Apple v. World = Goliath v. Goliath with multiple personality disorder
Oh, Apple App Store. So beautiful, so hated by your peers. Who wouldn’t envy your seamless integration with multiple devices, inviting interface, and free applications? But it’s understandable—everyone loves to secretly (or not so secretly) hate the person at the top, especially if they actually deserve to be there.
Which is why it’s not surprising that the rest of the mobile applications world has schemed to cook up a new plan of attack. That’s right, 24 mobile giants will be teaming up to form the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC), an alliance to create a global marketplace for non-Apple users.
At this point, it’s possible that one half of your brain may be screaming “Too many cooks in the kitchen!” while the other stands frozen in terrified awe. Could U.S. carriers and device manufacturers such as Verizon, Sprint and AT&T and Samsung, as well as international partners like Orange, Vodafone and state-owned (I repeat, state-owned) China Mobile possibly agree on a single mobile applications platform? Not to mention, an applications marketplace where developers will have to adjust for countless devices, carriers and operating systems? If possible, the collaboration could result in one of the most profitable undertakings ever. But could a union whose members are intrinsically programmed to destroy one another truly last? Many think not.
The task will undoubtedly be difficult, and the alliance’s mission quite lofty. On their website, the WAC states its aim is to “unite a fragmented marketplace…based on openness and transparency to the benefit of all”, a goal perhaps better suited for a less competitive industry, like elementary school bake sales. But unlike those bake sales, the WAC has an estimated customer base of over 3 billion. And anyway you look at it, 3 billion users is one number Apple simply can’t match. So to the WAC, any attempt at reaching a percentage of this market may be worth more than no attempt at all. Even with everything—and this everything includes quite a lot— that could go wrong.
[Courtesy of Reuters and Arstechnica]
Many people like to know when they comment that someone is listening. The way to let them know that there is someone behind the computer screen who cares what they say is to respond when they say something.