> Turns out, Apple’s run of incredible products (and growth) has been achieved with a staggeringly low R&D spend. How low? Apple only spent $4.6 billion on R&D over the past four years, while revenues soared from $25 billion to $43 billion. > > In contrast, Microsoft spent 700% that amount on R&D during the same period, a whopping $31 billion, while growing at an anemic pace, despite flippant M&A. Likewise Cisco and Intel spent about 400% as much as Apple on R&D – $19 billion and  $23 billion respectively. These are astounding differences above Apple’s research and development spend, especially considering that during this period Apple developed the iPhone and iPad. > > In fact it’s rumored that Apple brought the iPhone to market for a mere $150 million, doing so organically without acquisition outside of a touch gesture recognition company named FingerWorks. Apple is doing more with less, and growing from within instead of acquiring from without. That takes clear leadership and singleness of vision, which is what all of Apple’s competitors seem to lack.

It’s all about focus.

Google seems to be following Microsoft’s strategies much more than Apple’s lately. They acquired 40 companies in the last four years, spread their product base all over the map, launched a few epic duds, all in pursuit of the “all or nothing” approach. They are literally buying companies just to keep them away from competitors. And none of it brings them any income. I wouldn’t call that leadership or focus.

> You can see the tethering and wifi hotspot features in the screenshots above. One thing that isn’t clear from the information we’ve received is whether carriers can turn this feature off, or even charge for it, unless they break away from the standard Android build. > > This is, of course, terrific news for Android users. I still believe Android phones, [paired with Google Voice](http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/09/how-i-learned-to-quit-the-iphone-and-love-google-voice/), are the closest thing to mobile nirvana to date. With tethering and wifi hotspot features, Apple and others have some serious catching up to do. So Froyo will have the capability to tether, just like the iPhone OS has been able to for a year now. And whether or not you will ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO USE that tethering will depend on your carrier, just as with the iPhone for the past year.

And Arrington’s conclusion: “Apple and others have some serious catching up to do.”

Ok. Just making sure I’m reading that right.

Prediction: No carrier will allow tethering for free. At the very least, AT&T won’t allow tethering on Android devices at all.

What am I saying? None of the AT&T Android phones are going to be able to run Froyo, anyway.

Verizon is up for grabs. If they allow tethering, it will come at the same ridiculous price that everyone else pays.

So what’s the big news here again?

> **Apple is losing on two fronts** > > Apple is fighting two wars and losing both. > > It’s losing in the fight for market share. With Android shipping on a myriad of phones and Apple’s growth limited to its own devices, Google seems destined to win the numbers game. > > By providing more fertile ground for developers, meanwhile, Google is winning the hearts and minds of app makers. Google’s mastery of the mobile space appears imminent. What was this guy smoking this morning?

Apple is losing market share? The iPhone has steadily gained market share since its debut in 2007. When you have a market that is still growing, it is entirely possible that two different companies can gain market share at once, you know. The math isn’t all that complicated.

Google winning the hearts and minds of developers? Show me evidence of this. I hear a lot of talk about green pastures and the wonderful open world of Android development, but I have yet to hear about any happy Android Entrepreneurs making millions from a coffee shop in Seattle. I don’t hear any stories about Android developers at all, in fact. Is anyone making a living with Android apps right now? I seriously would like to know.

> **Developers jump ship?** > > There’s another reason the iPhone is losing its edge. Developers may be switching to Android. > > The iPhone’s appeal is in large part tied to the hundreds of thousands of applications available in the App Store. But Apple’s controlling nature has frustrated developers. Its esoteric App Store rules mean that applications can be rejected for all manner of reasons, creating a strong disincentive to develop on the platform. > > Apple has earned enemies, too, in its battle against Adobe Flash. By essentially banning Flash from the iPhone, Apple has provided fuel to critics who say the iPhone is a “closed” platform: You can play in Apple’s sandbox, but only if you abide by their rules. The rules, it seems, become stricter every day. > > No wonder, then, that Google’s I/O conference this week hinged around one word: “open.” Developers audibly cheered, writes Mashable’s [Jolie O’Dell](http://mashable.com/2010/05/20/froyo-screws-apple/), as Google execs presented their latest creation, Android Froyo. > > To the delight of developers in attendance, Froyo supports Flash. Vic Gundotra, Google’s vice president of engineering, received enthusiastic applause as he quipped: “It turns out that on the Internet, people use Flash.” > > Amid the applause, there was laughter, too. A rebellion against Apple’s encumbered system. Name me one iPhone developer, one, that was previously making iPhone apps but is now making Android apps exclusively. There isn’t one. Because Android developers can’t make a living making Android apps.

The occasional grumbling you do hear about this or that app not being approved never leads to anyone “jumping ship” to Android. More often than not, it leads to Apple approving the app after all.

You can talk about disincentives all you want. The fact of the matter is, there’s only one incentive: money. And all the money is with Apple, while none is with Android. That isn’t going to change with Flash or Froyo.

Flash developers who are angry that they can’t make iPhone apps aren’t iPhone developers. They never were. In order to be an iPhone app developer, you have to actually write apps for the iPhone. Non-iPhone developers becoming non-iPhone developers isn’t a story. No ships. No jumping.

And anyone who puts “Flash” and “Open” in the same story without laughing is not a credible source of information.

You have to be delusional to think Apple is in trouble at this point.

> Goodbye, Apple. I’m ditching my [iPhone](http://photo.newsweek.com/content/photo/2008/1/apples-seeds-of-innovation.html). Seriously, I’m gone. So Google made some announcements yesterday, and the Fandroids are jumping for joy. Oh, boy. Where to begin.

For starters, you can read Daniel (Fake Steve Jobs) Lyons’ rant about how he’s switching to Android now, because Apple got “lazy”. Whatever. Never thought the Fake Jobs thing was funny. Always knew this turd was an-anti Apple dillweed, anyway. (Most Apple fanboys fail to realize that, for some reason.)

Let’s recap why literally dozens of nerds are prophesying Apple’s demise:

Google announced a TV product that crashed so hard, they had to ask the audience to shut off their phones to try and get the network going so it would work.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) was announced. Big feature: it’s faster than the iPhone at Javascript. (I just know my mother is going to be in line for a Droid once she hears that.)

Flash on Android is still beta, but it was demoed for the first time without completely crashing. Reports from beta testers are that it heats up your phone enough to cook an egg on it, and it sucks your battery life to nothing in minutes. Well done, Adobe. Keep proving Apple right on that one.

Android will now support tethering. Hmmm. Think Apple has had that covered for a year now, though not in the US, thanks to AT&T. But I guess the rest of the known world doesn’t matter.

Android will now allow you to purchase music over the air directly onto your phone. Hmm, thought I’ve been doing that for a few years now on the iPhone. It will also let you stream music from one of your computers to your phone. Ahh, got me there. Apple doesn’t do that directly through iTunes. But there are several apps for that.

Apps? What are apps? Android people don’t like to talk about that.

As far as I can tell, that’s the crux of yesterday’s big announcement day. Android 2.2 will be faster at Javascript, and some Flash sites will work eventually, though you’ll probably kill your battery in the process.

And because of this, Lyons claims that “Apple is now chasing Google.” And Google is “blowing past Apple in terms of the technology it’s delivering.”

He also states flatly, as if it were a fact, that “Android OS is already outselling iPhone OS in the United States.” Fact: Android, in its best quarter ever, outsold an historically slow quarter for the iPhone OS—once. That’s a far cry from “is outselling”. It’s also of little significance, since Apple’s iPhone sales are still growing in the US, which means Android isn’t taking customers away from Apple. When Android grows at Apple’s expense, then it will matter.

And worldwide, iPhone is simply killing Android.

This would be funny if it weren’t the general mood of the press today. Lyons is far from alone in thinking that Google actually announced something of substance yesterday. And several people are literally suggesting that Apple needs to catch up or be left behind.

What?

The Google TV thing is maybe something to get excited about. I don’t know, because I couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that the demo FAILED so epically. Seriously, you’re a billion-dollar corporation; you might want to test out your demo at the facility the morning before the announcement, guys.

But Froyo? Let’s get serious. Here’s a list of why Froyo won’t matter at all in the grand scheme of things:

1. It’s called Froyo. Say what you want about Apple using names like Leopard, Tiger, Panther. At least people know what a Leopard is. And using names instead of numbers is actually really good marketing, granted that people are familiar with the names. And yes, I understand that Froyo is an internal code name, but when you use it in your slides during your presentation to the world, that makes it very public. Which means Google thought it was good marketing to make that name public.

A name like Froyo tells you all you need to know about who will be excited about it: Dungeons and Dragons nerds. And no one else.

Let me explain something about hard core nerds. They write all the important code in the world. They are responsible for all the great technology we enjoy. I love them dearly, and I’m grateful every day that they are out there, in basements, coding away. But they couldn’t get a girl to buy a Droid if their lives depended on it. Froyo, as a name, has zero chick appeal. That alone will prevent Google from ever overtaking Apple at anything important.

I’m being a little facetious, of course, but my point is that Google sucks at marketing. It really does. And bad marketing hurts sales.

2. The big feature is faster Javascript performance in the browser? Ok. I’ll admit, speed is important. But it’s only important as a comparison point if your competition is perceived as slow. “They are slow and clunky. We are fast.”

The problem is, you never hear anyone saying: “Man, my iPhone is really slow.” You’re even less likely to hear that said about the iPad. Apple is about two weeks away from announcing an iPhone that runs on the same faster processor as the iPad. With the small screen of the iPhone and the fast processor of the iPad, the new iPhone should scream. And likely that new iPhone will ship before Froyo does. Which leads me to my next point.

3. Froyo isn’t out yet. By the time it gets released, Google’s few days of press coverage will be long gone, and the world will be gaga for Apple’s new iPhone again. Apple wins the media war—always. Not because the press is full of Apple fanboys, either. Quite the contrary. They win because they are better at it than anyone. And because their demos don’t tend to blow up. And their keynote presenter is actually good at public speaking. And because they don’t name things Froyo.

4. Remember the Pre? All this doomsday stuff about Apple sounds familiar to those of us who have been paying attention for a reason. This time last year, Apple was supposedly doomed because of Palm’s WebOS. We all know how that turned out.

5. Who will get Froyo when it finally does arrive? Most Android users aren’t able to upgrade their software. Why? Because the carriers won’t allow it. Say what you want about Apple being tied to AT&T. I hate it as much as the next guy. But at least Apple was smart enough to negotiate free updates to users at Apple’s discretion. When Froyo is released, Nexus One users who paid full price for a non-contract phone will get Froyo right away. Verizon users will wait months, most likely, before they will be allowed to download it. The bulk of the rest of the Android community, including many people who bought their devices within the last year, will be left with crappy old versions of Android, and thus never get any of the excitement of Froyo. Which means they won’t be proselytizing Froyo to their friends and families, either. More likely, they will be pissed at Google for not giving them all the joy that Froyo offers. Good way to breed loyal customers, Google.

6. The Flash war is already over. Google wants that bullet point on its marketing materials, but it’s not going to matter to the masses. My mother won’t care about the fact that some Flash sites that don’t use the latest in Flash code will eventually work sometime in the future on Android. She doesn’t know what Flash is.

When an iPhone user gets to a site on an iPhone that doesn’t work because it was written in Flash, she’ll blame the site, not the phone. When the battery on an Android phone dies in a few hours because of Flash, he’ll blame the phone, not Flash. That’s the way it works. Users don’t know enough to care, and they blame whoever is perceived to be at fault. That makes it your responsibility, as the one that will be perceived to be at fault, to fix it, even if it’s not directly your fault.

7. “Walled gardens” produce better products. Google’s garden has pretty big walls, too. And at the end of the day, users don’t care about gardening or masonry. They like to smell the pretty flowers

So Lyons and a dozen other nerds can drop the iPhone if they want. It’s not going to matter to Apple. Lyons would call it arrogance that Apple thinks they can afford to lose him. I call it naive to think that Google is going to win more than a few sales with a Javascript speed shootout.

The fact that Google’s ENTIRE presentation yesterday was made up of jabs at Apple should not be taken as a good sign, either. If you’re doing well, you barely need to mention your competition. Show me some real innovation, Google. I’m not seeing anything remotely revolutionary here. All I’m seeing is you running scared and losing focus.

Do I need to remind people that Google has had three MAJOR FAILS in the last nine months alone? Wave is DOA. Buzz is going nowhere fast, despite the fact that Facebook has no regard for user privacy. And the Nexus One experiment failed miserably.

Apple has had nothing but record quarters during a recession, has launched three amazingly successful products (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) on a unified platform, overtook Walmart at music sales and stayed there, made inroads into eBooks, created the App Store ecosystem, and increased Mac sales tremendously in the process. And its retail division is still growing, too.

In the face of all this success from Apple, praising Apple is considered being an “Apple fanboy.”

In the face of all this failure from Google, criticizing Google is considered being an “Apple fanboy.”

Gotta love that double standard.

Google is a one-trick pony that succeeded at one thing once (search/ advertising) and has failed at pretty much everything else it’s tried lately. So while Google TV might be a great product that I’ll certainly watch with interest, I can’t say that it’s a safe bet, by any stretch of the imagination. And Froyo? Beyond helping Google further crush Microsoft’s mobile plans, I can’t see how it’s going to matter at all.