Monthly Archives: March 2013

The Imp-Liar: Eric Schmidt

So, Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt, is at it again.

In a pretty long interview with ndtv.com he implied that Google Now not being in the iOS App Store wasn’t in Google’s hands by saying:

You’ll need to discuss that with Apple…Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of the apps we make they approve, and some of them they don’t.

Sounds like Apple doesn’t want Google Now on iOS, right?

Wrong. Here’s Apple’s statement to CNet (no link, because CNet):

…the Google Now application was never submitted for approval to our App Store…

Interestingly, Google itself have now confirmed this, also telling CNet:

Yes, I can confirm for you: We have not submitted Google Now to Apple’s App Store.

I’m sure Eric Schmidt will issue a statement shortly…right.

Thorsten Heins, CEO of Blackberry…on the iPhone.

So, Thorsten Heins has made a few public statements about Apple and the iPhone…much like his predecessors….

The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old.

Actually it’s six years old.

The point is that you can never stand still,…It is true for us as well. Launching BB10 just put us on the starting grid of the wider mobile computing grand prix, and now we need to win it.

Not really Thorsten. Changing for the sake of changing is a sure way to play to the 1%, which already have Android to tinker with. You change things if and when you found something better, because your target audience are the 99%…you know, the one’s that actually buy phones and don’t write articles on their nerd blogs.

Just a thought: Apple sells more iPhones in a quarter to real customers than Blackberry sells in one year (into the channel).

The difference.

Apple shows us how something works, and why it’s useful.

Samsung has to explain why something might be useful.

I’m sure the S 4 is a great phone, but why do they tack on features that are, at best, random?

That was a rhetorical question. I know the answer, so do you.

Samsung is good at copying features, not so much at innovating, so when they don’t have something to copy (the iPhone 5S won’t be here for another six months or so), they have to pull stuff out of their…thin air, and that’s what happens over and over again.

Remember that TV? Yeah, neither do I.

Anyhow, one more observation: Was Google, or Android for that matter, even mentioned in Samsung’s “play”? Food for thought…

Andy Rubin leaves Android team.

Wow. He has been with Android since 2003, when it was still a Blackberry clone, and two years away from being acquired by Google.

Supposedly he’s heading to “moonshot” projects at Google. Not sure if this is a promotion…

Android hasn’t been a commercial success for Google, and it’s been very quiet around Rubin for the last few months.

I wonder if this ties in with him not tweeting any Android activation numbers since Q4 of last year?

Sundar Pichai will take over his duties. Sundar previously worked on Chrome.