I loved his lead in discussing his time at Amazon before moving on to Google… and parts of that rant only reinforces why I got out of IT (as a full time job) since the profession is so full of these sort of dramas (including the human ones where the Peter Principle is often times in full operation as you move up the ladder where often times, being in management requires more ass kissing than anything else – and yes, the clueless pointy haired bosses actually do exist).
Two paragraphs in this posting says it all:
“Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product. But that’s not why they are successful. Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work. So Facebook is different for everyone.”
Ouch! Actually, that whole knee jerk reaction and short term thinking is pretty much a part of my main complaints with a number of things which is why I admire the approach Apple has taken since the acquisition of NeXT and how the pieces ended up falling into place (in full circle fashion) where those software assets are now a critical piece of the foundation for Apple’s key platforms. It’s not all perfect (as I’ve written about issues that are at times maddening and counter to the “it just works” motto) but when they get the key parts right, it tends to be better than anything else out there at least when it comes to my needs. The fact that Apple has been successful in capturing a larger percentage of the global mobile market than they originally anticipated shows they are doing something right with the iOS platform and its surrounding ecosystem.
The high margin Mac product line has also seen a resurgence due to this spill over halo effect. Remember, the iPhone only came out in mid-2007 with no app store where Apple’s goal was to take at least 1% marketshare by the end of 2008. As of 2011, their marketshare of the total global mobile market (this includes both the lowend handset and smartphone markets) stands at around 18%. The smartphone area has significant growth potential since there is still a large number of users still using basic handsets. Now that the iPhone 3GS is free with a 2-year contract, the demand for a 2-generation old product reveals the crossover effect in play. While Google is also doing well with Android, their overall approach is completely different which is why Apple commands a larger share of the overall profits generated in the smartphone market even though Android has overtaken it in terms of marketshare.
Digressing, the whole posting is much recommended reading because this engineers rant is meant to try and highlight the problem such that it can be maturely discussed so that some form of solution can be found. Furthermore, it provides some insight as to Google’s overall approach to platforms which compared to its peers, seems to be more of an afterthought. This insight is material information from an investors point of view (as mentioned in previous postings, I’m looking to divest the remainder of my GOOG shares; that is primarily due to the MMI acquisition but the above does little to inspire confidence as to how Google approaches platforms as far as internal decision making goes).
One Comment