Gizmodo interviews Andy Rubin, father of Android. It’s an interesting read, however some of his answer continue to baffle me:
Gizmodo: But if you’re not running 2.1, for instance, you can’t get the official Twitter app.
Andy: I mean there are apps written for Vista, just like Photoshop CS5 does not run on Windows 3.1
Adobe Photoshop CS5 shipped earlier this month, and will run on Windows XP, Vista or Seven. Windows 3.1 was released in March 1992. Twitter for Android shipped in April this year whilst any non-upgradeable handset sold prior to January this year is tough out of luck if it wants to run the official Twitter client. Hardly a fitting analogy.
Gizmodo: So how does the update process go? How do you decide what goes into each release?
Andy: It’s pretty random. We roadmap one release out, so we don’t plan out the year, or two years or five years like a lot of other people do.
Translation: we look at what features we think we can out-do Apple with, throw in a few features that Apple are “only” just announcing, and present them in a smug - almost painfully so - presentation.
Looking back at the video I’ve seen of the Froyo launch, it’s clear that Google is ahead of Apple in some regards. But the pitching of Froyo - to the main Android audience - was bizarre. Some of the announcements - particularly that of tethering - were clearly going to spread like wildfire amongst suitably excitable developers without any caution that the carriers can either not enable the service, or charge through the roof for the privilege. At least Apple’s announcement considered the excitement of tethering support, and tempered it with a list of carriers.
Before the inevitable tirade of iPhone fanboy-ism arrives, let me say this: competition is good. Competition for the iPhone makes my next iPhone better, and I welcome any innovation that makes Apple react.
Posted on Wednesday May 26th, 2010
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