“Apple tightly controls its software and hardware, and is fiercely competitive in battling its rivals, especially in the mobile market. And yet, while the company never creates apps for anyone else’s mobile system or device, each of its major mobile-platform foes — Google, Amazon and Microsoft — make many of their apps available for Apple devices,” Walt Mossberg reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“If you buy an iPhone or iPad, you get Apple-written mobile apps and services like Siri, iMessage, iWork, iPhoto and FaceTime, which aren’t available on other phones and tablets. But you can [also] get first-class versions of competitors’ official apps,” Mossberg reports. “So, iPhone and iPad users who prefer apps from other big mobile-platform makers don’t have to switch to an Android or Windows Phone or an Amazon tablet. They have access right on their Apple devices to major apps from these competing platforms. But people with non-Apple mobile devices can’t get Apple’s mobile apps and services.”
Mossberg reports, “The Apple market is too big to ignore, even for its direct competitors… In the case of Google Maps, the version for Apple devices is more modern, and sleeker, than the one for its maker’s own platform… Amazon’s video-streaming app is available for Apple devices, but not Android. And again, Android owners can’t run Apple’s official apps.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iOS: Open in all the right ways.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
Mossberg: Google Maps better on Apple iPhone than on Android phones – December 19, 2012