Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Apple's hardware + Google's software = The Holy Grail

Not to get religious or anything with the title, but the combination of both Apple's hardware and Google's Android software would make one stop and admire for a moment, the sheer marvel of such a creation. It would almost be like some untold, unseen relic emerging from the ashes of the "smartphone wars" unscathed, like a thing of true beauty. Or maybe I'm just thinking too far outside the box...


Imagine, though, for a moment, that Google and Apple collaborated on such an effort to bring forth the "ultimate" phone. Google tried (and failed, might I add) with the Nexus One. They thought they could capture what Apple had done with the iPhone hardware and add their thing of beauty Android 2.2 (Eclair) software to the mix and have a hands-down winner. They might have done just that, had they not followed Apple's mistake with the ordering and activation process - to a complete and miserable tee. However, try as hard as they could, Google could not find the "perfect" hardware to showcase Android's technical prowess. Even the Droid family of phones doesn't have the complete hardware package to take the iPhone 4 head-on. Even with the "integrity issues" of antenna quality, the iPhone 4 is still the reigning king of hardware. You may disagree, but numbers don't lie. Apple is seeing quite a large number of activations with the iPhone 4 (as we all may remember, the activation mishaps that happened on pre-launch day, June 15). Google's Android OS, however, is steadily ascending the ladder of success and already more than nipping at Apple's heels - it's already amputating iOS 4's legs with a foaming, rabid mouth. Now, with a collaborative effort of Android's OS (especially with the forthcoming Gingerbread, set to bring even more to the Android offering table) and Apple's technical hardware expertise, the "ultimate" phone would be brought forth in a blaze of glory. What would it be called? Does it even matter? What's for certain is it would probably bring about a hailstorm of antitrust allegations and be the hottest device since the second generation iPod. It would have the radiance of a "retina display" and Apple's A4 technology, along with the sturdy casing we've all come to know and love (minus the antenna issues, of course - since Apple would probably have that all sorted out by this time, anyway) with the technical elegance of the Android OS.


Would this device ever come to fruition? Probably not. In fact, I know it won't. One, because of antitrust allegations that neither company would want to spend countless dollars on battling and two, each company stands to make more money from competition than from a collaborative effort. Still, doesn't hurt to dream of an "iPhone" with Google Maps Navigation sitting on a car dashboard. A man can dream...

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