[stonetools]

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

Interesting related article in the Guardian.

that's a good article. Money quote:

Amazon, by building its own app store, has the chance to overturn the established order; it's the first proper challenge that the iPad will face in terms of a rival that can offer not just a product, but also something to fill the product. If it really succeeds, it could even draw developers out of the wider Android Market and into the Amazon app store exclusively. Once that starts to happen, Google will have a dilemma: is it good or bad if more of the money being made out of Android app sales is going to someone else? Will Amazon lock out rival tablet makers such as Samsung from its app store? (I expect so.) Is that good or bad for Android on tablets? What should Google do?

And there's Google's problem. Its relationship with its users is too like Microsoft's. Instead it needs to be more like Amazon. But competing there would cause problems too. Android for tablet sits on the horns of a dilemma: what it needs to succeed – a content retailer about to challenge Apple – might be what kills off rival makers. And if Google tries to change the rules of the game – say, by insisting that Amazon open its app store – then it could break everything.

I think its clear that Amazon's offering is much more of a headache for GOOGLE than it is for APPLE. After all, Amazon will be competing directly with Google at first by offering a separate app market, book store, and video store . Once Google Music rolls out, they will compete in music too.
Apple, meanwhile, can exist in "splendid isolation", while those two fight it out for king of the Android hill.
The issue will be decided, not on which of the two has the best hardware geegaws, much less " openness", but on which of the two offers the best buying and user experience to the person who buys their tablet.