Google and TweetDeck Executives Respond to Jobs' Anti-Android Comments
TechCrunch notes that Google's vice president of engineering Andy Rubin, who heads up the Android project, was inspired by Jobs to post his first-ever tweet. Rubin's tweet amounted to defining "open" as the code required to get the Repo tool that serves as a basis for working with Android source code installed and ready for use.
the definition of open: "mkdir android ; cd android ; repo init -u git://android.git.kernel.org/ platform/ manifest.git ; repo sync ; make"
During his comments, Jobs also referred to TweetDeck, developers of a popular Twitter platform who recently launched an Android application, noting that they had to test their application against 100 different versions of Android on 244 different handsets. Jobs contrasted that experience with the tightly-controlled iOS environment, claiming that Android's fragmentation is leading to significant headaches for app developers seeking to ensure compatibility.TweetDeck CEO Iain Dodsworth quickly responded to Jobs' comments via Twitter, disputing the claim that the burden of testing on Android devices was an onerous one.
Did we at any point say it was a nightmare developing on Android? Errr nope, no we didn't. It wasn't.
Dodsworth followed up with a second tweet noting that the company has only two employees working on the Android version of TweetDeck and citing that as proof that Android fragmentation is essentially a non-issue.We only have 2 guys developing on Android TweetDeck so that shows how small an issue fragmentation is
Representatives of Research in Motion have apparently yet to speak out on Jobs' claims that the company will be unable to keep pace with Apple as it is forced to move out of its "comfort zone" into a smartphone world where software is driving the innovation.Top Rated Comments
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21 months ago
TweetDeck CEO Iain Dodsworth quickly responded to Jobs' comments via Twitter, disputing the claim that the burden of testing on Android devices was an onerous one.Dodsworth followed up with a second tweet noting that the company has only two employees working on the Android version of TweetDeck and citing that as proof that Android fragmentation is essentially a non-issue.[/url]
If it was a non-issue why did they post about it in the first place? they even posted a complete list of ever single model using their app.
Android: Open Source or Just an Open Mess? sums it up pretty nicely.
21 months ago
Love when SJ kicks the hornet's nest a few times. More innovation and more great products all around.
21 months ago
HTC tablet PC shipments may delay, says paper
Apple Daily, October 19; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 19 October 2010]
High Tech Computer (HTC) is expected to delay the launch of its tablet PC from the original schedule of the fourth quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of 2011 as Google has turned its support priority for Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) to Motorola, and LG will receive the priority for Android 3.5 (Honeycomb), according to a Chinese-language Apple Daily report citing an analyst from JPMorgan.
Although HTC is also facing issues such as patent lawsuits, bugs in its Windows Phone 7-based smartphones and component shortages, the analyst believes HTC should be able to resolve all the problems gradually, added the paper.
Apple Daily, October 19; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 19 October 2010]
High Tech Computer (HTC) is expected to delay the launch of its tablet PC from the original schedule of the fourth quarter of 2010 to the second quarter of 2011 as Google has turned its support priority for Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) to Motorola, and LG will receive the priority for Android 3.5 (Honeycomb), according to a Chinese-language Apple Daily report citing an analyst from JPMorgan.
Although HTC is also facing issues such as patent lawsuits, bugs in its Windows Phone 7-based smartphones and component shortages, the analyst believes HTC should be able to resolve all the problems gradually, added the paper.
21 months ago
If it was a non-issue why did they post about it in the first place? they even posted a complete list of ever single model using their app.
Well, their blog post focuses on their opinion that it's "pretty cool" that the app runs on all those devices and variations, not on any difficulties testing for them.
21 months ago
If the Tweetdeck guys are in bed with Eric Schmidt (and there's a mental picture we could all do without) then I think I need a new Twitter client.
21 months ago
LOL, I just knew the tech guys would miss the point, and I never dreamed they would so publicly admit (inadvertently) it so quickly. Oh, they think they were being clever by these responses, but they merely confirm Steve's point.
Yes, sure, if you are a geek, the definition of open expressed in code makes a good point. But Steve wasn't addressing geeks (something that drives MacRumors posters crazy), for whom every device is open (including the iPhone) by their definition of open (as in, can I crack this?)
But the 90% of the smartphone users who are not geeks, in other words the hundreds of millions who wouldn't know code if it kicked them in the butt, these geek responses are meaningless. Geeks all over the Net are laughing at Steve today, but everyone else (90%) understands just what Steve said.
Android might be geek open, but to everyone else it's fragmented by what the cell providers are doing to Android. It's de facto locked down by Verizon, so that the end user is stuck with whatever version Verizon wants them to have, along with all the cruft that Verizon foists upon them. This is not open. Steve's point remains, and the geeks can laugh all they want, but the hundreds of millions of non-geek users are getting tired of "open" that is closed to them by stupid cell providers.
Yes, sure, if you are a geek, the definition of open expressed in code makes a good point. But Steve wasn't addressing geeks (something that drives MacRumors posters crazy), for whom every device is open (including the iPhone) by their definition of open (as in, can I crack this?)
But the 90% of the smartphone users who are not geeks, in other words the hundreds of millions who wouldn't know code if it kicked them in the butt, these geek responses are meaningless. Geeks all over the Net are laughing at Steve today, but everyone else (90%) understands just what Steve said.
Android might be geek open, but to everyone else it's fragmented by what the cell providers are doing to Android. It's de facto locked down by Verizon, so that the end user is stuck with whatever version Verizon wants them to have, along with all the cruft that Verizon foists upon them. This is not open. Steve's point remains, and the geeks can laugh all they want, but the hundreds of millions of non-geek users are getting tired of "open" that is closed to them by stupid cell providers.
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