Apple’s Steve Jobs often quotes Alan Kay in saying, “People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.” Steve uses it to describe why Apple doesn’t license its software to run on other hardware, and this policy has grown to not just include the Mac but also the iPhone, iPod and iPad products as well.
Apple does not allow their products to “fragment” by allowing other manufacturers to build products that can use their software. They pride themselves in building both hardware and software to ensure quality control, user experience and innovation. They have design awards in hardware, software and usability, and they have a large customer base to show that this strategy of perfection and innovation works.
Google is a different story. Google is known for putting pretty much anything in a beta mode (even Gmail) and then releasing it to see what people think. Both strategies obviously work and both have pros and cons. When Google executives have been asked about the Android mobile OS running on all kinds of different devices, they have often maintained that they are open and it allows more devices to take advantage of the Android OS. As a developer of both platforms, I can say that trying to get your app to look and act the same across all devices, running Android is near impossible without some tradeoffs.
This brings me to the Google potential buyout of Motorola. Maybe Google wants to follow the Alan Kay/Apple philosophy and build some hardware that the software can integrate better with and offer more consistency to the user experience. Well maybe, but in my opinion, it’s the patents that Motorola has that interest Google more. Apple has thousands of patents around their devices and especially around the iPhone, but that hasn’t stopped Google and Apple from suing each other and, in some cases, suing companies such as HTC that make Android phones. With Motorola patents in the Google arsenal, it will starve off some of those lawsuits, maybe.
What it boils down to is whether this will be good for us, the consumers and the developers. I would like to think that in the end, Google will also leverage Motorola’s hardware experience and build a great Google phone that is easier to use and offers not just tons of features, but a user experience that all can appreciate. I am not saying that Google should be more like Apple or vice versa, but more innovation as a good thing. Google has been letting other companies build hardware upon their software, and it has resulted in a lot of followers behind Apple’s lead.
Maybe this acquisition will bring some innovation to the hardware that will allow Google to lead a major change to the mobile platform and the landscape in general. It would truly be a shame if it turns out to be more about patents and protection than innovation. One of my favorite Steve Jobs quotes is “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Time will tell which path Google chooses.