supposedly immune to this as it’s Google’s baby. I would assume that, every time a new OS update is released, the N1 would be the first to get it.
I’d like to take a vote. Lets add “The iPhone and Apple” to the doomed voting list. Yeah?
I think you need to re-read the article, because you clearly weren’t paying attention the first time you read it. And you appear to have already edited your own article here, most likely because you realized your mis-reading.
once the Droid and Eris and other phones get their 2.1 update in the next month or so then they will find something else to criticize i’m sure.
hahahaha such dumb @$$.. seriously this guy needs to get out more often and get on the interwebz..
I’m going to sing the doom song now!!!
doom doom doo doom doom
doom doom do DOOM,
doomy doomy doomy
3 months later
doom doom doo doom doom
doom doom do DOOM,
doomy doomy doomy…
I think maybe these writers should go ahead and check some facts before writing all these doom prophesies.
I think I got dumber reading that article.
Fragmentation! OMG Fragmentation!
The android phone space will fragment into many incompatible devices! (Also please note: the sky is falling!)
Let’s remember back now. Before Android, the cell phone space was, um, EVEN MORE FRAGMENTED! Unless you count J2ME which was very much a “lowest common denominator” way to develop inferior applications that could run on LOTS of devices.
Otherwise, every phone had a different way to develop. There was:
* J2ME (just mentioned)
* iPhone (proprietary)
* Samsung’s TouchWiz (proprietary but worked across Samsung devices running various OSes such as Win Mobile, Symbian, etc.)
* Symbian
* BREW
* Other Linuxes (LiMo, Motorola’s homegrown Moto MAGX)
* probably something else I’m missing
Now Android comes along promising a unified OS for developers across both the device space and the carrier space. It is also the fastest growing. But OMG Fragmentation!
Seriously, will the android space be MORE fragmented that the disaster of how thing were (described above)?
chad,
Why dont you rootyour phone? they must be customized roms around no?
the point with android is that you can hack your phone as you wish as long as the manufacturer has released the kernel source
The first two paragraphs of this guy’s article are damn right. He even takes better examples than it is in reality. He says – “Who wants to commit to a two-year cell contract for an Android phone when it’s not clear if a better version will be out next month”. HELLO, IT’S NOT EVEN MONTHS THESE DAYS. Better phones are out HOURS after you bought your damn beautiful new thing. Meanwhile, iPhone users, who got their phones first, are already at the end of their multi-year commitment, and still get the same functionality as everyone.
Wow. That was a frustrating read.
The author has imagined a load of problems that MIGHT exist based on a few snippets they’ve read in other articles and formed a judgement without actually looking at how things are in the real world. They clearly haven’t researched the article, and haven’t spent any significant time with android devices.
The article reads like a misinformed amateur blog post of personal opinions, at best.
@baley, not all the phones are rootable, and not every ROM update you get from your carrier is rootable either.
I wonder if this guy has ever done an article on a a popular brand of first person shooters and what he thought of them.
Sigh. You should file this one away for “Claim Chowder”, ala Daring Fireball. Then you can rub it in his face a year from now.
PS – Paper is supposed to be dead now too. Paperless office. Well, not happened around my workplace yet…
Same functionality vlad? Really?
So you have the original iPhone at the end of its contract and have magically added GPS, a hardware compass, a higher resolution camera and a faster graphics processor to it then?
Now that IS clever.
Frankly, if Apple or RIM buys Palm along with all their patents, then Android is really doomed. I’ve been a strong Android believer till recently, now I really have doubts about ever switching my rooted HTC Dream to anything bearing Android.
The article is ridiculous. That said…
I’m going to point out the howls of indignation and fury over on the Verizon forums, from customers who are all bothered and anxious that they haven’t yet had 2.1 updates for their Droid or Droid Eris. And as another poster noted, there are phones still on Android 1.5, and most stuff in the Android Market requires at least 1.6 these days. Android’s hardly doomed but the fragmentation /is/ making adoption of it harder, especially among the techy-gadget-loving crowd who want to play with the New Shiny Stuff.
If you pick up, say, the Devour… it looks shiny! It has a decent keyboard! (Granted, anything would be better than the Droid’s keyboard. I love my Droid, but I never open the damn thing anymore since I found Swype.) And yet… the Devour is on Android 1.6. In a time when people are annoyed that their 2.0 devices aren’t yet on 2.1, here’s a brand new anticipated device which isn’t even RELEASED yet, and is going to be on a 1.x version of Android.
And the Devour is hardly the only one.
Add to that the many threads on android-developers about people trying to find someone with Device X to run Prototype Y for them and send them Debug Log Z, so they can figure out why Prototype Y doesn’t work on Device X without having to buy one themselves… well, the fragmentation does create development headaches.
So, no, Android is far from doomed. But neither is the platform without some attendant headaches and problems. Some like to overinflate the issues into DOOM AND DEATH AND DESPAIR, which isn’t really reasonable… but that doesn’t mean we should completely turn a blind eye to the issues. If we, as developers and platform supporters, pretend the issues don’t exist, in time they can /become/ the overblown doom-y scenarios.
I have to shake my head every time I read about Android Fragmentation for all of the same reasons that Rob Jackson mentioned here.
And speaking of other OS’s which suffer from not being able to update, my WinMo Dash won’t get WinMo7, this 5 year old computer won’t be able to run Windoze 7, (or even Vista). That old iMac someone gave me will never be able to upgrade to the latest OS.
I am really lucky with Android though, my early release G1 is running eclair 2.1 thanks to the devs at XDA!!!
I read his article, and the guy is a total moron. His argument is that technology advances so older devices become obsolete. Ok so technology is doomed. Too bad it also falls flat since there are clear timetables for a 2.1 release on several devices, and still plenty of homebrew stuff to keep “old” devices fresh.
The N1 not having a keyboard is a plus for some people, which is why some may abandon their droids for it, and I’m fairly certain it had MT apps, including the browser.
You don’t have to look far to see where this clueless blogger’s, yes his stature is nothing higher than that, alegiance lies. His ideal plan is fewer choices and a single OS on all of them, aka stagnation.
His last paragraph truly shows his ignorance. We are apparently unable to put anything besides a stock OS/firmware on our phones. So why are people still using the Hero and G1?
This guy has an Interesting Premise: The popularity of android is a problem.
It seems he prefers the iphone model where Steve makes users wait for basic functionality to be rolled every year or so (Oh and you usually have to buy a new phone to get it, or buy a new phone anyway cause your battery is dead!) (ie video, cut and paste, a phone that can actually maintain a phone call and be understood on the other end – iphone users still waiting on that last feature)
The article’s facts might be questionable, but the issue at hand is a real problem for Android.
Sure it’s a hackable OS and you can root and load anything you want, but how many CONSUMERS want to do that? Don’t confuse your average Android user (a tech savy individual who isn’t afraid of trying something a little risky) with the average consumer who just wants things to work, do all the cool things their friends device does and is no hassle.
Microsoft is fixing this to some extent with WM7. Base set of functionality and specs, no customer interfaces, multiple formfactors and manufacturers. More closed than ANdroid, but better than iPhone.
If I want my SO to have an ANdroid phone, she’d pick the Eris over the droid, but she’d be pissed because it works, looks, and acts differently than my Droid does.
doom on you, doom on you…i don’t even read half the articles on android anymore, most mainstream publications have reporters who just pull a bunch of info together and push it into an article with little or no fact checking. the firmware version seems the to be the hardest thing for most to comprehend. let them play in the sandbox, android has the rest of the playground
http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ainfoworld.com+doomed
I totally agree with your opening argument Kurt, that the chaotic nature of Android may hurt the platform’s acceptance with consumers. I’m not confident that WM7 will be significantly better, we’ll just have to wait and see.
But ultimately, I believe a true non-techie consumer of a phone will probably just pick a phone that they like, just like with a dumb-phone, regardless of the Android version (I doubt many are even be aware of the versions). Its just a list of features they’re interested in. The fact that the PLATFORM on two different phones is the same is irrelevant… to most people they are still two different phones. IMHO.
For the most part, Galen Gruman doesn’t have a clue; but he does have one valid point – Android updates do need to be managed better. I guess it is tough for manufacturers and cell phone providers to keep up with Google rate of innovation.
As someone who has owned three Android phones (Sprint HTC Hero, Motorola Droid, and Google Nexus One); I can attest that buying Android is difficult because each upcoming phone sounds better than the last (all three are great phones, by the way). However, that has always been true with technology. Something better is always around the corner. This is why Android is so exciting!!! But at some point, you just have to draw a line in the sand and buy the phone you want.
As for the Gruman saying Nexus One owners must feel like fools because the HTC Desire will be coming out soon with the Sense UI. The Sense UI is cool, but stock Android 2.1 is not bad at all. He misses the whole point of the Nexus One. This is a phone that Google has control over — not the manufacturer or the cell phone provider. This means that Google can roll out updates to Android as they become available. HTC Desire users will have to wait for HTC to update the Sense UI and their cell phone provider to give their blessing. In case you didn’t notice, there were no Sense UI phones for Android 1.6 or 2.0.
I also found it funny what he said about Apple’s iPhone and Palm’s webOS having a better strategy than Android. Over the last year, the iPhone has lost its leadership position to the Android (almost every review I have read seems to say the Nexus One is better than the iPhone). Do I need to say anything about the Pre and Pixi sales? In the meantime, Android phones have been eating up market share and press. By all accounts, Android saved Motorola.
It is clear that Android has some issues to address, but I am glad I am coming along for the ride. Right now, Android is the one to beat.
@ Chad
I agree. The article is almost complete nonsense but fragmentation is a huge problem and many Android enthusiasts keep ignoring it. All it does is create confusion and frustation for consumers.
Try getting a typical user to understand that HTC’s Sense UI is a custom version of Android and that as a result they won’t get updates to their phones as quickly as those that are not customized versions. Or that the apps on the market won’t work because of the custom version they use.
It’s not something mainstream users are going to want to hear or understand. Love Android but this needs to be addressed. Microsoft has finally done something smart with their mobile OS – NO CUSTOM ROMS. Let the diversification come from the apps, widgets and other things.
I want 2.1 on my Droid (without rooting) just like everyone but it’s not the end of the world if my phone stays with the version it shipped with…
iphones get a software upgrade once every year or two and Android is “doomed” because some people with a phone 6-9 month old are still running 1.5? Wow.
Galen Gruman: InfoWorld Troll of March 2010
Thank you, I needed some humor to help through the rest of the week,… If not I would have been DOOMED (^_^)
Another “enlightened” piece by the same author.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/188286/apples_ipad_will_be_the_death_of_the_mobile_web.html
Any kool aid left for the rest of the planet guy?
They can’t even research/get their damn facts straight: “Only SOME carriers updated their handsets to 2.1”
I’m sorry, did _any_ carriers or manufacturers update to 2.1 yet?
If you do a search on the author’s name you will see he is a MAC Fanboy. So; he’s not responsible; hes been brainwashed.
I just talked to the Galen Gruman on my doomed droid…
He told be to be careful when I’m driving home after work today because Traffic Lights ARE DOOMED!!
as well as coffee, movies, post it notes, electricity, and t-shirts.
Gettem while you can guys!!
Everything will be gone “soon” hopefully we’ll get 2.1 before verizon is doomed!
check out the letter i sent to the ppl at pc world.
this message is sent to you in regards, to the article written
by Galen Gruman, Google Android Is Doomed to Self-Destruct.
i am sorry to inform you that the facts on this article are extremely off.
please if you intend on writing any more articles about Android OS, and
devices running the OS get your facts right. because articles like this is not only
bad for Android, but for Pcworld.com as well since it shows that your staff is
uninformed and incompetent i am not implying that you should fire Galen Gruman,
but at least hire some one with actual knowledge on the actual Android OS
and related devices, since anyone who is looking for real info on the related subject
would happens to end up on your site, not be misguided to think that the article on
your website is true, when in reality it is not.
Hahahaha!! Oh man
I just got out of an exam and still have 2 more stupid classes and this just made my day! lol
I keep reading about all this update frustration.. fragmentation etc.. but no one ever gives an example of an app that they want that won’t work with their phone.. Maybe that’s a ne thread in itself.. exactly what apps are so cool that you are just drooling waiting for the update so you can run them ? ? ? ? ? … really, I want to know.
What a jackass .I think the only thing doomed is the remaining 2 brain cells this glue huffing nitwit has left,DROOOOOOIIIIIID! LIVE IT<LOVE IT<ANDROID-LIFE!!!!!!!!!
DOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMEEEED HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA I JUST CANT GET ENOUGH OF IT DOOOOOMED DOOOOM HAHAHAAHHAHAHAHHAAHAHHA WHAT AN IDIOT
Please apply a link condom to the link to galen’s article.
(see what link condom is here http://www.seomoz.org/blog/smwc-and-other-essential-seo-jargon)
Rob, why did you bite? You just gave that guy more publicity! Now more and more people will read it. I believe all this guy wants is fame. He’ll always be remembered as the guy who thought Android is DOOMED!
Disclaimer: I like both, the 3GS and the DROID.
Whereas some of his facts are not entirely correct, he does make a good point about the poor implementation of such a great OS. Phones are being sold that are incompatible with many apps available today (T mobile G1 and the Sprint Hero). Brand new phones that haven’t even been released yet are being designed with older versions of android that will eventually face the same problems of incompatibility with downloaded apps and unable to upgrade the OS. I really think that Google needs to get out in front of this mess and get control of it while they still can.
Will these problems cause android to be doomed? No. It is an exceptional OS and has tremendous potential.
Will it cause a great deal of confusion if Android implementation continues on this path? Yes. You can bet on it.
Will it cause some people to decide to switch to a more closed platform like RIM, Apple or Web OS? Yes. I’m sure some users that get burned or at least feel they got burned will do just that.
I owned a Motorola Droid for a few weeks and I must say I really loved the android OS, only returned it because I really didn’t want the extra size and weight of the physical keyboard and found the Eris a little lacking in the hardware department, not to mention I really despise Big Red’s customer service and their business practices and didn’t want to commit another 2 years to them. I will either go with Sprint or AT&T and get a Droid or 3GS. Leaning towards Sprint because their plans are so much more reasonable in price, but they need to come out with something better than the current Hero has to offer.
i can’t believe this was published
We’re all doomed. :(
love it from paris ;)
2012 is coming! we are all doomed but especially Infoworld/PCworld and Galen Gruman.
I love this article! :D
@james – Do you know why we love Android SO much? Its Because of the PLETHORA of different handset options Android has to offer, not 1 phone for 6 billion people but HUNDREDS of different phones for DIFFERENT individuals! What I REALLY love about Android is its unequivocal STANDARD setting of an OS which spreads the WEALTH/LOVE to everyone and not just one phone manufacturer who gets all the credit!
The above comment is DOOMED!
DannyB: Your comment just obliterated Grumans argument, like a nuclear bomb of logical reasoning.
Yeah, android was doom’d before: http://code.google.com/p/doom-for-android/
Now its kwaak’d: http://code.google.com/p/kwaak3/
;)
TAKE THAT iPHONY!!!!
@james and all the spewers of fragmented/incompatible nonsense:
1) The operating system MUST EVOLVE.
2) The operating system is BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE. That means that, for the most part, a 1.0 app will run on a 2.1 device.
3) WHY SHOULD every manufacturer be forced to upgrade all their devices to the newest version?
4) Almost all production devices have 1.6 (the exceptions are CARRIER specific, not manufacturer). Those complaining about HTC HERO being only 1.5…. well the HERO 2.1 dump has been leaked. IT IS COMING, and if you have root, you can use it RIGHT NOW on ANY 32A device (including magic 32A). Same for ERIS.
5) Drivers for 32A devices are compatible with 32B devices (in particular, HTC DREAM/MAGIC32B) — and the community is hard at work building system images of these with those drivers — should be any day now.
6) Rumor has it that 32B WILL get an official 2.1 update. (may be carrier dependent).
7) All of the so-called FRAGMENTATION is due to CARRIER and/or HARDWARE MANUFACTURER FAILURES and not due to the operating system.
8) You wouldn’t seriously hold EVERYONE back to an obsolete version of android just to enforce compatibility, would you?
Jojie M., I don’t love Android for the variety of the phones offered. I love OS itself with all its features. I actually hate lack of unified approach in rollouts.
To someone who asked to show an app that won’t work on different versions – just look through past two days of news here, and you’ll see.
Who cares if you do not have the latest and greatest. You bought your phone for the features it has and they do not suddenly dissapear when something better comes out.
He has an Iphone, THE IPHONIES. But he has a point though this Android 1.5 vs 2.0 vs 2.1 is kind of frustrating. I have to buy a new phone within 3/4 months and I am not even sure which one should I get. I am with rogers they will be offering Samsung galaxy Spica, and Xperia 10. I really dont know which one to get, or should I just buy Milestone from outside. Its very confusing right now :(
I can even wait few more months and Videotron will start the frequency needed for Nexus one.
PCWorld (InforWorld) is as bad as Applemodo (Gizmodo). I honestly wonder if Galen Gruman even takes his own articles seriously. Or does he just produce flamebait diatribe in an effort to draw reactionary traffic to their site. Then again that’s pretty much all Gizmodo does, and it works for them.
I just take these articles for what their worth, comedic value. The amount of kool-aid the Jobsians drink and the effect it has on them is fascinating tho. To the point that they truly believe freedom of choice is a bad thing.
Android may not be doomed but HTC might be. Read this article on cnet for as to why: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-10463629-266.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0
@Gunner – everyone is guilty of that “diatribe” a bit – definitely including me. I just thought this was especially extreme. And just for the record… I love Gizmodo :)
I love the 664 no’s listed in the story. HAHAHA
And props to guy who sang the Doom song
It’s like saying Windows is doomed because of all the different hardware it’s installed on and options on it…
Is this the same donkey that said webOS would be the next great thing? Look at how that has played out so far …
What a dumb@$$.
nooo, not megaman!
this is a very poorly written post on phandroids part
concerns about android are very valid, from the fact that you can buy a samsung moment, be outdated 2 months later without the ability to download any of the latest apps google has announced, to flagship devices, like the nexus one, having tons of issues.
android has problems. its extremely fragmented. updates take forever to come to users. you can buy a top of the line model and be outdated hardware wise and software wise in a month. game developers stay away because of how messy the os is, spanning across tons of devices, and there’s no real standard…be slow, be fast, be resistive, be capacitive! it doesnt matter, until issues about compatibility are revealed at release.
android needs to clean up its act and get tighter rules and policies if it wants to succeed. that’s the bottom line. it’s not doomed, but it needs reform.
Aren’t we even quaked? Or Heretics? That article is apple fanboy call of duty :]
Android is a very flexible OS doesn’t need to reform all what it needs is to continue its path with the awesome new mobiles and updates but maybe this year for Nexus and above they should make them the same updates
PC World is where garbage goes to collect. I wish there was a way to remove them from the news app on my nexus one. They seem to have some vendetta against Google.
Geez… He is RIGHT!!! People are afraid of buying the android phone because of the software version. No guarantee that the latest update was not the last one! We, who are on Hero are stuck with the FREAKING 1.5 and we will be stucked here for at least a month, which means no new apps at all! But screw us with hero, HTC Tattoo owners are not gonna get the update at all, and what about Motorola Devour? Brand new phone and it runs 1.6!! Ridiculous!
We in middle Europe still don’t have the option to PAY for our apps! If this does not change quickly and radically, android is DOOMED
Yeah… And BTW: XDA and other enthusiasts efforts to put the new versions through ASAP are not important for most of the public. Most of the people want a phone that works, not a phone to play with new custom ROM once every month.
While some say sure some is true some phones cant use all apps well if you buy the cheaper computer you can not play all the games on your computer and wow they still sell when you buy a phone that is cheaper on the scale you know not everything made will work with it since some games or apps will want to take advantage of the faster processors coming out in the newer phones DUH! use your brain guys. And man do I feel cheated after buying the Nexus one and not have Pinch to Zoom Oh wait I do have pinch to Zoom shows he doesnt stay up to date on what he is writing about.
@Furret I have a few friends with the hero and wow they get new apps all the time sure some are not compatible yet and they have stated all Android phones will get updated to 2.1 just a matter of time.I am sure you want all the features you had on your phone on it when it updates so you have to give HTC time to put the hero layer over 2.1 and test it or you might get a bricked phone like the Cliq update ;)
seriously, what was that asshole author talking about in his article.
redic!
I’ve known Galen for about 15 years.
He is, make no mistake, an Apple Fanboy. That said, the fragmentation point happens to be well taken. In fact, I said the same thing a couple of weeks ago: http://answerguy.com/2010/02/24/google-kills-droid/
And I’m NOT an apple Fanboy; I love Android and I love my Droid in particular.
Let’s be clear, folks: both the author of this piece and most of the respondents are sounding like fanboys themselves, here, just of a different type.
@Garet: I know I can get some new apps, but google, who is leading the way naturally, because it’s his platform, threw us literally off the board. Every new google app is requiring 2.X. And others simply follow the lead. And if you had been a Hero user, you would have been kind of dissatisfied as well, because the promised update is being pushed over and over again. First: Ensure- All heros get 1.6, then: All heros get 2.0 and recently all heros get 2.1 on February, then all heros get 2.1 in March and now, it’s all Heros get 2.1 in early Q2… And taking, that my country was at the very last place for the update to 1.5, the android version will be probably 3.5 before I get the 2.1 But whatever, I’m at least gonna get the update eventually, but what about Tottoo users? No update promised for them, though Tattoo features almost the same hardware as hero…
And what about the payed market? Pushed as well. It’s over 1 and half year or even more and still, nothing.
Yeah and one more thing… You guys have the Google navigation, right? All right. We don’t. And it’s sadly not the matter of android version… Once we get the 2.1, we can… anything but use the google navigation feature. How many people in my country would be willing to buy the Android headset, while there’s a 25 bucks pay as you go symbian nokia with full featured offline turn by turn navigation for free? Wake up, Big Brother, and do something, otherwise you loose, at least in continental Europe.
@Furret I cant argue the pay apps for europe I know canada is getting them soon or already I would agree you need them there also on all phones so they can make the cash to want to design apps for the phones.I personally am very happy with most of my experience with the android phones except now when I had a touchscreen problem with my nexus they wanted to old 500 Bucks until they got my old phone back Come on most people cant have 500 bucks in limbo land for more then a week but I argued until I got an agreeable exchange with them just have to use an old crackberry til they get mine and send a new one DOH!
the Apple wiener inches a little more snug into the bum of PCWorld…
Jeff: I don’t think it’s as big a deal as some others do. There is some amount of fragmentation, sure, but it’s not going to hurt Android too much. Most people buy phones for what they are, not what they’re hoping they could one day maybe be. Me personally – if you’ll see my first reply on here – my biggest deal with Galen was his huge amount of inaccuracies in the things he said. For me it led to the invalidation of his point altogether. Half of what he used to back up his “fragmentation is a huge deal and going to kill Android” argument – were failed points. As for your article: Well.. that article doesn’t really add much to the point either.. it’s all over the place and seems barely thought through. Anyway.. With any luck he’ll do a little more research in the future after someone links him to this article and he – hopefully – reads the comments.
@Garet Make no mistake, I am a great portion of Android enthusiast. I love the system right from the begining, I love the API, I love my Hero. But I’m starting to be really frustrated with how Google is wiping floor with us in Europe. And the HTC screw up with the actualization as well as the new cool apps from google made for 2.X only are just pouring oil into the fire. I can’t afford a new phone for 500 bucks and even if I could, the only way where I could ever buy it is ebay, since google isn’t even supporting a majority of Europe for the N1.
Anyway, these articles, no matter if written by Jobs worshipers or normal people are occurring everywhere around the globe, there is a twinkle (a huuuuuge twinkle) of truth behind them.
with an opinion piece like that… how about
“His career as a tech writer is Doomed” 8)
How does this lying retard have a job?
Get ready to laugh even harder. I did a search for “doomed” on Infoworld’s site and here is what I came up with:
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Why Firefox is doomed | Windows – InfoWorld
Jan 19, 2010 … The open source community’s favorite son is destined for the ash heap of history.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/why-firefox-doomed-143
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Palm is doomed; let the good-byes begin | Mobilize – InfoWorld
Mar 1, 2010 … The world has passed Palm by, and at some point it will run out of money and disappear despite its decent WebOS products.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/palm-doomed-let-good-byes-begin-965
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Is Java as we know it doomed? | Open Source – InfoWorld
Apr 21, 2009 … Fears abound that Oracle may reshape Java for more cash, setting up conflicts with IBM and the open source community.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/java-we-know-it-doomed-298
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Is unit testing doomed? | Developer World – InfoWorld
Aug 11, 2008 … The agile app dev revolution may be over, as unit testing adoption appears to stumble.
http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/unit-testing-doomed-697
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Are operating systems doomed? | Developer World – InfoWorld
Dec 26, 2008 … The new philosophy of application development is making the traditional OS irrelevant, but what are the implications for enterprise IT?
http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer…/are-operating-systems-doomed-086
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Analyst: ‘Pizza box’ servers doomed in virtualized datacenters …
May 6, 2009 … When it comes to virtualization, pizza box servers don’t have the power or density to compete with larger servers or blades.
http://www.infoworld.com/…/analyst-pizza-box-servers-doomed-in-virtualized-datacenters-622
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Rich Web development: Is the browser doomed? | Developer World …
May 12, 2008 … The Web is evolving into a full-fledged app-delivery platform, calling into question the browser’s ability to fulfill the needs of today’s rich Internet …
http://www.infoworld.com/d/…/rich-web-development-browser-doomed-087
This guy is as dumb as it gets… “Compare this self-demolishing behavior with Apple’s iPhone strategy and Palm’s WebOS strategy:a few models each year, with the same operating system applied to all of them and made available for previous models immediately” yeah because the first iPhone obviously has MMS support… nice research
Troll article intended to gain publicity and hits. Won’t click. No pageview from me.
So I was looking in my book of Nostradamus quatrains, looks like we are doomed!
“The great empire will be for Apple,
The all-powerful one for more than 10 years:
Great forces to pass by wired & wireless,
The Androids will not be satisfied thereby.”
So.. why are you wasting your time on writing an article in response to someone who is supposed to have 17 as IQ? When a dog barks at you.. do you write an article against that dog?
If you live outside the US you may consider OS “fragmentation” as a real problem. I bought a Milestone in december and I’m still waiting for 2.0.1 there’s a different version for every country/carrier combination.. but.. never mind.. you(article writer) are so bright and so hilarious…
This author is writing for PC World – the last time I looked at that magazine for serious information about computing I was probably about 12 looking up the latest and greatest Pentium II Packard Bell. Android already has a solid base that could maintain it, not to mention how many partners and backers it has, not the least of which is Google itself. I think Apple is overconfident right now and I hope this will really backfire on Apple and knock them back into reality.
@ Furret,@ Christian, @ et al…
Look, if you bought a phone with a wrapper on top of Android, well that’s just tough cookies, I don’t feel for you AT ALL.
Exactly what the hell did you think was going to happen? That the wrapper would be magically able to work with any future framework changes? There’s a reason that software is versioned with X.Y number schemes: The y value is for incremental updates, and the x value is for MAJOR updates. SO, if you have 1.5 or 1.6, they aren’t that different from one another, but when you go to 2.0 or 2.1…well it’s a bigger change, and that means that your SenseRosieTouchWizScreenBlingMotoBlur is going to break. Tough shit.
Those of us with vanilla Android have a cause, you whiny bastards can get to the back of the line.
He makes a good point suggesting that Google release versions of Android in more of a Microsoft software release time frame. Releasing a new version of Android each quarter is way to confusing for consumers and those trying to build on that OS. The Android OS releases are cool but they need to be more professional.
Has anyone seen this tools resume? If not check it out and get some insight on this guy.
http://www.zangogroup.com/galen.html
Here are some of the “better” points
-University of Southern California
Bachelor of Arts December 1983
Journalism and political science, with a minor concentration in international relations.
-Packaged (edited, designed, and produced) several books for Wiley Publishing: iPod Fully Loaded, iPhone Fully Loaded
-Editorial director for several leading national magazines and online properties, such as Macworld, with proven ability to balance content with business needs and create a compelling product for the target audience
(notice his use of the word “balance”)
-Jokecity
the iphone will be doomed at the rate android is growing, be afraid apple be very afraid.
“…as phones come out with different versions of the Android OS, with no clear upgrade strategy for either the operating system or the applications users have installed…”
Cause I’m sure a company as large as Google has no clear upgrade strategy. I’m sure from the experience we have all had with Google so far that they just throw software at us without improving it. Hmm, Google search, Google Earth, Google maps, Google Mail just to name a few. I’m sure has no plan for upgrading Android. Sorry InfoWorld, you are not the be-all and end-all. Google does not have to report every detail of their work to you. But please, continue to make us laugh, it’s good to laugh once in a while :D
@J. I don’t care what you feel, but yeah, actually, sense could be mad so it could be more adjustable to further versions and the updates can be release more often. On top of that, there are people with plain Android, that are on 1.6 as well, so STFU.
oh man – the tattoo is not getting 2.x update? What a way to find out – you could have broken it too me gently. Are you sure about this???
alaos on PCWORLD :
Android Gains Market Share, Apple iPhone Slips
Android’s growth has been pretty spectacular over the past few quarters according to Quantcast, a web analytics firm.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/190853/android_gains_market_share_apple_iphone_slips.html
How is this going with the article ?
Thats so hilarous!!!!
Best wishes from doomed Germany :D
At least nobody said it is. At MWC was clearly stated, that Hero and Droid Eris are in the queue for update. Nobody mentioned Tattoo. Of course I’m not sure, I don’t work for HTC, but they would have mentioned it, don’t ya think?
J, you just sound like a moronic fanboy you are. No one here talks about Rosie stuff, that’s a given. We are talking about regular shit we download from the Market. And don’t explain me about old-new computer crap, I bet I’ve been in IT business longer than you learned to type.
I am an Android enthusiast, I bought mine on the first day it became available in my country, Canada that is. I know what root is, and I know all possible ROMs and rosies I can go with right now, but I’m telling you – there are serious problems with Android’s strategy. And for many of us first users/adopters it’s frustrating, because we don’t know what hardware to upgrade to, just because uncertainty of the platform.
DR. DOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That guy had too much apple juice, the kind that coming out of steve job’s p*n*s.
An ex-editor for InfoWorld was caught lieing about memory leaks in windows 7, and confessed that InfoWorld pushed him to do it because articles like that bring in page views and ad revenue from angry readers that know better.
InfoWorld “fired” him after they were all found out.
Heres his confession
http://exo-blog.blogspot.com/2010/02/editorial-confessions-of-internet-shock.html
bought me a hero, showed my gf, she was amazed, told the other day i wanted a htc desire, she said what the fuck is a desire and why i need a new phone when mines does more shit than her i7500 (and she loves her i7500), told her about 2.1 and live wallpapers, she gave me that look like your such a fuckin dork and just shook her head…
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@Baley from March 4, 2010
“chad, Why dont you rootyour phone? they must be customized roms around no? The point with android is that you can hack your phone as you wish as long as the manufacturer has released the kernel source”
Bailey, my phone is rooted. Problem is, open source or not, the phone’s kernel is very modified for the phone it’s in. You can’t very easily port a 2.x ROM to the Hero because most things (bluetooth, camera…) won’t work until HTC releases a kernal that works with the specific hardware on the Hero.
I’m running Fresh ROM, which is still 1.5, still incredibly laggy, and still can’t download squat from the Market because it’s not 2.x. :-)
The only way an OS can be totally awesome is if they use an iPhone or WebOS strategy to update their phones.
Someone PLEASE think of the children!
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/05/entelligence-will-android-fragmentation-destroy-the-platform/
This guy is totally right. Everyone should be using the same platform(apple) and the same O.S. This is ridiculous, I mean who doesnt want to be a clone or a part of a cult. Only a fool(everyone who doesnt use apple) would want something like CHOICE or VARIETY. But most of all to be an individual who likes things their way and not the way I tell them. This Android platform allows people to think for themselves and OMG customize. WTF is up with that? Oh wait…That does sound kinda good. Apple is DOOMED.
HOLD UP, Apple does offer choice(16gb or 32gb,black and white) and u can change the picture on the lockscreen. Man, How is Android going to keep up with that? Android IS Doomed. Just Kidding, now Im just going to sue them with a bunch of nonsense lawsuits because we are not scared of u Android. Apple 1 Android 0
For consumer’s’ the fragmentation is great because it provides choice.
Thats not the problem.
The problem is for the Android app developer trying to maintain deployed apps on multiple Android devices.
I wrote a detailed blog post about why I think Android may be “A Tower of Babel OS” back in November.
To read my detailed thoughts on this topic click http://telecomdisruption.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-android-tower-of-babel-os-guaranteed.html
Christian
http://www.infoworld.com/search/google?cx=014839440456418836424%3Ahugs45or03k&cof=FORID%3A9&query=doomed&gl=US&safe=off&form_build_id=form-29e9fd7c7ed095cb2b015c96fbdd36bd&form_id=infoworld_searchbox_header_form#966
ROFL they have allot of stuff doomed :)
PC World’s formula is to write inflammatory articles solely to drive traffic to their web site to inflate their ad revenue. An inspection of their articles reveals a sad excuse for journalism and an obvious ploy of writing articles in a certain way to drive web traffic. By responding to PC Magazine articles, you are simply playing into their hands. That is, you are giving them what they want, driving more traffic to their site. The best thing you can do is to simply ignore them.
Of course Android is doomed, the real competition is not Apple (different audiences), it’s the open source Symbian OS. Currently Symbian holds roughly 35% of global market share while Android hold’s roughly 5%, this might not seem like a big deal, were it not due to the fact that for the last 4 years Symbian has been decaying and really falling behind, yet Android has barely made a dent. Basically Android has been adopted by manufacturers with a small global market share, while Symbian despite its many many faults, is used on Nokia devices in the main, in terms of numbers, Nokia sell more than Apple/Blackberry/Motorola and HTC combined, globally.
The upcoming Symbian 3, really brings the Symbian OS bang up to date, and with the rumored Nokia N8 being the first device to run Symbian 3, outside of a few fanboys, Android is pretty much doomed to be a niche OS.
iPhone OS is doomed. Blackberry OS is doomed. WebOS is doomed.
Honestly, while all three of them have nice OSs and cool features, I don’t think they’ll survive against the open source OSs (with the exception of Windows Mobile, because that sucks). The fight is really between Symbian and Android. Both are fantastic OSs, and both are on several phone models from a number of manufacturers (Android has HTC, Samsung, LG, Huawei, Acer, Lenovo, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Dell and Symbian has Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, Lenovo, Siemens, Samsung, Panasonic.) Symbian have been around for years while Android is relatively new in comparison.