Stephen Withers
Thursday, 25 September 2008 13:56
Opinion and Analysis
Page 3 of 4
IBM has hived off its PC business to China-based Lenovo. Apple, on the other hand is still in the game, selling more computers than ever.
The industry may have benefited from IBM's choices, but it's pretty clear that the commoditisation that occurred didn't help the company that set the industry standard.
So was Quittner right to suggest that iPhone vs Android is a replay of Apple vs IBM?
No, because the whole idea of Android is to produce an open platform for mobile phones, both from the point of view of handset manufacturers and from that of third-party developers with good ideas for applications.
The project was driven by Google, which has no direct financial interest. Google's concern - as seen by its involvement in US spectrum auctions - is that carriers can't squeeze it out of the advertising market.
Even if a carrier chose to sell an Android handset without the Google-related components, it would be easy for owners to add them.
Apple, on the other hand, wants to make money from selling iPhones and software for them. The company looks like achieving its initial goal of a one percent market share, and owners seem happy to buy applications from the App Store, from which Apple takes a worthwhile cut.
I have another bone to pick with Quittner, so please turn to the
final page.
