Apple is typically the company that comes to mind when one talks about a software 'ecosystem'; i.e., an effort to put all software and hardware together in a single, coherent package affording users all the capabilities they could ever need. Within a software ecosystem, individual applications pass data to each other seamlessly from the user's point of view. Perhaps even more importantly all applications share a common user-interface experience making it possible for users to competently use a variety of diverse software with a single common skill set; if you can use one, you can pretty much use them all.
It occurred to me today as I perused my daily RSS feeds via Google Reader on my Google Android phone, I'm utterly immersed in Google's software ecosystem. Why does this feel somehow ironic? Perhaps it is because Google is supposed to be the anti-Apple. Where Apple tries to micromanage the user's experience within the confines a "walled garden" ecosystem, Google (supposedly) works by connecting you with the world. But does it really? More and more I find that all the programs I use are Google. This is a Google-owned blogging site, and I chose it primarily for its simple integration with my Gmail account. While, I find the provided creation tools sufficient for my purposes, I might have composed my thoughts using the now revamped and impressive GoogleDocs suite. Apple doesn't even have one of those!
I realize that I'm glossing over the undoubtedly real and consequential distinctions between these two companies. Google actually does earn the large part of its revenue from connecting people with new things, whereas Apple makes its money by selling people computers. Yet my point of all this is simply that the term 'ecosystem' ought to be attached to Google as well. Ordinarily, this would hardly seem worth writing about, but given that heretofore Apple has pretty much owned the term, and further that Google is in some contexts characterized as the anti-Apple, it may help us to construct a better model of what is actually going on between these two giants. Both are ecosystems, and they're competing for your inhabitation. Underlying both of their business models is that they can each provide you with everything you could ever need or want. Consequently, you will never have to stray far from Google's ads or Apple's hardware.
Now if you will excuse me, I have several Google Voice messages waiting.
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Just because Apple and Google have certain very different philosophies doesn't mean they can't have other similar ones. These are two very forward thinking companies that stick to certain good ideas. For example, both companies stress a clean, uncluttered design. Just look at the companies' web browsers (I'm actually surprised that Google pulled off a cleaner look in this case). Also, as different as their app-phones are, they seem like twins compared to Microsoft's Mobile line of phones.
ReplyDeleteOne other point to bear in mind is that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, was formerly on the board of directors for Apple. This had to change because of conflicting interests between the companies. Which brings another interesting point: Google and Apple actually created their own universes in different fields and only recently have they begin to overlap. As you mentioned, Apple doesn't have an online office suite. Nor do they have their own voice system, or their own mapping software (yet).