Comments on Vikram and Neha: The cell phone battle between Apple's iPhone and G...

Hey Vikram! Happened to visit your blog / website ...

2010-01-04T18:56:23.023-08:00

Hey Vikram! Happened to visit your blog / website today. Interesting stuff!

Very well written and insightful. To Apple's...

2010-01-03T12:04:15.805-08:00

Very well written and insightful.

To Apple's advantage however and what differentiates them from the Microsoft monopoly is that they actually have an excellent product - people will choose to give up flexibility of choice because of that. And I dont blame them - at the end of the day, if you have a good product that works for you - it doesnt matter that everything comes from the same provider.

If the Android phones can give the user the same end user experience as the iPhone, people will switch and Apple will be forced to eat humble pie. Until that point though, Apple can dictate terms.

"Let Google remove its apps from the iphone o...

2010-01-03T10:24:04.793-08:00

"Let Google remove its apps from the iphone or how about stop leechng from WebKit and LLVM"

Hahha, you really don't have any background at all, do you? WebKit came from the KDE KHTML project a long while ago, which was a freely-licensed open source browser engine for KDE's Konqueror browser.

Apple took the freely available code, modified it, and used it to create WebKit and Safari. They refused to release the source code for months and months until eventually capitulating under increased threats from the original copyright holders.

If there's ever been a company that has leeched off of open source development, it's Apple. Take a look at what they do with Samba, for example - it's one of the most crucial components of the Mac OS, because without it you can't interact with a Windows network. Apple has contributed essentially nothing to the project, financially or code-wise, and yet they rely on it.

Apple is the would-be monopolistic company people should be worried about - but too many have drank the kool-aid to see for themselves what the company intends.

Frankly I don't mind an Apple control world wh...

2010-01-03T08:48:44.785-08:00

Frankly I don't mind an Apple control world when it makes the user experience a breeze and not a chore.

Frankly goog control on my data frighten me and only fanbois believe their no evil maxim.

Goog control of search and ad space and now the smartphone OS began to me feel very uncomfortable of their agenda.

KBConsulting, I would recommend learning something...

2010-01-03T08:19:52.853-08:00

KBConsulting, I would recommend learning something about the permissions structure on Android apps to see why apps can't take over the phone.

Anyway, good job being a troll.

Yes a world controlled by Apple will be a very dif...

2010-01-03T00:32:25.867-08:00

Yes a world controlled by Apple will be a very different place a world where you won't worry about what card you have or your dsl router settings.
A world with out worry about malware.

Android's open app capability is just waiting for people to crash you phone and take it over.

Google is a great company buy has a very limited vision and no marketing or esthetic. I would be much more worried about Google losing their hold search than Apple losing the smartphone market.

You cannot use the Droid (CDMA), but you can use ...

2010-01-02T15:27:30.760-08:00

You cannot use the Droid (CDMA), but you can use most of the HTC phones in India, they work on GSM, much like the iPhone.

Xbox, PS3, and Wii are gaming consoles. The point is that mobile phones are taking over what a computer did, not gaming consoles. You seem to miss that.

Both Google and Apple contribute to open source, so I don't see what your point is. Care to elaborate?

Cheers.

Android without Google ID is available. You could ...

2010-01-02T15:16:06.390-08:00

Android without Google ID is available.
You could flash your developer phone:
http://www.cyanogenmod.com/about
Or you could buy a device which has no Google ID requirement:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Hero
Like the HTC hero, there are many Chinese manufacturers that are using Android on their device without tying with Google. None of these devices require a Google login.

Google spying on you is an interesting point.
1. If you are paranoid, you can buy a developer phone, and use a firmware that does not require a Google login. Can you buy an iPhone and install a software that gets around their device lock, legally?
2. If you are wary of Google, are you also wary of Facebook and credit card companies? Are you wary of your cell-phone company (which has minute-by-minute information of where you are, who you called, where you live)? I hope you don't use AT&T, which tapped many phones without warrants?
3. In Ken Auletta's book, he talks of a situation when Google was asked to hand over information without a subpeona, and they refused while Bing agreed to hand over information. Are you sure that your views are supported by facts?
4. Is there a single case where Google abused the information in any way? As a comparison, Apple *has* abused its iPhone control repeatedly, to disallow apps that competed with them.
5. Google does make changes to its policies to comply with the local law. Would you wish Google did not follow the law?
6. How do you know that the iPhone platform *is* respecting your privacy? Many independent people have looked through the Android source code (it is freely available). How many have done so for Apple's source?

My point is that a lot of privacy concerns about Google are ill-founded. You could sign out before doing searches. You could clear cookies, if you are concerned. Finally, employees at Google are keenly aware of privacy issues: our families and friends are Google users too. And we know what a death-blow it will be if we misuse the information. There are many ways in which you can find what information Google has for you, like the Google Dashboard (https://www.google.com/dashboard/)

I don't agree with trading one master over another. If the platform itself is locked out, you might not have any further choices. As a perverse example: the iPhone OS might force you to use Google for search, then what will you do?

So we have a choice of Google constantly spying on...

2010-01-02T14:08:35.525-08:00

So we have a choice of Google constantly spying on us or Apple locking down the device? I know which one I choose.

When Google allows you to use Android without a Google ID, then you can talk about Apple's draconian control. Until then, it is just trading one master for another.

riddle me this Einstein. How many companies are of...

2010-01-02T13:51:06.514-08:00

riddle me this Einstein.
How many companies are offering
iphone in India.

Can you use you droid in Indis.

Can you play any program in XBox,
PS3 or WII.
Who told you iphone was a pc.
Was it market as. Will the
new Chrome OS let you play desktop apps.

Let Google remove its apps from the iphone or how about stop leechng from WebKit and LLVM