[salient]

Android already existed before Google bought it, and at the time it was built mainly as a competitor to Blackberry (before Google bought them). So Google continued on the same path, as they were less interested in "changing the paradigm of mobile UX" than in killing the Real Fragmentation that existed before, with each OEM having its own OS, and unifying them under the open source Android.

There's something to be said about how fast they reacted to iPhone once they saw it, though. I mean how many big companies react as fast the moment they see a disruptive technology and realize its potential for the future? In comparison it took Nokia 4 years after the iPhone, to even admit Symbian was a dead-end, and it also took Microsoft 3 years to come up with something that wasn't just an evolution of Windows Mobile. So kudos to Google for realizing early on the potential of the iPhone-like user interfaces and iPhone-like touchscreen smartphones.

[objclxt]

> * they were less interested in "changing the paradigm of mobile UX" than in killing the Real Fragmentation that existed before, with each OEM having its own OS, and unifying them under the open source Android.*

The article alludes to this, but I think at the time Google wasn't interested in killing "real fragmentation" so much as killing the carrier control that was stopping them from pushing search and ads to mobile.

When it came to negotiating with carriers, Apple had a huge advantage. They had a strong hardware brand, and the iPhone was exciting. Google didn't have that. When they went to talk to AT&T, Telefonica, Verizon, Vodafone, etc, to get Google services onto devices those companies were basically holding them to ransom. And quite rightly Google though: "hey, rather than spending all our money getting carriers to promote our services let's spend it making something carriers will want from us".

[ceejayoz]

A big +1 here. Microsoft and Palm were quoted in articles at the time saying stuff like "you can't just expect to enter the market and be successful immediately" and "we're not worried, we're the dominant player in the market". Google correctly went "well, shit, that's the new standard - let's catch up".

[kenrikm]

Always knew Balmer was a goof - however this one will go down in history. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U

The best part is when he goes over the "checklist" of features their phones have.. it'll do email! - quality products are more about checklists of features, something Microsoft still does not get.

[leoc]

I think it's pretty clear that Ballmer is fronting in that clip. The fact that he has a list of anti-iPhone talking points ready to run through doesn't suggest that he's unconcerned about the iPhone, rather the opposite.

[ceejayoz]

Mocking it for the cost was especially silly considering the Motorola RAZR - a pretty but otherwise run-of-the-mill flip phone - launched at a higher price and sold like hotcakes.

[salgernon]

It really didn't take long for the Chinese phone modder contingent to clone the iPhone:

  http://gizmodo.com/377601/crazy-popular-asian-blogstar-prefers-fake-chinese-iphone-to-the-real-thing