> The newspaper [reported](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/technology/12slate.html?pagewanted=1) Sunday that Google has been “exploring the idea of building its own slate, an e-reader that would function like a computer.” So we have Android phones, Chrome OS netbooks, Chrome OS tablets, and now this Android e-reader that also “functions like a computer”, whatever that means.

If you were a consumer (and I’m guessing you are) how would you know which one to buy? Can’t anyone other than Apple come up with a simple set of products with clear purposes anymore?

I think the problem with many of these companies (Google and Microsoft included) is lack of vision. They can’t seem to make the hard choices about what NOT to include in their products, and they seem to lack the conviction to follow through on their decisions once they do create a product. So their products tend to contradict one another, rather than support one another.

Why should consumers, or developers, want to commit to such companies?

When people complained about no hardware keyboard on the iPhone, Apple didn’t cave in and put a keyboard on the next iPhone. It stuck to its guns and made a tablet with no keyboard. When people complained that the App Store was a walled garden, Apple took steps to make it MORE of a walled garden.

Google: stick to one OS strategy. Make phones, tablets, and netbooks, all running the same OS. Enforce some restrictions on features, so that developers aren’t contending with constant moving spec targets. Find good ways to differentiate yourself from Apple’s products, but start copying the general strategy, because copying Microsoft isn’t helping you any.

And P.S.: If you were developing a product in “stealth mode” I wouldn’t be reading about it.

> During a [media event in San Francisco today](http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/04/iveblog-mobile-pink-event.ars), Microsoft revealed the spiritual successor to the Danger Sidekick messaging phone. Called “[KIN](http://kin.com/),” the new platform is designed with a heavy focus on social networking and is targeted mainly towards younger users that Microsoft has dubbed the “social generation.” So yet another platform from Microsoft. For those keeping score, we now have the Zune HD, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7, and now Kin. None of which is compatible with the other. Most of which haven’t shipped yet.

And let’s not forget Courier, which hasn’t even been officially announced yet. That will be an entirely different platform, too.

Seems like Microsoft is less of a single company, and more like several different smaller companies that don’t talk to each other at all. Considering how many different phone strategies they have, you’d think they’d take the time to call each other once in a while to find out what the others are up to. Maybe even schedule a meeting or two.

This KIN thing is clearly the result of Roz Ho’s failed Pink project. But rather than admit a clear failure and dump the strategy for the better (albeit still insufficient) Windows Phone 7, someone at Microsoft said “hey, why not just release them both, and see which one sticks.”

Great way to inspire developers to write software for your platform(s), guys.

Apple’s unifying the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad platforms is starting to look more and more like the right strategy. Though I still believe that iPad will have to branch out a bit into its own as the two products evolve over time, starting the iPad with 150,000+ iPhone apps out of the gate (and having a pool of developers who could use the same tools they already have been using) was clearly a good idea.

Microsoft needs to get out of the consumer space before it embarrasses itself any further.

> **Steve Jobs has seen enough in his 34 years in the computer business** to know, deeply, that he doesn’t want to be at the mercy of cross-platform tools that could erase Apple’s competitive advantage. He doesn’t want to wait and beg and bitch and moan until Adobe supports the registers on Apple’s player organ. (Diplomatically or not, [Jobs recently called Adobe “lazy”](http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/googles-dont-be-evil-mantra-is-bullshit-adobe-is-lazy-apples-steve-jobs/)… But that was *intra muros*, in an internal all-hands company meeting.) > Does anyone mind that Jobs won’t sacrifice the truly strategic differentiation of the iPhone platform on the altar of cross-platform compatibility? Customers and critics don’t. They love the end-result. [Nor do developers](http://www.businessinsider.com/adobe-is-freaked-out-by-apples-move-developers-arent-too-worried-yet-2010-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+typepad%252Falleyinsider%252Fsilicon_alley_insider+%2528Silicon+Alley+Insider%2529&utm_content=Google+Reader). There are 185,000 apps in Apple’s App Store, 3,500 already for the iPad. Philanthropists at [Kleiner Perkins](http://www.kpcb.com/index.html), the noted Valley VC firm, are doubling (to $200M) the size of their [iFund](http://www.kpcb.com/initiatives/ifund/), a fund dedicated to iPhone and now iPad investments. > > **Let’s perform a thought experiment. By the end of 2010, there will be more than 100 million iPhone OS devices** (iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad). You’re the webmeister at an important content site. The boss comes in and asks you why you’re not supporting the iPhone OS devices. ‘Our stuff is all Flash-based, chief, those guys don’t run Flash’. You’re about to become the ex-webmeister. The boss, a really patient sort, asks you to “think different” about all these “non-compliant” customers, each of whom has an iTunes account backed by a credit card, and has developed the habit (encouraged by Apple) of paying for content. So, one more time, with feeling: What’s your answer? Well put.

> Slepak told Jobs he believed the reaction to the change across the entire internet was negative, including from *Daring Fireball’s* John Gruber, who Slepak called Jobs’ “biggest fan.” Jobs reportedly responded by sending a link to Gruber’s commentary on why Apple changed [section 3.1.1](http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/why_apple_changed_section_331) of its developer agreement. “We think John Gruber’s post is very insightful and not negative,” the Apple CEO allegedly said. Sorry, but I call bull$hit on this one. Steve Jobs has been emailing responses a lot lately, but calling John Gruber “insightful” sounds way too complimentary and generally not the right tone to be coming from Jobs.

And it’s not like Gruber needs his ego to grow any bigger than it already is. I generally like what the guy has to say, but let’s get real here.

This sounds like a made-up story from a fan of Daring Fireball to me. But who knows?

> If Android was making significant gains against Apple, and all of its best apps > were Flash based, then Adobe could offer Apple access to all of Android’s best > apps, which would give them a lot of power. The fact is that there have yet to > be any widely deployed Android phones that support Flash. That’s right, Adobe > has been making the case for Flash on iPhone for 3 years, but still hasn’t > deployed a non-lite version of Flash on any phones, even when Apple is not > obstructing them. That’s the key to the whole argument right there. Adobe plays itself as the victim here, but the fact of the matter is that they are dropping the ball delivering their own product everywhere. Google has made no attempt to block Flash on Android, and yet there is no full version of Flash running on Android. Same goes for Palm. Same goes for Blackberry. There is no viable Flash platform on any mobile. There isn’t even a good running Flash plugin on the Mac. And yet Apple is supposed to just let Adobe trash up the iPhone and take over Apple’s OS future? Why would any sensible company allow that to happen?

By and large, the only people who are complaining about this are Adobe evangelists (because it’s their job) and programmers who want to make iPhone apps without learning how to code in Objective-C. Users couldn’t care less.

As this article suggests, if Adobe and all these programmers want to prove Apple wrong, all they need to do is deliver Flash on Android and write killer apps that people can’t live without. Don’t whine to Apple about fairness. Get out there and kick some ass.