Originally Posted by jswinden
Okay, I've been told I was too abrasive for my reply to Apple being a closed garden. For that I apologize. I guess I'm still too entrenched in academia wherein that is a normal type of response. But I can see where it might not be considered appropriate in this forum. So again, my apologies.
Here is my kinder and gentler reply to the walled garden metaphor. Take it as you will, believe how you want, but I see the metaphor as being incorrect, and here is why.
Apple and Google pretty much have the same apps available to their customers. Apple filters out bad developers, developers who abandon apps, apps that can cause issues or trick customers out of money, apps so badly written that they are a ripoff, etc. IMO that is good as it protects the customers. Google doesn't seem to filter much, and IMO that is a bad thing as you can easily get malicious apps. Google doesn't seem to care much about their customers security. Amazon, well they have their own store separated from the Android one, they do seem to do some filtering to protect customers. I see no walled gardens among any of these companies though, at least as far as app availability goes. Apple is very protective, Amazon a little protective, and Google not so much, but essentially you can run the same apps on all three companies devices.
What about 3rd party services. You can run Netflix, Hulu, various TV apps, Pandora, Spotify, etc. on all three companies devices. No walled garden there either. Amazon and Apple both have their own music service, but both allow competition. Not sure if Google has a music service.
As for my iPhone and iPads, I can run Pandora, Spotify, other music services, Netflix, Hulu, other TV services, Amazon Alexa app, Gmail app, use Google calendar, read Amazon Kindle books, etc. So where is the walled garden?
Basically Apple is very proactive in matters of customer security. Amazon is somewhat proactive in same, and Google, well not so much. Good security does not equate to a walled garden though.
It remains to be seen if Apple will allow other music services on their new HomePod. They allow same on other devices though. Amazon allows other music services on their Echo devices. Even if Apple doesn't allow other music services that doesn't make them a walled garden since all their other devices are open to other music services. I suspect Apple will allow them on the HomePod at some point. It just makes better business sense in the long term.
We have been hearing this "walled garden" metaphor for as long as there has been iOS. I see no walled garden though. I see added protection. The same kind of security I expect my property taxes to provide in my neighborhood and city. Without good security we have the possibility of many bad issues occurring. If Google doesn't want to have the level of security that Apple uses, that is their business. If you are cool with that, then so be it. But just because Apple has a bigger security force than Google does not make them a walled garden.
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