T-Mobile Launches G1 Android Phone -- Three Application Stores Open -- Some Apparently Confused By This
By now you all know that T-Mobile is launching the first Google Android OS cell-phone, the
G1. You probably know that the launch happened yesterday, and you may know that three separate Android application stores opened at the same time.
The folks over at
ReadWriteWeb have a
nice write up comparing the various stores. Nothing earthshaking in it really: they're just application stores, after all.
The curious thing to me is that they seem to be getting all twistie about the fact that there is more than one place to get applications.
Quote:
Along with the device itself, the Google Android Market also went live. [snip] However, the Android Market isn't the only place to get apps. Both Handango and MobiHand have app stores of their own. Will this open ecosystem be good for the "Google phone" or will it lead to consumer confusion?
[big snip]
Uh-oh! It's only one day into Android being publicly available and already there are three different places to shop for apps? Google's Android Market will feature free apps at first, with paid apps not being included until next year. Meanwhile, paid applications today are found in two non-official stores, each with different pricing for the exact same apps.
Say whatever you want about Apple's locked-down ecosystem, but there is simplicity in knowing there's only one place to get apps (well, unless you're voiding your warranty through jailbreaking, that is). What will people think of all these Android stores? We're worried that these parallel marketplaces could lead to consumer confusion. We love that Google has gone the open route with Android, but Apple has been successful doing just the opposite. That makes us wonder: is "open" still a way to compete?
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Perhaps they're just looking for a way to put some interest on the piece, but it raises an interesting thought in my mind (well interesting
to my mind): where did this idea come from that the only way to succeed is to do things the way Steve Jobs does them? I mean that's worked out so
very well for them historically.
Sure, the iPod is a raging success, to the point that there is even a
semi-organized anti-iPodian movement. And the iPhone has caused a pretty big splash, but I think it may be a bit too early to call it a success on the scale of the iPod (personally, I suspect that many of the iPhone buyers are at least partly driven by a desire to combine a phone with their beloved iPods, an iPodPhone if you will). But those are merely two successes in a long string of what might be fairly characterized as mediocrities. They still have their flops, certainly,
Apple TV doesn't seem to have taken off as they must have hoped.
It is
completely fair, of course, to compare the Android phones to the iPhone, because Google is positioning the G1 as a direct competitor to the iPhone, but has the free market mindset
really warped into a "
company store" mindset so quickly?
How many folks out there are truly concerned that having a whopping
three stores to choose from will actually
confuse consumers? Particularly when the G1 is by its very nature aimed more at folks who
don't want to join the Apple Collective? We live in a world where having three
Starbucks to choose from on any given block is more typical than it really ought to be, will three separate storefronts be a proverbial
Gordian Knot?
They invite comments on their site, so you don't have to share your thoughts
only here. Oops, there goes that "consumer choice" cat right out of the bag again!
So what about you? Are you "confused?"