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WHEN Stephen Elop announced his plan to align Nokia with Microsoft, he said it was important to create a third ecosystem that could stick it to Apple and Google.
The competition between these monolithic companies is to capture your entire digital life - from the computer you work on to your phone and even the television you watch. And choosing who you side with is becoming increasingly important.
When Steve Jobs first announced the iPhone, his company was very closely aligned with Google. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, used to sit on the Apple board. Google developed internet-based services and Apple made hardware and software. There wasn't much in terms of conflict of interest.
And then came Android.
When Google entered the mobile market, it crossed a line with Apple and became a competitor. While Apple still uses some Google services such as Maps on its devices, the two companies are now at odds. Schmidt resigned from the Apple board (or was he asked to leave?) and the two went their separate ways.
A couple of years later and everything has changed. Google is emerging as the most dominant platform provider in mobile, with its Android operating system snapping up market share and now being deployed on hundreds of devices from many different vendors.
Apple, meanwhile, keeps a tighter reign on its inventions and if you want to use its iOS operating system, you have to do so on the company's own devices.
Microsoft controls corporate ecosystems and has made headway in terms of entertainment with its Xbox brand, but has fallen far behind Apple and Google in terms of mobile.
Now, with Windows Phone 7 finally appearing in the market and a new ally in the form of Nokia, Microsoft plans to claw its way back into a position of ecosystem dominance.
My money has been with Apple for the most part. I used a MacBook computer, an iPhone and, until recently, an iPad too. Call me a fanboi, but the solution most elegantly met my needs and that's all that matters.
Apple hasn't kept me entirely happy with its cloud services, however, and so I've increasingly been eyeing Google. Its Google Apps and other online services are far superior to Apple's, the Android operating system is fantastic and soon Google will add a big piece to its puzzle when the Cr-48 laptop launches, running Google's Chrome OS.
Oh, and I've considered Microsoft too. Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system, as is Windows Phone - and Microsoft has great cloud services under its Windows Live and Microsoft Exchange brands. But it still has a long way to go, especially in terms of convincing developers to make apps for its mobile platform.
In the past it was easy to mix and match. You could have an iPhone that you synched with your Windows computer and use Google services with both. This is still possible and probably always will be, but it is becoming increasingly appealing to throw all your eggs in one basket.
The iPhone will never play as nicely with Windows as it does with OS X, and Microsoft's services will never work as well with your Mac as they do with your PC. Google tends to be more agnostic, but connect an Android tablet to your Google account and the experience is second to none.
There are other ecosystem providers on the way too. BlackBerry is often discounted in ecosystem discussions, but the Canadian company (Research in Motion) is on a trajectory that may well end with it being pitted against the three dominant players mentioned above.
The PlayBook is step one - BlackBerry's tablet device is magnificent and impressed me when I finally had extended use of the device on a recent trip to Europe.
With the new QNX operating system in its stable, BlackBerry must be thinking of bigger devices and more cohesive ecosystems.
Ethics aside, the choice of provider is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers - especially those who want it all to gel from the lounge to the office to their pocket.
In that regard, I still think Apple has the upper hand - it isn't the biggest technology company in the world for nothing - but Microsoft is coming up and Google is doing things differently.
- Fin24
The competition between these monolithic companies is to capture your entire digital life - from the computer you work on to your phone and even the television you watch. And choosing who you side with is becoming increasingly important.
When Steve Jobs first announced the iPhone, his company was very closely aligned with Google. Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, used to sit on the Apple board. Google developed internet-based services and Apple made hardware and software. There wasn't much in terms of conflict of interest.
And then came Android.
When Google entered the mobile market, it crossed a line with Apple and became a competitor. While Apple still uses some Google services such as Maps on its devices, the two companies are now at odds. Schmidt resigned from the Apple board (or was he asked to leave?) and the two went their separate ways.
A couple of years later and everything has changed. Google is emerging as the most dominant platform provider in mobile, with its Android operating system snapping up market share and now being deployed on hundreds of devices from many different vendors.
Apple, meanwhile, keeps a tighter reign on its inventions and if you want to use its iOS operating system, you have to do so on the company's own devices.
Microsoft controls corporate ecosystems and has made headway in terms of entertainment with its Xbox brand, but has fallen far behind Apple and Google in terms of mobile.
Now, with Windows Phone 7 finally appearing in the market and a new ally in the form of Nokia, Microsoft plans to claw its way back into a position of ecosystem dominance.
My money has been with Apple for the most part. I used a MacBook computer, an iPhone and, until recently, an iPad too. Call me a fanboi, but the solution most elegantly met my needs and that's all that matters.
Apple hasn't kept me entirely happy with its cloud services, however, and so I've increasingly been eyeing Google. Its Google Apps and other online services are far superior to Apple's, the Android operating system is fantastic and soon Google will add a big piece to its puzzle when the Cr-48 laptop launches, running Google's Chrome OS.
Oh, and I've considered Microsoft too. Windows 7 is a fantastic operating system, as is Windows Phone - and Microsoft has great cloud services under its Windows Live and Microsoft Exchange brands. But it still has a long way to go, especially in terms of convincing developers to make apps for its mobile platform.
In the past it was easy to mix and match. You could have an iPhone that you synched with your Windows computer and use Google services with both. This is still possible and probably always will be, but it is becoming increasingly appealing to throw all your eggs in one basket.
The iPhone will never play as nicely with Windows as it does with OS X, and Microsoft's services will never work as well with your Mac as they do with your PC. Google tends to be more agnostic, but connect an Android tablet to your Google account and the experience is second to none.
There are other ecosystem providers on the way too. BlackBerry is often discounted in ecosystem discussions, but the Canadian company (Research in Motion) is on a trajectory that may well end with it being pitted against the three dominant players mentioned above.
The PlayBook is step one - BlackBerry's tablet device is magnificent and impressed me when I finally had extended use of the device on a recent trip to Europe.
With the new QNX operating system in its stable, BlackBerry must be thinking of bigger devices and more cohesive ecosystems.
Ethics aside, the choice of provider is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers - especially those who want it all to gel from the lounge to the office to their pocket.
In that regard, I still think Apple has the upper hand - it isn't the biggest technology company in the world for nothing - but Microsoft is coming up and Google is doing things differently.
- Fin24
