Tuesday, November 6, 2007

The Google Phone Alliance

When we first heard the news about an upcoming mobile phone from Google we all thought it was about a real hardware thing... not a contract, or 'platform', or 'alliance' of some sort. Turns out we were all wrong, particularly those nitwits who spent good hours of their lives designing concept phones like what they thought Google designers would come out with (see photo left). It was about an alliance, just like Microsoft had attempted in the past with its Mobile Windows disaster to only see it falling apart like a house of cards. In the last few days, the best article I read about the Google Phone adventure was at the FSJ blog (click on my favorite links at the left column to get there). If you really feel blue and hate you even woke up this morning, read FSJ's account of the Google-Phone. Man, oh man... keep some clean underwear by your side while reading it...

Off this posting, here's a taste of FSJ's (Daniel Lyons) take on initiatives based on Consortia and Alliances... how right on the money he's again!

"...Consortia don't work because nobody can ever agree on anything and everyone always wants to push the group in ways that advantage themselves and disadvantage everyone else. Reason #2 -- the only companies that join consortia are the ones who are too stupid or shitty to make a great product on their own. It's like, Hey, we've got forty spazzo companies that can't fuck their way out of a paper bag; let's put them all together and maybe they'll magically become some kind of big bad powerhouse. More likely it'll just be some scary ass Frankenstein monster, walking around drooling and tripping over its own tongue..."

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