ProductCamp Boston, April 2011 ********* Apple, Google, and others are in an industry-changing battle for consumers' mindshare and wallets. What can we, as product experts, learn from this struggle? Join me for an interactive discussion of the Mobile Wars! ******** Rich Sands, the founder and principal consultant for RSands Consulting, is an experienced software marketing and business strategy executive who helps organizations drive business success through software platform adoption strategies and initiatives. Rich honed his knowledge of developer initiatives leading the marketing effort behind the successful open sourcing of the Java Platform for Sun Microsystems, one of the biggest open source happenings in the history of the software industry. He has brought a wide range of software products to market, initiated high-impact competitive intelligence programs, shepherded technology and joint marketing agreements, and implemented a variety of effective marketing programs across a diverse set of audiences, employing a wide range of tactics and communications channels.

2. MobileWars

3. “open” “closed” Open source Fragmented Integrated Proprietary Flexible hardware Restricted hardware Few/One OEM Many OEMs Operator differentiation Operator consistency Many UXs One UX One restrictive app store Several freewheeling app stores API freedom API control 3rd party execution engines 3rd party execution forbidden Operators control UX OEM controls UX Optimized for end users Optimized for developers Good for content producers Good for content consumers Broad distribution Narrow distribution High volume Low volume Low margin High margin Cheap Expensive Design Technology Desire driven Price driven Android Windows Phone BlackBerry iOS

5. Is share a good metric? Why or why not?

6. “But the fact of the matter is that if we were to put those type of restrictions on an open source product, we’d be violating the principle of open source.” Eric Schmidt in response to a question on why Google doesn’t force operators and OEMs to offer a “pure” Android experience, upgrade their phones on a predictable schedule, etc.

7. “We think the open vs. closed is just a smokescreen to try and hide the real issue, which is: What's best for the customer? Fragmented vs. integrated? We think Android is very very fragmented and becoming more fragmented by the day.” Steve Jobs on the problems with Android, during Apple’s Q4 2010 earnings call.

8. Andy Rubin’s first tweet, in response to Steve’s comment.

9. “To make our schedule to ship the tablet, we made some design tradeoffs. We didn't want to think about what it would take for the same software to run on phones ... So we took a shortcut.” Andy Rubin on why Google is holding back releasing Android Honeycomb to open source.

10. “Playtime is over in Android Land. …From now on, companies hoping to receive early access to Google's most up-to-date software will need approval of their plans. And they will seek that approval from Andy Rubin, the head of Google's Android group.” - Bloomberg Businessweek, March 30, 2011

11. Android devices version distribution. Source: Google, March 15, 2011

12. “With our latest update, we worked hard to bring Angry Birds to even more Android devices. Despite our efforts, we were unsuccessful in delivering optimal performance.” -- Rovio Mobile Blog

13. Source: Canalys

14. Is “open” always good? When can it be bad? Can or should Google impose control on its ecosystem?

15. “…an Apple-imposed arrangement that requires us to pay 30 percent of our revenue to Apple, in addition to content fees that we pay to the music labels, publishers and artists, is economically untenable.” -- Rhapsody Music Service

16. “I have only one major complaint with the App Store, and I can state it quite simply: the review process needs to be eliminated completely.” -- Joe Hewitt, FaceBookdeveloper

17. “Ultimately, deciding to buy an iPhone is all about buying into Apple's vision of the one perfect smart phone. Android, by contrast, is about finding the right smart phone for you. Want a phone with a real QWERTY keyboard or a jumbo-size screen? Sorry, iPhone no can do — but Android can.” -- Harry McCracken, Technologizer

18. iPad 2 lines, NYC, March 11, 2011 (engadget)

19. When does choice trump design? How can you tell in your own markets?

20. “Let's just get it out of the way: Windows Phone 7 is the most exciting thing to happen to phones in a long time.” -- Gizmodo, October 20, 2010

21. “It’s a big win for Microsoft today. Windows Phone 7 is no one’s priority. But now Microsoft has a leading vendor committed to use the platform. For Nokia, the big question is how quickly can the company execute on this. That has been one of the major issues.” -- Pete Cunningham, Canalys

22. Feb 21: First Update to Windows Phone 7 – “only” 10% failure rate. Mar 2: Restarted update has more problems. Mar 10: “NoDo” copy/paste update delayed to late Mar. Mar 26: Joe Belfiore video blog claims “getting updates out”, causing a storm of protest. Mar 27: Apology – “I wasn’t as prepared for this interview as I should have been….” Apr 1: “NoDo” starts to roll out, but not to AT&T customers – waiting for “testing” to complete. “I believe that Microsoft screwed the poochif they have allowed the carrier enough leewayin the update process to adversely affect WP7 customers.” -- James Kendrick, ZDNet

23. WP7 beats iOS? How did Microsoft get IDC to say that?!!

24. What can Microsoft do to stem the bleeding from their update botch? How can they control operators while still being “operator friendly”?

25. So, who is right? Who will win? What can we learn? Lets talk!

26. Questions To Consider How does Apple’s model benefit developers? End users? Google help developers? Users? What is the role of the operator in Apple’s ecosystem? Google’s? Microsoft’s What advantages do Microsoft/Nokia and RIM bring vs. Apple and Google? What matters most to end users? Which ecosystem best delivers? What about HP/Palm? What can they do to get back in the battle? What if Google forks Android into phone and tablet variants? Apple is buying 60% of 2011 world touchscreen LCD capacity. Does any of this even matter? What did Apple do right with the iPad 2 launch? Do wrong? What can the Androids do to fight the iPad inevitability meme? RIM, HP, Microsoft? If you were Verizon’s consumer plan PM, what would you do to increase 3-year share and ARPU? What do Apple’s rumored programmable SIM and real-time service auction patent bode for operators?

27. Rich Sands http://RSandsConsulting.com Email: rich@RSandsConsulting.com Twitter: @richsands