GOOGLE CAN BEAT APPLE ON HARDWARE

This response was prompted by Onny Chatterjee in our internal Slack channel at Continuum posting the question:

Any thoughts [on impact to Apple] on the Google announcements from yesterday?

I responded:

I think it’s great. the stuff that apple is good at (making excellent hardware) is increasingly becoming commoditized. There are still things only they can do considering their supply chain prowess, but I don’t think that is what moves the needle for many consumers.

I think the big game changer here is AI (machine learning in particular). in the last few years accuracy of voice and image recognition has improved to near-human levels. This is going to change the way and frequency with we interact with technology and our expectations of it. Google is on the cutting edge of this from a technology standpoint, and this looks like they are pushing to take that lead from a product standpoint.

Without looking back, they are taking on, at least Apple (devices) Starry (Modular Wi-Fi… which is exciting beyond just getting better service), the slew of VR companies, and Amazon Echo. it’s really audacious, but when I think of the google services I already use (Maps, Inbox, Chrome, Drive, Photo, Youtube, Google Analytics) I think, why not? Isn’t it great that the cutting edge AI firm already knows how I live (creepy yes, but definitely convenient.)

My biggest cynicism would be that they would fuck it up. Google has historically has been really shitty at building consumer hardware. Glass was way way way overbudget (granted the concept was a reach) and their Nexus phones, while good, get lost in the mix of the wide world of android. However this lineup, at a glance, seems well-balanced and presumably ready to launch.

I’ve gone from Android (nerd cred… first android device the Tmobile G1) to iPhone to android and currently am back on iPhone. For me the best thing about Apple is that it’s UI is really really slick. The voice controls from headphones, the ‘delivered’ in imessage and a bunch of other little things just make it feel more polished.

But at the end of the day I really don’t think it’s that hard to duplicate, particularly if Google takes ownership of the device in a big way (which the appear to be doing) to solve the fragmentation problem. And in any case, AI advances are, as I said above, going to change the way I interact with tech, so perhaps some of the polish I like about iOS becomes moot quickly.

Will be really interesting to watch. If Google can scale smoothly and avoid any big supply chain or hardware problems I think apple might be in some trouble