Scoble is much mistaken

Well respected uberblogger Bob Scoble wrote "here’s why Android is getting received with a yawn from me:"

Scoble is much mistaken. android is the most exciting platform for mobile development. Here's why he is so wrong.

It was released without a personal approach.
Hmm ... of maybe Goog needs another PR firm. I dont know. Anyway, this is secondary to the issue of whether the SDK willl enable great apps.

This stuff is still vaporware.
This is false. They announced availability of the SDK. Which is available now! SDKs always precede product launches. Developers need a little time to build for the platform. The only real issue is that devs can't yet get the prototype devices to test and build apps with. Thats a problem.

The UI looks confused.
Nonsense. The all touch approach of the iPhone is not best for all devices. For example, my dad would struggle to make calls with an iPhone. It would take a little instruction before he would get it. No so with most of the cell phones on the market today. In fact, the interface of the cell phone is ideal for its main purpose ... making calls!

"No real “love” for developers
Heck, I don’t know of a single developer who has had his/her hands on Android."
So what ... they didnt give you or your friends a prototype. This is unrelated to the quality of the platform and SDK.

"Heck, remember Facebook? Go back and see when I got excited by Facebook. It was two weeks after the F8 platform announcement. Why then? Because I saw that iLike got six million users in two weeks and was staying up. So, that communicated two things to me: 1. that the platform attracted interesting developers. 2. that Facebook was well enough architected to stay up, even under pretty dramatic load. Android is a LONG way from demonstrating either of these things to the market."

My guess is that every large social networking site is already working building multiple apps for android. This is a perfect way to increase their respective user bases. This is a perfect fit for somebody like iLike. Imagine a mp3 player that includes a way to send recommendations to your friends. They can tailor their UI any way they wish and get their brand onto the player and not just the web site.

iLike's six million users and Facebooks huge traffic (200,ooo new signups per day) is nothing compared to the millions of cell users in the US alone (200 million is on total I've seen) not to mention the many millions of calls they handle each day. Don't forget Google.com is a bigger site than Facebook, myspace or iLike. So I think both Goog and the wireless operators can handle the traffic.



Google’s PR comes across as “only caring about big bangs.
Bob writes: "Last week I was in the Open Social press conference. Everyone else in the room worked for a big-name media outlet. Business Week. Wall Street Journal. Los Angeles Times. CNET. Barrons. etc. etc. They also kept me from using my video camera during the press call"

Sorry to hear that Bob ... next time ... at the consumer launch ... get there early so you get a good seat. This is unrelated to your point that this isn't going to compete with iPhone and other devices.

It looks too much like a poor copy of the iPhone.
No ... it looks like an iPhone killer. Two things make iPhone special. Great browser and multitouch. Thats it. Android already got the browser part nailed. Steve jobs is the king of 2% market share (both PC and phone) because he insists on appealing only to the high end. Imagine a range of phones from $25 (with contract) to $350 with a great browser, capable of running customized business apps, downloadable games (some free), maybe wifi, great third party apps (many free), SD storage and 3d graphics. This is the nighmare Steve Jobs, RIM, Palm and Windows mobile must be having about now.