Google vs Apple: Google Doesn't Need To Win

http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/05/google-vs-apple-round-1.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+oreilly%2Fradar%2Fatom+%28O%27Reilly+Radar%29

This article has some interesting analysis on the Apple versus Google battle in the mobile phone arena and in general. Not sure how it will turn out, but it is good to see that Google realized early on how important the mobile market is, and got in the game in a big way.

Key quotes from the article:

"Making money selling mobile ads requires that Google keep the smartphone market open, plural, competitive."

"Google's big advantage in the smartphone wars may well be precisely that they don't need to win."

"Google's technology is way ahead of anything Apple is offering, or likely to offer. Streaming music from your desktop is only one example. Google, not Apple, is offering what customers want."

"Apple's response to Google's claim that they are shipping more phones was 'so what, we have more market share.' Lyons says he's heard that before, it's the song of a company that's losing and in denial."

"It's easy to think that Apple fell apart in the late 80s and early 90s because a clueless Pepsi exec booted Jobs and took over. But the real story, if you're old enough to remember, is that Jobs mismanaged the company after a series of stellar technical triumphs. History appears to be repeating itself."

"Apple will not be able to take Google on in the areas of connectivity and cloud computing as long as they insist on a closed platform. Not because Google's FroYo features can't be implemented on a closed platform, but because it just wouldn't occur to you to do so. Furthermore, you can only go so far telling customers that you know what's best for them."