The Google Empire: Android and Youtube

With Android at the top of the smartphone market and Youtube easily atop the video platform market, Google and its acquisitions seem to be in perfect position to remain relevant in the near future of technology.   In 2010, Google’s Android operating system was used in more phones than Apple’s iOS4,  and I think it will continue to be more utilized than the iPhone, due to its flexibility and open development system.  Android has managed to create a very open ended platform, and it has shown so far to be a more popular one than the iPhone.

YouTube really does not have much competition from anyone in its market, including Vimeo.  It has established a chokehold on video hosting on most other websites, and is a household name around the world.  With its branding power, I really don’t see anyone being able to overtake YouTube in the video market.

Wiki Posts

Social Smackdown

For anyone that follows the news it is clear who has won the battle of the social networks. With over 600 million users Facebook dominates the social media landscape. Facebook, as demonstrated in the wiki, still has tremendous potential for growth, both from current Internet users not on the site and from those not yet online. With an IPO likely next year Facebook should have a tremendous amount of cash on hand to further refine its platform and focus on monetizing its tremendous user base. As long as it can keep on the right side of the regulatory authorities Facebook should have a bright few years ahead of it.

Smartphone Showdown

After examining the competitors in the smartphone arena, I feel that the Apple group has the strongest argument. This hinges primarily on one thing. To quote, “However on February 10, 2011, iPhone will join forces with the Verizon network which may help increase iPhone sales.” This is perhaps the single most important statement in the entire wiki about the iPhone. AT&T and their sub-par network has been a source of continual frustration among iPhone owners since its release. Additionally, many Verizon customers have been unable or unwilling to switch networks. With increased availability and an enhanced network support structure, the recent future of the iPhone looks exceedingly bright and hard to beat.

Blackberry, on the other hand, seems to have lost much of its competitive edge and is being propped up by its strength in the business sector. This too, however, is being eroded as iPhone and Android beef up their business offerings and security, giving business users additional choice. Blackberry is clearly on the defensive and is more concerned about keeping customers and is less able to focus on stealing market share from its competitors.

Android seems to have the best long-term potential of the three offerings. It is open source, has a positive image, is currently the fastest growing of the three offerings and has great support from Google and other developers. The most customizable and open offering, there is great promise for the platform in the long term. Where I believe iPhone edges out Android in the short term is the move by Apple to allow the iPhone on Verizon’s network in the near future. This makes iPhone’s short-term prospects very bright, which I feel should be the focus of which entry presents the strongest argument. It is harder to predict the distant than the near future.

Group Wiki Assignment

Out of all the wiki presentations that I saw and read about, I felt that the Facebook presentation was the most effective.  The group gave a very detailed description of the history of facebook, it’s founder and current owner and the rise from a small website to the largest social networking website on the planet.  On the wiki page, the group had a great description about facebooks role in the marketplace.  The group didn’t make claims based on their own experiences or preconceived notions, instead they gave statistics outlying facebooks popularity in comparison with their past and present competitors.  But, for me, the best part of the facebook wiki was the groups ideas for the future of facebook; specifically, their idea to integrate video chat into facebook chat.  Video chat is a huge phenomenon right now.  Skype is one of the world’s largets social networking websites and yet it offers almost exclusively video chat.  The iphone 4 was one of the best selling smart phones on the market and yet, it’s main selling point was the addition of video chat.  Video chat is on the verge of becoming its own market, and I think if facebook were to start offering video chat, they would begin to compete with websites like Skype and devices like the Iphone 4.

 

The group did a great job of presenting their information in an organized and understandable fashion.  They went into detail about facebooks history, their statistics were relatable and important and their ideas for the future were very innovative and realistic.

Blog #5 Blackberry

When I was looking though all the class wikis I found it highly ironic when I came across the iPhone’s and Blackberry’s pages. This was because IPhone’s are widely known for their “flash” and Blackberry’s are known for their business aspect. Both of these phone companies’ wiki pages greatly reflected the type of phone it is. The iPhone has a very catchy image which makes you want to know more. The Blackberry on the other hand has graphics which look very boring, at first glance, like the kind you find in the stock section of the newspaper. But, when you take a more in depth look into the graphics they are very helpful. Overall I think that the Blackberry page has made the strongest argument in print compared to all the other wiki’s.

The Blackberry page has done a number of things very well. Their page is very organized which makes it easy to navigate through the page. It is neat there is not a lot of clutter or irrelevant information as well. Another thing they did well was the ratio of pictures to writing. They have a few graphics and a solid amount of writing. There was not an overwhelming amount of one or the other.  Something else this group did well was explaining the diagram which they had. They also included their sources which allow someone who is interested in the subject a place to go to get more information.

One thing that they could have done a better job on was incorporating a more up to date picture of a Blackberry phone. They also could add things that their competitors do that are better than them. That would create less of an argument if they admit that their product is not the best in every area.

Looking at their wiki made me wish we had more organization in our wiki page. That would be something I would change in my groups page. My question for the group is do they think Blackberry will include any of the groups ideas for the future by chance?

 

The winners of the Wikis

The three smartphones in competition (the iPhone, Android and Blackberry) all have their own personal styles and followers in the market, so it’s sometimes difficult to compare.  While it’s clear that the iPhone dominates in the market, I believe that there is room for competition.  The Blackberry’s time came and went with the introduction of the iPhone, but the Blackberry will always have its followers (especially in the business world).  However, I think that the Android operating system could take over the market as the leading smartphone.  It has a similar touch screen interface as the iPhone, but there is much more depth to the operating system (Linux) and lots of room for the phone to constantly grow and evolve because it’s open source which means people anywhere can make apps or improvements for the Android phone.  While I think the Android has a persuasive argument, there is definite substance to the argument on the Blackberry Wiki page.  The recommendations for updating the workability of the Blackberry are very important and could be simple fixes that would perhaps give them another boost in the marketplace.  The Blackberry Torch is comparable to many of the other leading smartphones out there, so it looks like the Blackberry company has been working towards those improvements.

Wiki Project–iPhone

After reading the wiki pages I believe that the iPhone is the strongest contender in the market place.

The iPhone has the advantage of being released by Apple, which is one of the largest technology companies. The first thing that the iPhone has going for it is brand loyalty. The people who buy the apple computers and iPods are more likely to purchase the iPhone.

The biggest issue that I see with the iPhone is that it is presently only able to operate on one network, however, Apple has realized that issue, and will soon be offering the iPhone through Verizon as well. On the wiki they suggested changing the design of the phone. Personally, I believe that the design is something that the iPhone is known for, so if the design could be maintained while still improving reception I believe that would be a good choice for Apple.

The price point for the iPhone may also produce an issue. Not only is it an expensive phone to initially purchase, but the data plans are not as reasonable as other smart phone plans. On the wiki there was mention of a sliding keyboard. I think that it would be a great idea to make a less expensive version of the iPhone with a keyboard for the younger customers buying the phone and plan on their own. Offering more styles of iPhones will also make the product successful if there is more than one model to pick from.

Wiki Pages

While I think each group did a great job on their wiki assignments, I believe that the Android group did the best job at laying out “their” company’s information including its history, the way it operates, its competitors, and future steps. What I liked most about this particular wiki page was the layout. The simplicity of the visual layout made it easy on the eyes, and therefore made me more inclined to go on and read. However, it was a slight pain to have to scroll sideways to read what was written in certain sections. Aside from that, I thought the layout was clean and organized. In addition, one of the strongest points of their argument was that Google owns Android. This connection is important in that Google is a powerhouse in the business world, and people tend to associate reliability with their great success. Another strong point of this wiki page is the inclusion of videos and graphics that explain the way in which the Android system works. Finally, I liked that they included pie charts to illustrate their position in the market place as well as show their competition. As a whole, I thought this group did an exceptional job on explaining the Android system.

Wiki Project

Out of all the Wiki groups that are presenting on Thursday, I found that the iPhone looked to be the strongest argument of all. The iPhone page was the most organized and easy to read out of all the other Wiki pages. It was categorized very neatly and clearly showed that the iPhone is the best smartphone out of all the other cellphones.  The iPhone page was much more superior than the other pages.

Another reason that the iPhone provides the strongest argument is because of its dominance over the other smartphones. The page shows that the iPhone dwarfs all other cellphones when it comes to apps with over 50,000. Also the simplicity of the iPhone makes it very appealing to customers who aren’t as technologically savvy as other people may be. The was the phone runs is very straightforward and is designed so that almost anyone can use it. Features such as FaceTime and HD video are also strongpoints to the iPhone. The convenience of being able to call someone, play music, play games, and surf the net all on one small hand-held device is what makes the iPhone so appealing to customers. Being the first type of smartphone available to the public is another thing that makes it so popular. Since it was so innovative the name iPhone has become one the most recognized technological devices.

The iPhone is also released by one the most powerful companies in the world, Apple. Apple has an annual revenue of about $60 billion. Being a product of a enormous technological company just makes the iPhone seem much better than the other smartphones.

The only weakness to the iPhone may be that the phone is offered to users of AT&T. The iPhone would just completely dominate all other smartphones if they decided to team up with networks like Verizon as well. If Verizon users had the option to pick between the Android and the iPhone, it is almost certain the more people would choose the iPhone.

Android

Out of everyone’s wikis, I believe that the Android’s is just barely ahead of the others.  The Android’s wiki opens up with some very interesting history (even though it is still a relatively new device), like naming their updated phones based off of foods (e.g. donut, honeycomb, Gingerbread, and the ice cream sandwich).  A very powerful point that the Android wiki initially makes is that they’re owned by Google.  Google is widely recognized as a market power, and anything owned by it will also be recognized as just that.  Their next strongest point as to why Android is the number one operating system because they claim (according to Google) that 300,000 new phones are activated on average per day.

If you briefly look at the pie chart on the Android wiki, it looks to be a very strong argument in favor of the Droid versus other phones.  But if you look closely, the chart is just a pie chart comparing how many different phones have the Android operating system within them (and how many there are relative to each other).  Depending on the reader that is either a very strong, or very weak point.

Because the authors point out that Android technology is still relatively new, beating out the iPhone in 2010 is a huge deal (especially considering that the iPhone just recently took the top spot in the market from Blackberry).  Adding to that point are some hard facts, 33% handsets sold last year were Android enabled; followed by Research in Motion (Blackberry) at 28%, and finally the iPhone with 22%.

The Android wiki also shows a brief chart on how the operating system works for Android phones, followed by a video of the Android system on a PC.  Overall this wiki was very informational and well organized; everything just seemed to flow nice and smoothly from start to finish.

Group Wikis

In the Wikis I thought that the competition between Android, iPhone and Blackberry was especially interesting. Cell phones are increasingly more important and able to do more things, so whoever is the winner in this market will have a lot of influence. From the Blackberry page, I got the idea that the device that was once essential is kind of on the way out as new smartphones take over. However they did have some useful ideas for moving forward that would definitely help the company, like gearing it toward the younger demographic. The iPhone page gave lots of good information, regarding the phone’s strengths and weaknesses. It seems that one of the biggest things that has been holding the iPhone back is the deal with AT&T. It will be interesting to see what happens when the phone becomes available through Verizon next month, and if that takes a lot of business away from Android. The Apple technology tends to be very appealing and user friendly so I can see a lot of Verizon customers switching over to the iPhone. The Android page provided a lot of in depth information and background, incorporating lots of photos, charts, and even a video. I thought they made a strong presentation and showed why Android is the leader in the market right now. I think the fact that the Android software can be used on a variety of phones by different manufacturers is really a bonus, and gives customers a lot of options. Every iPhone looks exactly the same, but with Android you can choose what fits you best. For example, I just bought a Droid 2 and I chose the one with a slide out keyboard because I find typing on the touchscreen annoying. I also think Google has created a great software that seems more versatile than Apple. The ideas that the group had for going forward were interesting too, with the suggestion that Android create larger tablets with the same technology. This would no doubt help with competition against the iPad.

Overall I would pick Android as the winner, as they are clearly ahead right now and have such a versatile and well programmed software. Like I said I just got a Droid this weekend after having the most old school flip phone possible for years. I found the transition very easy and I was able to learn how to work it quickly. I love all the apps and features. However we’ll see what happens when Verizon introduces the iPhone, and if Droid will be able to keep up with the new competition.