On Android, Distribution, Buzz, Pre-insalled apps and Crapware

Responding to Tomi‘s thread on ForumOxford, where he wrote: “The best phone in the world cannot take the mobile phone market, unless there is distribution.”

Yes. Which is exactly why Android seems to me that it will be widely adopted. And it will be widely adopted because for device manufacturers it is cheaper this way to develop a high-end handset — OSes are complicated (and thus expensive) things that are at the center of the handset. I expect handset manufacturers to leverage all that investment and research by Google; then add their touch via the UI.

Then there is buzz which drive sales opportunities. And buzz has a timing-window associated with it. iPhone has buzz. Android has buzz today. It is my impression that Nokia (and Symbian) missed that buzz window of opportunity.

Last, pre-installed apps are so year 2000. App stores are the new deck. As we are witnessing, app stores are very important for all smart-phones (and handsets that run apps). And as users get more educated and thus more sophisticated, users won’t settle for apps they don’t want. (Expect typical apps such as YouTube, Gmail, exchange, camera, etc. to be pre-installed though). And related to this, and something Jason (Paxmodept) wrote on his blog, is the anticipated “new” issue that will pop-up: Crapware — I’m afraid handset manufacturers will force pre-installed apps that are Crapware *and* that can’t be uninstalled unless breaking into the OS.

ceo