Fred Vogelstein -- Dogfight: how Apple and Google went to war and started a revolution
========================================================================================

Vogelstein's book is a fun read.  What you get from it and take away
from it is up to you.  Here are some of the things and ways in which
it matters to me.

I'm slow.  I'm still using a laptop and (even more retro) a desktop
computer.  What's more I'm happy with that style of computing.  And,
I *still* don't own and use a smartphone.  So, I *really* need this
book.  I need it to help me figure out two things: (1) Why do I need
or want a smartphone?  Why do want to use a computer that has a tiny
screen and a keyboard that I can hardly get a finger on?  And, (2)
what is the new/next computing platform be like?  Will I be using a
single dock-able computer (next year's smartphone) that gives me the
same style of computing wherever I plug it in?  Or will I be using
different computers depending on where I'm sitting (or walking) but
my file system will be the same, out in the cloud, no matter where I
happen to be sitting and no matter which computer I connect to it
through.

Apple and Google have plans for us and for how we will do our
computing in the future, and it's a good idea for us to figure out
how to plan for that possible future.  This book encourages you to
think about the platforms that you use.  As we say, it's difficult
for a fish to think about water because it's always swimming in it.
Likewise, it is difficult for someone like me to think about my
computing platform, it's characteristics, and it's capabilities,
because I'm immersed in it so much of the time.  "Dogfight" is of
value because force an awareness of that platform to the surface and
encourages me to think about it.

There is a lot in this book about personalities, and some of them,
such as Steve Jobs, are heavy footprint personalities.  But,
Vogelstein is especially good at reporting on the step by step
crooked path that led from the development of the first prototypes
to very recent smartphones and the positions that they put Apple and
Google in related to each other.

One important point that Vogelstein makes, but does not emphasize
enough I believe, is that the platform *does* matter, but it matters
because whoever controls the platform (iPhone/iPad, Android
smartphone/tablet) controls access to media.  Selling a computer to
someone like me, someone who spends most of his day writing code
(computer programming) or writing (book reviews, notes on the Python
programming language, etc) does not get you very much.  But, selling
a computer to someone who is a heavy media consumer (music, video,
eBooks, eMagazines, etc) matters a lot when you own the sources of
that content.  And, to a significant degree, we are going into an
age when the owners of the platform will also own the (source of)
the media that we consume.

One question that we might ask is whether there are other ways in
which the success of the smartphone platform will make a difference
other than those related to the consumption of media.  When you are
*not* consuming media (listening to music, watching videos and
movies, reading news and blogs, etc), does the smartphone platform
make a difference.  Or, will one smartphone platform be as good as
another, with only cosmetic preferences mattering?

One important answer to that question is "the cloud".  That's the
new exciting thing in Silicon Valley and tech centers else, I
suppose.  And, it's possible that both Apple and Google are using
and will attempt to use the smartphone platform as a means to
gaining control of our access to and use of the cloud.  And, if we
all end up doing our computing and keeping our data in the cloud
some how, then that could matter to all of us.

One way that these changes could become important to me is if and
when a smartphone becomes dock-able so that I can use it with a
monitor, keyboard, and mouse and so that I could use the same
operating system and software that I use on my desktop and laptop
computers.  Then the smartphone could become interesting to me, too.
But, then we're really just talking about putting my desktop
computer into a different box.

So, from my perspective, this book has at least two major things to
offer.  First, it provides lots of information and details about a
specific historical development that is of importance to us: the
parallel development of the smartphone by Apple and Google.  And,
second, it's of value because of the questions it raises and the
material it supplies to help us think through those questions.

On the history and details side, and especially if you are an Apple
device person, this is a fascinating story of several of the people
who were instrumental in bringing you those devices.

On the questions and thought problems side, it's helping you to
wonder about and think about and perhaps even figure out what your
next computing platform will be like.  And, especially, whether that
platform or device will *seem* like a computer.  I personally
believe that this is an aid to figuring out how we will consume
media in the future.  But, it also might help us figure out how we'd
want to keep our notes, keep our schedules, track our children, and
communicate with those close to us and those who we work with.

Yes, we will live in a media rich and a communication rich world.
And, yes the story presented in "Dogfight" is about the struggle
between Apple and Google to control our consumption of media and our
communication, but I only have so much time.  I really do not think
I can read and watch any more media than I already to.  So, perhaps
I can worry a little less about this battle than Vogelstein would
suggest.

And, it's good to keep in mind that Apple and Google are not trying
to provide us with mobile computing platforms out of altruism.  They
are in this struggle for their own benefit.  We are likely to each
give back something because of it.  David Streitfeld in the N.Y.
Times gives clues about on aspect of that give-back in reporting
how eBook publishers might track our reading.  See:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/technology/as-new-services-track-habits-the-e-books-are-reading-you.html.

It's significant that the latest news (as of 2/3/2014) is that
Google is selling off its Motorola division to Lenovo.  That's a
change from when Vogelstein wrote "Dogfight".  It might be an
indication and admission that Google was wrong about Motorola's
value when Google purchased it, although the news that I read
indicated that Google was retaining many of Motorola's patents, so
the value of this sale is difficult to measure.  But, it also could
be an indication that Google thinks it can be more successful at
promoting its smartphone platform (Android) and that the platform
will be more successful if Motorola is free to compete against other
smartphone makers rather than attached to Google, where, as
Vogelstein indicates, Google has been ambivalent about supporting
Motorola because of worries about hindering the (sales) efforts of
other Android smartphone makers.  Plus, Motorola is being sold to
Lenovo, which has a large presence in China.  That's a market that
Google/Motorola cannot exploit as well as Lenovo can.  Lenovo's 
success at selling Motorola Android based smartphones in China
could result in a huge jump in the sale Android based smartphones.
Another view of this change is that it would free Google itself to
more aggressively support a wide variety of Android handset makers.
That, too, could result in a wider distribution of Android
smartphones.  So, this sale likely adds more fuel to the fire under
the struggle between Apple and Google that Vogelstein is reporting.

02/03/2014

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