While perusing Google Plus this morning, I ran across a YouTube video that was making the rounds. I watched it, enjoyed it, and felt that it delivered a great message. However I noticed a common question being asked by the people resharing the video: “Why wasn’t something like this ran as a commercial on tv?” Apple spends half a BILLION dollars annually on their ad campaigns, yet we rarely (if ever) see ads specifically for Nexus devices on broadcast television.
That’s a really good point… given this is a flagship device you’d think that Google would be happy to pump all sorts of money into advertising this device, Android 4.0, and other Android related properties. So then why aren’t they? It’s obvious that Google is making money on Android. So are the OEMS, the carriers, and the developers. Curiously then, where are all of the Android commercials that aren’t related to Verizon’s DROID campaign here in the states? You’d think with all of the cash being made that there would be a commercial on every network during every commercial break.
Critical pieces to the success of Android (like marketing) seem to be lacking here in the United States. This adds to the confusion, fragmentation, and degradation of Android as a whole and may end up contributing to further issues with Android in the future.
The F Word
Android is fraught with fragmentation. The entire thing truly is broken. We’ve got devices that fall out of relevancy due to lack of software updates, OEM UI skins on devices, no hardware standards, developers who compete rather than cooperate with each other, and no clear direction for Android’s future. It’s been described as the “Wild West of technology”, and I completely agree. It seems that there has been very little leadership with Android; no one idea of how it’s to evolve. More importantly, there seems to be no one willing to enforce a set of standards.
Apple got it right in this respect. They have a clear vision, a set of standards, and a controlled idea of how they wanted the platform to evolve. Because of that their developers make more money, they have more accessories, and the user experience is miles better than an overall Android experience. One thing that most Android users (fanboys) can agree upon when it comes to iOS is “it just works”. Now that a consumer can purchase an iPhone on any major US carrier, their experience is the same regardless of what device they pick up.
Android doesn’t work this way. Every three months we get a new device, on a different carrier, with a dated version of the OS, and limited accessories. Think about this from an average consumer standpoint. Would YOU buy a device that is likely to be outdated in a matter of weeks with little/no carrier support or goodies to buy? Would you buy a television that only worked with one cable provider, one brand of DVD player, and likely won’t work with a gaming console? Maybe the one that is being released next month might… but maybe not! Of course you wouldn’t purchase that television. Why should we expect anything different from your Android device (which costs as much or more than your TV)?
The Carriers
My how the carriers have changed since the release of the T-Mobile G1. It used to be that you could purchase your device and a suitable plan that allowed you to make calls, send texts, and use a bit of data. Carriers make their money off of the minutes you used each month and weren’t very concerned with your data usage. You could send and receive emails at will, use Google Maps Navigation, and browse the web as needed. The cash cow has now moved from overcharging us for SMS to overcharging us for wireless data. We have evolved from using our devices simply as a phone to using them as true multimedia personal assistants; the carriers have changed their business model to take full advantage of this.
Now carriers have flipped the model. Most have given us a sense of value by offering unlimited voice and SMS (which have an obscene profit margin, costing carriers next to nothing to maintain and deliver) and charging us for data consumption. Since Sprint has given in and is now moving to tiered data plans (despite an aggressive marketing program to the contrary a week ago), the last of the big four carriers here in the US gave into the lure of making millions on data overage charges. Ironic that the data caps/charges are the industry standard as higher speeds and more bandwidth becomes available to consumers.
Get used to it though. If networking/social was Web 2.0, I firmly believe that mobile will be Web 3.0. I see a lot of users ditching their home ISP and relying on their mobile carrier to provide all internet services, much like how the trend has been to ditch cable/satellite for Netflix/Hulu.
The OEMs
HTC, Motorola Mobility, Samsung, LG… they all have their part in it as well. Each have added their own flavor of UI to Android, making an inconsistent and confusing experience for the end user. On one device certain actions are completed one way, while the next device that same motion does something else entirely. It is no longer the norm to purchase a device with just “Android” on it. An OEM releasing a device with “pure Android” on it is the minority now… the majority of them include the OEM’s custom UI and adding to the confusing circumstances for Android users.
OEMs are also just as guilty as the carriers regarding OS updates. By putting their 3rd party skins on Android they make it more expensive internally to develop an updated version of that UI to fit the new OS. Why should HTC spend the money to develop an update to a device that is 6 months old and off of the market? There’s no SENSE (see what I did there?) spending the money and resources to update an expired device when likely they have pushed out 4 other devices in that time all with different carriers and versions of Android. This goes for the rest of the OEMs. Why spend the money to update a device with the latest version of Android OS when they can simply push new devices? Due to the amount of OEM UIs out there, the average consumer likely would have very little idea that there is a newer version of the software anyways.
Again, Apple has continues to do it right here. An iPhone’s lifespan is roughly two years… just in time for the consumer to come off of contract and pick up the next one on subsidy. Apple (mostly) supports current generation and one generation behind with the current version of iOS. Fragme-what? Doesn’t matter, because I can be an iPhone 3Gs owner and buy an iPhone 4s and already be up to speed on how (almost) every feature works… because they had it on their last device and it works the same way.
Droid
What would Android be without Droid? Likely if you are reading this, you know the difference between Android and Droid. You’ve also likely corrected someone when they refer to your Nexus as a Droid. That being said, the average consumer doesn’t know the difference. Heck, I’m frequently asked by people if whatever device I’m holding is the new iPhone. The common mistake is that all Android devices are “Droids”. Not surprisingly since Verizon seems to be the only company in the US spending money on a marketing campaign for anything Android related. Even then, the focus isn’t on Android or the OS… it’s on the Droid brand and Verizon.
I’ve seen the occasional commercial for other devices (recently the Rhyme, another Verizon device). Even then they aren’t focusing on the OS in the device, but more in the package that it comes in. Heck, Android isn’t even mentioned in the commercials. T-Mobile has the largest line up of Android devices currently… but they are focused on selling their network, not the device.
Collectively this leads to a missing element that is one of the main contributors to ignorance about Android OS: the lack of marketing.
Google knows that Android is a huge money maker. I bet they think that Web 3.0 will be mobile as well… and they are prepared to continue making money off of Android. Not by search, but by ad serving. Over the last few months Google has been positioning itself to really take advantage of the end user’s consumption of its products using Android. GMail, Docs, Reader, Plus, Books, and now Music are all optimized to work as effectively on Android as well as desktop. Included in each is a revenue stream for Google. They have squarely placed the success of their company for the next 5 years on the shoulders of BugDroid.
Google has their role in Android being broken as well. Granted they have done a fairly good job of setting an example of what the standard should be for Android with the Nexus line of devices, they have yet to actually enforce those standards. By allowing OEMs to continue licensing Google Apps and release devices with horribly out of date versions of Android they have failed to do their part in curbing the fragmentation.
Developers
The Android development community is a strange beast. Collectively, it is brilliant. Without a doubt we have what I believe to be the smartest group of open source programmers available doing work to make our ecosystem and devices better. Despite that, there still is very little cooperation between development groups to produce work that advances the platform. It seems that dev groups are more concerned with being the first to reach a milestone rather than actually producing the milestone. Browse the development forums (XDA, Rootz) and you’ll see multiple accusations of people “stealing” other people’s work, not giving credit where it’s due, and begging for donations. The impression is that Android developers are more concerned with their egos than with actually producing work that advances development. Is this the spirit of Android that the development community wants to foster?
Galaxy Nexus
Despite the previous, I fully believe that the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich present an opportunity to make Android better. I believe that it gives everyone mentioned above a chance to hit the reset button and do it right. Android (collectively, not just the OS) has come a very long way in the past three years. Now is the time for us all to step it up to the next level and really concentrate on what the future of Android holds.
The release of Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) merges Honeycomb and Gingerbread… giving us “One OS To Rule Them All”. With an updated UI for both tablets and handsets, one of the largest hurdles has been surpassed: fragmentation of the different forks in the OS. Given the opportunity to start anew after learning a bit over the last few years, a few steps could happen in order to really make Android the dominant force and leader of the Web 3.0 revoultion.
Galaxy Nexus sets the standard for what hardware and software working together should achieve. This means the inclusion of NFC, front facing cameras, sufficient RAM, internal storage, and processor specs.
The Carriers
Carriers need to be prepared to provide a better option for data billing than the current tiered plans. As network speeds increase, our consumption of data will increase. We will become more dependent on our wireless carriers to supply us with a high speed connection while we are mobile. We are being fed media while on the go; certainly we need a reasonable price to access that data. My device should not convert to “dumbphone” two weeks into my billing cycle after reaching 2GB of data use (I learned a new level of frustration when my speeds were so slow I couldn’t load data to use my device for navigation recently). Nor should I be outrageously billed simply to access the features of the device I paid for.
The OEMs
Fix fragmentation. This means agreeing upon a certain set of standards that the OEMs can agree upon, but still allow them to be creative with their hardware design. Start by agreeing to release no more devices that do not come shipped with Android 4.0.1 Ice Cream Sandwich. Button sequence will become a non issue (you know, Home, Menu, Back, Search) due to the on screen soft buttons with ICS.
Agree upon certain hardware standards. For example, agree that Micro USB is the best way to plug an Android device in. Agree that all Android devices can accept a standard Micro USB cable for wired data transfer and charging.
Allow anyone and their brother to purchase licenses to make accessories for devices. This includes larger batteries, inductive charging mats, cases, mounts, etc. Encourage the use of a collective branding… Apple has iEverything, why not gEverything? gMat. gCable. gWhatever.
Give the end user the option to turn your third party UI on or off. Some people like Sense UI. Others like (~shiver~) TouchWiz. Even others don’t mind “I Can’t Believe It’s Not MotoBlur!”. In order for customers to enjoy a consistent experience, allow the UIs to be deactivated.
Critically, Google needs to take charge of their future with Android. Clearly the future of Android lay directly in the hands of the customer since we chose to purchase the devices. The best way that Google could take control of Android and the revenue stream that will come with it would be to act as an advocate for its customers. This would entail working with the carriers to deliver the best user experience possible in regards to constant, always on high speed data at a reasonable price. Google already has strict guidelines for including their Google Apps on a device. However they need to tighten their requirements as to what constitutes an obsolete version of the OS, third party UIs, and design an upgrade road map requirement for all devices launched with a licensed copy of Android.
Google needs to turn BugDroid into Android’s official mascot and paste him everywhere. Give him a character here in the United States. Make him a brand. We’ve seen awesome commercials and videos from around the world featuring our favorite little green dude, but rarely is he seen in our part of the world. Give people a reason to develop an emotional tie to him and what he represents; names, Android devices. Make that little bugger as recognizable as the Apple logo.
Google is poised to take us and Android into Web 3.0. They have the opportunity to define the next generation of our technological lives with Android. I for one would like to see them take a more proactive leadership role by ensuring that the customer experience is as good as it can possibly be.
Even if that means emulating some policies of Apple and becoming more obsessive about how the climate evolves.
What do you think?
14 Responses
That's a crazy good article man. I agree, it's broken in it's own ways but that doesn't take away from how amazing our platform can be.
Derek and I actually talked about why they didn't show Nexus commercials on T.V and such.
I have a Droid Incredible. I just got updated to Gingerbread, and this is something I have noticed with Verizon more than any other network. They try to push the manufacturers to keep the phones update. Now I know that isn't true of every phone they have sold, but my Incredible is almost two years old and they are thinking about how to get ICS on it… As to my data, I am still on unlimited data. I do agree on the OEMs part, but I have been quite happy with my device.
Incredible! I have always felt this way but I could not put it into words. Good job. After the Nexus 1 I felt like Android was being pushed to any device that was built. Even if it wasn't meant for Android. Someone would find a way to cram it into a tablet or phone. I think we hit the climax just after Honeycomb was released and now Android is becoming more even. Especially since the release of ICS. Android + Devs + Devices + carriers has not quite become stable yet but it is gaining respect. I remember trying to explain to friends what Android was and all I could here is "So, is it better than an iPhone?" Of course! But you had to know a little bit about how it worked. As the devices changed and gained new operating systems that changed too. Now those friends are buying the Android devices. It makes me happy because it gets more of the OS out there among the masses which means more attention. I guess I am trying to say that I am glad where Android is going but it is missing a significant puzzle piece that until I read this I couldn't figure out what that piece even looked like. Nail on the head Scotty!
Thank you for the feedback, guys!!
Excellent write-up about the major issues plaguing the whole Android ecosystem. Balanced, insightful, well-written. Good stuff.
I do have an unrelated question: "If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!" Where exactly are the share buttons? I don't see the standard Twitter, Facebook, G+, etc. sharing buttons. Am I just blind?
I've been saying a lot of this within my small circle of followers, and you have hit on all points and much more that I didn't pick up on. Android is indeed broken. It isn't what we first fell in love with, and it no longer feels like the family that it once was. There is a lot that is wrong, and most of it will remain that way. Very good read my dude, very good read.
Hit the +1 button, that'll allow you to share on Plus
Thank you for the compliment and feedback!
Thanks, brother. I appreciate the feedback.
Article looked awesome on my iPhone! Great job catching the essence of what is wrong with Android.
Seriously, LOL.
Well, Android was "sold" to manufacturers as a system you can tamper with almost as much as you want. It's true that in the long term, this caused the code F situation, but trying to change that policy now would be a rather controversial move on google's part.
My memory on the subject is a little bad, but I believe google did at least insinuate trying to take some control over what could be modded in android not so long ago, with mixed opinions from the very android enthusiasts.
This sums up what I’ve been thinking, feeling, and saying for the past few months. Thank-you for putting this into something we can all relate to and understand.
I'm going to disagree with a LOT of what you are saying. The very reason Android is the best mobile OS is because it is open source, and because it allows developers (that includes carriers) to modify it to taste. Yes, it's a double edged sword that can and does lead to fragmentation, bloatware, and bugs. But the alternative is a walled garden to some degree, like iOS. Yes, iOS 'just works', but I don't give a sh** because it's a boring, crappy experience imho, with no option to make it mine. It is the ideal OS for conformists and average, non-tech types, but at this time you can't have it both ways.I agree that ICS presents an opportunity to move forward, but: when hardware is developed it take a long time to reach the market, whereas Android versions tend to come fast & ffurious The OS on that device is usually what was vailable at the time, and from an oem / carrier standpoint, where's the ROI for that device's lifecycle in throwing more manhours at the OS?So what's the answer? Slow down OS dev cycles? Release fewer handset? I can already buy one of those, it's called an iPhone. I have no interest. I'd rather root, download the latest custom rom,tinker with my own 'kanged' cyanogen mods. And I suspect those that don't root are generally in two camps: happy with android as it is, or want an iPhone.
You make av pretty good point about OEMs… let me add my response:
As far as OEM skins, the solution is very very simple… allow the end user to turn them off without violating the warranty. I enjoy rooting and flashing as well. Problem is, we and people like us are about 2% of the Android consumer base. We are definitely the minority. If Android is to really evolve, the OEMs and carriers are going to have to give up some of their "control" over these devices. We bought them, they are ours… the very fact that they can still exert regulations and stipulations on a UI of a device that they don't own is ludicrous.