“This morning, Google made a bold move and purchased Motorola’s mobile business for $12.5 billion,” John Brownlee writes for Cult of Mac. “In doing so, Google brought the hardware design and manufacturing of Android devices in-house, just as Apple has always done with its products, starting with the original Macintosh and continuing all the way to the iPhones and iPads of today.”
“This is nothing short of a capitulation,” Brownlee writes. “By purchasing a smartphone maker, Google has all but admitted that it needs more than just a free operating system and loads of partners to compete with Apple: they need to duplicate Apple’s successes by totally controlling both the hardware and software of their devices.”
Brownlee writes, “It’s not just Google that has come to this conclusion. Microsoft recognized the same thing earlier this year when they partnered with Nokia to make handsets designed from the ground up for Windows Phone 7. And HP — long a company that has slapped other companies’ operating systems on their machines — purchased Palm for its webOS mobile operating system last year.”
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“Noticing a pattern? For years, Apple was the odd duck out while Microsoft sold a flavor of Windows for every gadget that would run it. Apple was laughed at, while people like Michael Dell suggested that Apple should either switch to Windows or fold up shop,” Brownlee writes. “Who’s laughing now?”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple leads. The rest follow. As usual.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
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Apple has proven that vertical integration works better – October 24, 2006
Microsoft tries to match Apple’s vertical approach – October 11, 2006
Apple was right all along: vertical market quality trumps horizontal market woes – April 30, 2006
