A bunch of things have happened recently that seem to be pointing to an inevitable conclusion in mobile devices – Android is going to die, and if HTML5 comes around soon enough and with enough developer support, the mobile operating system as we know it might die as well.
The most recent cluster of news in the space consists of Samsung agreeing to a patent licensing deal with Microsoft over Samsung’s Android devices, Samsung joining forces with Microsoft and Intel to work on a new mobile operating system based on Linux, Google buying Motorola to bolster it’s ability to mount a defense of Android (which should have the unpleasant effect of scaring away the other OEMs who push out Android phones), and Amazon launching an Android-based Kindle Fire which aims to be an ipad killer. Oh, and Spotify’s partnership with Facebook is coming to fruition, proving to be a rather genius way to ween people off of itunes (i’ve barely opened itunes since starting with spotify, and once I can open spotify through Facebook on my phone, I may never touch itunes again).
How does all this information fit together?
Amazon is going to get hit with a patent infringement suit from Apple really fast. Then Android is going to die.
Apple has been aggressive, to say the least, in attacking the Android ecosystem with patent suits. Microsoft has done the same. The combined effect? Companies will be wary of putting money behind a system that may get them sued into oblivion. If Amazon somehow evades the ire of the anti-Android coalition, maybe Android is saved as a potential OS to compete with Apple’s iOS. But given Apple’s aggressive attacks on Samsung in Europe over tablet competitors and their attacks on the Android ecosystem in general, I wouldn’t hold out hope that Amazon is going to get away with launching a major Android tablet without Apple taking action. Maybe there is hope beyond the Kindle Fire, but I’d also wager that if it fails, it’s going to be the last major Android tablet to come out. Android tablets have done absolutely horribly this year, to the point where retailers are having to discount them to almost half-price just to move them. Given the lukewarm reception and patent woes, it’s a bad investment for companies to keep cranking out Android tablets. If companies continue to be exposed to massive patent suits for using Android, it’s only a matter of time before the entire OS collapses.
Facebook is in a better position than ever to become the mobile company they plan to be.
Facebook has been vocal recently about wanting to be a mobile company, and if their Spotify partnership is any indication of where the company is going, I think it’s only a matter of time before they become the default starting location for all things on mobile phones. I was lukewarm on Spotify when it launched – my review of my initial experience concluded with a passing grade of “B” for the service, but that was on the first day it was available in the US. I said I wouldn’t still be paying for the service after a month, but 2 payments later and I’m still using it. I can’t stress how important Spotify’s partnership with Facebook is in my mind – this partnership puts Facebook in position to attack the core of iOS – iTunes. As I mentioned, iTunes is going to die in the face of this partnership – Spotify + Facebook nails the social element of sharing music unlike any prior service, and it just simply offers more than iTunes at this point. So Facebook has an iTunes killer now (only a matter of time before Spotify runs inside Facebook), they’ve got big dedicated app developers (Zynga, EA, Kabam, etc.), they’ve already had messaging and chat, we know they are working on an app market based in HTML5, and the newsfeed is an excellent homepage if you snap a basic web browser on the top. Plus users are comfortable navigating Facebook, so the transition to Facebook-as-operating-system would be seamless for most. Only a matter of time in my mind, and if Facebook approaches device-makers who are frustrated with Android and looking for an alternative, Facebook could make major in-roads into mobile almost overnight.
Google+ can’t transition to mobile like Facebook.
Why can’t Google do the same thing with Google+ that Facebook is going to do with… Facebook? They could, but they don’t have nearly what Facebook has in terms of critical user mass, nor do they have the partnerships in place to transition app developers to Google+. Developers don’t work directly with Google on Android apps like Facebook developers do with Facebook, and if Android dies anyway, the transition from Android to a different Google+ system would likely be more rocky than for Facebook to move developers from web to mobile (especially if web IS the mobile OS… it’s like the twilight zone). Also, Google is tied to Android now with it’s Motorola acquisition, making a transition away from the OS unlikely.
So I’m liking Facebook right now, I think Google is in a tough spot with Android because of the patent issues (forced to buy a company to acquire patents to defend an ecosystem that other device-makers don’t want to be a part of if Google owns a competitor), and Amazon has to really really hope that Apple doesn’t notice that they just launched an Android tablet.
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