安卓勝利在望?
????谷歌(Google)的安卓移動操作系統似乎勢如破竹。近期的一系列通告(從靚麗的新手機到領導層變動)表明,谷歌(Google)在多家公司之間的未來移動網絡爭奪戰中正在取得優勢。 ????蘋果(Apple)在過去幾個月里無所作為,3月份已經來了又去,但它沒有舉行重磅的發布。這也幫了谷歌一把。蘋果分析師們會告訴各位,蘋果的日程安排通常是這樣的:9月份推出音樂產品和服務,10月份是為Mac電腦保留,3月份則發布其他產品,差不多就是如此。但在今年的3月份,果粉們什么也沒有得到。“我們并不期待蘋果會推出大量的重磅產品。”Piper Jaffray公司的分析師金恩?明斯特最近對《財富》(Fortune)雜志說,“但居然連一個都沒有,太令人失望了。”與此同時,約翰?格魯伯最近在博客文章中寫到,蘋果的下一代移動操作系統iOS 7已經被推遲發布。 ????相比之下,有關谷歌的文章中出現了很多好評,包括: ????安卓應用商店得到改善。谷歌似乎正在努力改善其移動應用商店Google Play。首先,科技新聞網站TechCrunch在周一報道稱,谷歌更加積極地從其應用商店中移除不符合規定或者垃圾郵件式的應用。2月份被移除的應用數量達到了創紀錄的水平,大約有6萬個應用被下架,是有史以來最多的一次(并不全是被谷歌移除,但大多數都是)。其次,谷歌在4月9日推出了重新設計的新版Google Play。它表示,公司簡化了某些令人困惑的部分,以使內容搜索更加簡單。這是個積極的改變,有利于蘋果、谷歌或微軟(Microsoft)解決移動應用可發現性的問題。 ????大幅改進的設備。不可否認,有些安卓手機相當糟糕。但這是自然的事情,因為谷歌允許其他公司把安卓系統用于五花八門的硬件(問問微軟即知)。如今,有兩款新的安卓手機令技術迷們躍躍欲試。首先是三星的Galaxy S4,熱銷手機S3的接替者。Galaxy S4在3月中旬揭開面紗。有些人認為發布會很俗氣,但這款尚未上市的手機好評如潮。其次是HTC One手機,也將在不久后上市。評論家們對這款手機大加贊揚,把它稱為最好的安卓設備。 ????新的領導層。安卓業務似乎被交到了合適的人選手中。今年3月,谷歌CEO拉里?佩奇宣布,安卓部門締造者和長期領導者安迪?羅賓將卸任,負責Chrome和應用的高級副總裁桑達爾?皮查伊將接替他的位置。我的同事米古爾?赫爾夫特最近報道稱,皮查伊是個“為人安靜、善于分析的高管”,在短短四年里就使Chrome成為使用量最大的互聯網瀏覽器。米古爾在對佩奇進行深入報道的過程中發現,佩奇和皮查伊“看起來關系融洽,相處愉快”。皮查伊獲得了佩奇的支持,同時還擁有出色的過往記錄,極有可能推動安卓繼續向前發展。 |
????It looks like Google's mobile operating system, Android, is on a roll. A string of recent announcements—from sexy new phones to leadership changes—suggests that Google is gaining momentum in the multi-firm fight for the future of the mobile web. ????It doesn't hurt that Apple (AAPL) has been rather quiet the last few months. March came and wentwithout a major announcement. Appleologists will tell you that the calendar typically looks something like this: September is for music products and services, October is reserved for the Mac, and March is for everything else, more or less. This year, the Apple faithful got nothing. "We weren't expecting a ton of fireworks," analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray recently told Fortune. "But the fact that it wasn't there was incrementally disappointing." Meanwhile, John Grubber recently blogged that iOS 7, the next iteration of Apple's bedrock mobile operating system, has been delayed. (This graphic may sum up why.) ????In contrast, there have been a number of positives in Google's (GOOG) column. These include: ????The Android store is improving. Google appears to be trying to improve its mobile store, Play. First, as TechCrunch reported Monday, the company has gotten more aggressive about removing non-compliant or spam-like applications from the marketplace. February set records for the number of apps removed; about 60,000 programs were junked, the largest round of deletions to date. (Not all were removed by Google, but it seems most were.) Secondly, Google today started rolling out a redesigned version of Play. The company says it is streamlining some confusing parts of the store and trying to make finding content easier. It's an evolutionary change, but anything that gets Apple, Google or Microsoft (MSFT) closer to solving the problem of discoverability in mobile apps is a good thing. ????Way better devices. Let's face it, there have been some pretty bad Android-powered phones. That may be only natural since Google allows other companies to use its OS on varying flavors of hardware. (Just ask Microsoft.) Now two new Android phones are getting the technorati worked up. The first is Samsung's Galaxy S4, the successor to the wildly popular S3. It was unveiled in a mid-March presentation that some thought was tacky. But the phone itself is generating positive buzz ahead of its release. The second is HTC's One phone, also due out soon.Reviewers have been raving about this phone, calling it the best Android device yet and so on. ????New leadership. The Android business appears to be in good hands. In March, Google CEO Larry Page announced that Andy Rubin, the Android division's founder and longtime leader, would be stepping aside. Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president in charge of Chrome and apps, took his place. As my colleague Miguel Helft recently reported, Pichai is a "quiet, analytic executive" who helped make Chrome the most-used Internet browser in just four years. In the course of reporting his in-depth profile of Page, Miguel observed that Page and Pichai "seemed to have a warm, easygoing rapport." Pichai, with Page's support and an impressive track record, is in a good position to push Android further. |