“The simple, obvious truth is that both Apple and Google have atypical strategies and cultures, and both companies have achieved atypical results. Imagine that.”
Such is the counter-punch by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber in his memorably titled, ‘How Leander Kahney Got Everything Wrong by Being a Fucking Jackass,’ a posting which rips apart the logic of Wired Magazine's recent article on the re-birth of Apple titled, ‘How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong.’
Gruber is dead-on when he says that it’s ludicrous to conclude that it’s somehow surprising that Apple has succeeded despite being different than Google, or that Google is somehow representative of a typical Silicon Valley company, when it is not.
As I asserted in my post (on 02/08), ‘iPod touch: take two,’ Google and Apple pretty much are without peers in terms of their ability to ‘Think Different’ enough to play the disruptor role across the entirety of the media, mobile, PC and Internet segments; industry segments which once were impenetrably different, but no more.
While both companies are indeed so very different in the particular approaches that they employ to success, they’re actually very much alike in the game-changing outcomes they yield and the almost-religious fervor they inspire.
They are the Chess Masters of this particular point in time, and as such, destined for a showdown in the year or so ahead.
In fact, when I wrote my post back in February, I wondered aloud whether “given their respective mammoth ambitions, are ‘friends’ Apple/Google destined to become ‘frienemies’ ala Apple/Microsoft (circa 1990), and if so, when?”
Last week the first “WHEN” moment took form as a Google executive went on record asserting that Android, Google’s smart phone initiative, would outsell the iPhone.
I said it then, and I will repeat it now. This is a major storyline to watch.
UPDATE 1: With Google announcing its Chrome-based OS (derived from its nine month old browser platform of the same name) to target the nascent netbooks/tablet computing segment, the drumbeat is growing for Google CEO Eric Schmidt to leave Apple's board. Two thoughts on this one.
One, neither company has proven to care one whit about conventional thinking, so writing on the wall notwithstanding, the end game is anything but clear at this point.
Two, is that the decision to NOT base Chrome OS on Android is a head scratcher. There may be sound logic behind the decision, but it sure seems counter to reasoned product management and product marketing thinking, and Google certainly hasn't articulated the "WHY."
UPDATE 2: BusinessWeek (i.e., the mainstream media) has finally and fully caught on to the 'Apple vs. Google' storyline in a piece on how the battle between Silicon Valley's superstars will shape the future of mobile computing.
Related Links:
- Holy Shit! Apple's Halo Effect: how and why gravity has become Apple's friend.
- iPhone SDK - Mobile reasons for optimism: why the iPhone Universe is a big deal.
- Googling Innovation: how Google seeds new ideas, selects the ones that sprouts and amplifies them to success.
- iPod touch, the first mainstream Wi-Fi platform: why it's important not to lose sight of the iPod touch side of the iPhone Universe.
- Apple, the 'Boomer' Tablet and the Matrix (Guest Post @ O'Reilly Radar)
