The Googlization of Everything

Could There Be More To Google, Android, Chrome, & Gears Than Meets The Eye? - David Berlind's Tech Radar - InformationWeek

Could There Be More To Google, Android, Chrome, & Gears Than Meets The Eye?

Posted by David Berlind, Sep 12, 2008 02:09 PM

Yesterday, I wrote about the war -- more like the Armageddon -- that's on the verge of eruption in the mobile space. Given how critical third party software developers are to the strategic success of any platform ecosystem, we can fully expect Apple, Google (NSDQ: GOOG), RIM (NSDQ: RIMM), Sun (with Java), the Symbian Foundation, Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) and others to fight tooth and nail for every mobile developer on the planet. More than one will succeed. But not all. Or, might it not matter? The answer could very much depend on how exactly Google plays its cards with Android, Chrome, and Gears. Consider this.

For those of you who are deeply familiar with Android, Chrome, and Gears, here's the punchline so you won't have to read any further: By offering mobile developers an alternative way for making their mobile applications run on handsets, even when no wireless connection exists, Google is paving the way for developers to build browser-based applications that can run on any mobile platform as opposed to having to build separate versions of their applications in order to support those same mobile platforms.

Simply put, software developers want access to volume markets. Given the fragmentation in the mobile platform market, it's not as easy as it was in the original desktop days to pick one platform that can get you access to the majority of the market's volume.

For mobile developers to reach the entire market, they have to think "cross-platform" and, unfortunately, the only cross-platform play in the mobile market is the Web browser. It's the only "platform" that, in one form or another, is available on all of today's smartphones (as well as many other handsets). Why do I say "unfortunately?" Because the Web experience is only as good as the weakest link which, in the case of mobiles, is pretty darn weak: the network. If the network is either slow or unavailable to your handset, the Web experience is not even an experience. It's wholly unreliable. ...