[luke_s]

Yikes! Its embrace/extend/extinguish applied to design, and we just hit extend :-)

Frankly though, I can't see any of your huge unknowns ever coming to pass. Almost all startup founders and designers I know use iPhones. Many still have trouble understanding why they should pay attention to Android design at all. If material ever does start to pick up momentum on iOS I can see Apple wielding the ban hammer liberally. Everything they have done in the past shows they are not shy about removing apps they feel aren't in Apple's best interests.

[jamesaguilar]

There is no way google, or anyone, could accomplish the extinguish phase of an eee operation against design.

[luke_s]

Ah - I think perhaps what I meant wasn't clear. Its not against design - its against Apple. The medium the attack is conducted in is design.

Also, because this is the internet and tone doesn't come through very well, my comment is meant to be a bit tongue in cheek. I think the idea that google wants to conduct eee against Apple using design is just a little too far fetched, though there may be a tiny grain of truth in there somewhere.

[AJ007]

Presumably the end purpose of design is differentiation. Whatever Google is trying to do, Google has borrowed heavily on flat UIs other designers have been producing for some time. Rather than leading the pack, 'Material' is getting all of the stragglers to catch up. If all cars looked like Ferraris, Ferrari would change.