Other than Macs, which are too over-priced to be taken seriously, I have become pretty reliant on Apple technology. In fact, I have become a card carrying, windshield decal rolling Apple evangelist to my real world friends.
I love my iPhone and my iPad. I’m thrilled to see that the awesome but vastly under-marketed AppleTV may not be dead after all. I don’t even care about the lack of Flash.
But it would be a big mistake for Steve and Co. to force me to choose between Apple and Google, for one very simple and very important reason:
I shouldn’t have to.
Apple and Google is a combination that could and should be the tech equivalent of the Reese’s Cup. If they could just get along, and stop using me as a rope in their little tug of war.
I wish there was a Google Latitude app, so I could let Dwight know where I am in redundant fashion. It irritates me that there is no Google Voice app. But it will enrage me if Apple tries to force me towards Bing. Bing may be great. It may be the hottest thing since Halle Berry. But I should get to decide that. Not Apple.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s good to see Apple and Microsoft making nice. It is in both of their interest- and mine- to get Microsoft Office somehow onto iPads. Hell, I’d use the Yellow Pages for search if it would get me the ability to natively manipulate Word documents on my iPad.
But otherwise, it’s a dangerous gambit to keep making me a pawn in whatever war Apple thinks it is fighting with Google. Because as much as I love Apple, I need Google. Not just for the all-important search-related stuff, but for email. For maps. For Google Reader. The list goes on and on.
I realize that Google is doing its part to escalate things. But that’s because it knows it’s losing. The person getting clobbered always runs its mouth, because that’s all it can do. Apple should let its superior product do the talking, take as much of Google’s money as it can get, and give the customer the best of all worlds.
I want a world full of both Apple and Google. I don’t want to choose.
So, Apple, don’t make me. Because you might not like the choice.
Does it matter to Apple if they don't like your choice when millions say otherwise.
So make you choice and see whether Apple will cry over one pitiful person crying for attention to himself.
Yeah, that pretty much what I'm saying. Not.
Apple is not going to make you choose between Apple and Google. For every Google App or service you use on an Apple product, Apple is going to give you a second or even third choice. If you don't have to use the alternatives but they will be offered from now on.
I am so with you. I wrote this on 5/24:
http://notes.kateva.org/2010/05/apple-vs-google...
I can't leave Apple, I can't live without Google. Completely sucks.
My 13″ MacBook was only slightly more expensive than an equivalent PC (I get to judge equivalent:) but it runs like a top and has been worth every penny (in my book). Not sure I buy to overly priced bit but I so with you otherwise. As a photographer I user Adobe products on a Mac (Lightroom 3 rocks). But outside of Mac & iPod, Apple hasn't grabbed much of my interest. On the other hand, I love my Nexus One, Google Maps and all the other tricks I can make it do. There's a lot more in the pipeline as well.
I suppose a battle was inevitable, the corporate cultures seems so different between Apple & Google…to the point of being oil & water. Kinda has me bummed.
Excellent post, Kent, and nice blog to boot. I'm an ex-Apple employee who thinks that Jobs' ego has gotten way out of hand. I still use some Apple products like iPods, but the Mac isn't worth the money. If I had to pick between all-Apple or all-Google, I'd find a different way to entertain myself — but I couldn't live without Google! Jobs demonstrated a long time ago he doesn't give a !@#$ about the user. It's all about his legacy now…
Umm, why is it Apple that is making you choose? Apple obviously liked Google enough to invite Eric Schmit to sit on their board. Instead of representing the interests of the company he had a ringside seat to the inner workings and product pipeline and was obviously taking copious notes. Less than a year after leaving the Apple board Google is suddenly in the smartphone, tablet and TV business, not to mention talking serious trash about the company. When a company, Google, self anoints itself as the “do no evil” company it is probably something to worry about and that should begin to reveal itself in due course. Don't blame Apple for defending itself in a battle it did not start.
BTW, I do not see Apple replacing Google search with Bing. I do see them making it easier for the user to choose which they prefer. This should please Google since the are the champions of choice and openess.
Umm, why is it Apple that is making you choose? Apple obviously liked Google enough to invite Eric Schmit to sit on their board. Instead of representing the interests of the company he had a ringside seat to the inner workings and product pipeline and was obviously taking copious notes. Less than a year after leaving the Apple board Google is suddenly in the smartphone, tablet and TV business, not to mention talking serious trash about the company. When a company, Google, self anoints itself as the “do no evil” company it is probably something to worry about and that should begin to reveal itself in due course. Don't blame Apple for defending itself in a battle it did not start.
BTW, I do not see Apple replacing Google search with Bing. I do see them making it easier for the user to choose which they prefer. This should please Google since the are the champions of choice and openess.
A Reese's Cup: I feel as though Apple is the beautiful chocolate cup and Google is the nutritious peanut butter filling. Chocolate is good, but peanut butter is good for you. We need to keep them together! I agree wholeheartedly.
I'm sorry did I miss the part where Apple was removing the browser from their iDevices? People keep saying it is a walled garden. But the presence of multiple web browsers makes the iPad look like a patch of flowers along the jersey turnpike where the traffic is roaring past at 80 mph.
It is more likely that Google has realized that people using apps simply don't use their browsers for many location-based and speciallized reference tasks, and therefore Google's ads are less effective.
Apple laptops aren't more expensive than same-spec'd Windows laptops, especially when you factor in all the pros/cons.
“I realize that Google is doing its part to escalate things. But that’s because it knows it’s losing.”
In what world are you living in? Google is beating the heck out of apple right now (Android 2.2 and Google TV).
And, as I remember, Steve was the one who threw the first stone with his little rant on Google and Adobe.
You've always had the choice, Google will always be available on the internet, and I'm sure if they lose their default status there will be a Google App for that. Google pays 100 million dollars to apple for that default search, as such Apple has the right to sell that right to the highest bidder. Maybe MS wants to pay more. Google was not made the search engine for the Apple for you as a user. It paid to be there.
I'd be fine with that, but there's not really an alternative to some apps, most importantly to me, Google Voice. Sure, Google can craft a web-based work-around, but that shouldn't be necessary.
That's a great article. Thanks for sharing it.
Yeah, I was thinking about desktops, which I prefer for multiple monitors, etc. I'd consider going all-in with Macs, but for the expense of the desktops and the lack of Blu-ray.
I think Google is taking a page from MSFT and floundering around a bit looking for its second big hit, and Schmidt does seem to be his own worst enemy in the PR/image department. But Google does give us a lot of decent stuff for free, and I just wish I could get that stuff more easily on my iPhone and iPad.
Agreed about laptops. As a desktop guy I was thinking about desktops, and should have been more clear about that.
I'd love to agree with you, since I think Apple needs a little humbling. But I don't. Other than search, I see Google as number two- at best.
Understood, which is another way that Apple is using me as a tool to further its agenda. I don't care who Apple likes, or who pays Apple the most money. I want the ability to choose.
Understood, which is another way that Apple is using me as a tool to further its agenda. I don't care who Apple likes, or who pays Apple the most money. I want the ability to choose.