- But Google doesn’t just make apps for Android and the web. It also makes them for Apple’s iOS — 25 different apps at last count. That’s more apps than Apple offers on its own store. Unfortunately, when it comes to design on the iPhone and iPad, its offerings have left a lot to be desired. That is until recently when, suddenly, its apps started getting very very good.
I, like many others, am always slightly irked by Apple's refusal to let you select a default application. I think that if they allowed this, it could potentially significantly renew the appeal of iOS - it would move more towards being a platform, rather than a launcher for a collection of apps.
IMO that would represent a fundamental shift for Apple as a company, -really a change of character. My guess is that as Apple starts to lose marketshare (unless they can grab onto a new edge of innovation), they will make a decision to do something like this. But, because so many Apple users enjoy the walled garden they provide, I think it will hurt them more than help.
I suppose if they did it carefully I would agree. I guess what I am saying is that an Apple that made that shift isn't the same Apple anymore, and I wouldn't expect them to be able to open up and yet make sure their UI for the regular users was preserved. Many regular users might be lured into a hybrid experience they don't appreciate.
While personally very entrenched on the apple side of the fence in terms of my hardware expenditures, I find googles approach to peaceably developing earnestly good design regardless of platform refreshing and admirable. Can anyone think of other instances of companies or firms that develop REAL quality content on a competitor's platform when said company also has its own competing platform (android) that it is trying to market? I tend to be a consumer that latches on to companies that "get it" and am curious to expand my base. This question is not meant to be limited to software.
Nothing that comes to mind. It is an interesting strategy that Google has. IMO it's a sound one too. For example, if Google apps are the best ones on your iPhone, that might change your decision about the next phone you buy. I'm not a fan of everything that Google does, however, I think that in some aspects they have successfully challenged conventional wisdom.I find googles approach to peaceably developing earnestly good design regardless of platform refreshing and admirable. Can anyone think of other instances of companies or firms that develop REAL quality content on a competitor's platform when said company also has its own competing platform (android) that it is trying to market?