Android too Versatile? Google’s Response: Nexus One

Versatility could be Android’s greatest strength but also its greatest weakness. At this point, Android has only Apple as a significant competitor. Blackberry, Palm and Nokia’s platforms are significantly lagging in app development and mass appeal. All the hype coming out of CTIA revolves around Android and Android alone. As of mid-February, 60,000 Android handsets were shipped per day. Now we’re seeing demos of tablets that run Android, cars based on Android and even home appliances. So, what can be wrong with an operating system this versatile?

Compare Android with Apple which has tightly controlled its user experience. Apple designs the hardware and software. It now rules the App Store with an iron fist. This approach, distasteful to some, has created a consistent user experience. Apple has dominated marketplace in terms of apps and hardware sales (especially if you lump together iPod Touch sales with iPhones). Contrast that with Google’s approach with Android.

Android is primarily an outgrowth of Google’s “openness” doctrine. It’s a way for Google to insure that it can get its advertisements to your eyeballs. The development of Android was ingenious because Google has virtually eliminated the risk of being shut out of the mobile market. While it appears likely to lose the Apple faithful’s eyeballs, it will clearly clean up on the rest of them. The central question remains: Will Android rule the world as Google intends?

Some have criticized Android for “fragmentation,” which means that different handsets are running different versions of Android. While this has been a serious problem, it appears that most newer handsets will launch with Android 2.1 and the underlying OS will be consistent across manufacturers and carriers.

I believe the single biggest threat to Android is simply branding. Unlike Apple, which controls the user experience, Android can be molded into just about anything. The ability to mold Android is a great strength, on the one hand, but a serious weakness, on the other hand. Awful Android hardware is bound to make it to market (like the upcoming Kyocera cheapy phone demoed today at CTIA). Say a person purchases an Android phone with a defective antenna. That person may become soured towards Android even though the fault was unrelated to Android. Or an Android car made in China is known for engine fires, etc.  I’m not saying the public is dumb enough to blame the OS for every hardware failure but this “open” user experience could actually harm the Android brand vis-a-vis a closed Apple-like ecosystem.

Further, the “open” user experience leads to significant inconsistency. When Android is molded, the software can take on completely different forms. A Sense UI experience on an HTC handset varies considerably from an experience on a Sony Xperia 10 which differs from an experience on a Kyocera cheapy phone. This further diminishes the brand.

Android was probably primarily developed to keep the pipeline open between Google services and phones, just as the Chrome browser does on the computer. Nonetheless, the brand remains centrally important to its widespread adoption. This leaves Google in a dilemma. It could regulate the Android experience and regulate the ecosystem (i.e., toss out traditional “openness”). This could lead to better branding and a consistent user experience. Perhaps Google would have better marketshare if it took this approach. However, the “do no evil” company would probably drive up the cost of handsets, alienate the open source community and slow the adoption of the OS in favor of marketshare. Instead, Google chose a completely different approach but primarily out of necessity. It released its own hardware with HTC that satisfied Google employees who rigorously tested the Google Nexus One. It set the bar by which other Android devices are measured. Google wasn’t looking to necessarily outsell the upcoming HTC Incredible, for example. I believe it was simply looking to protect the brand by demoing Android on well designed hardware and avoid regulating the ecosystem it has fought so hard to keep “open.” Think of the Nexus One as the model by which Android should be measured. That’s what Google wants you to do.

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