The way we think about computing — including productivity, internet access, and entertainment — is seeing a fundamental shift. While the concept of accessing the Internet via tablet or smartphone is incredibly new, it’s growing at an astonishing rate. So astonishing, in fact, that it’s likely to become as prominent a method of computing as desktop systems within the next few years.
The current struggle, then, is the fight for the tablet and smartphone industries. While the PC/Mac war runs the desktop scene, the Apple/Android battle fights on these new fronts. While Apple seems to be running lead right now, the analyst Jean-Louis Gassée of CBS News says this isn’t likely to remain the case.
He dubs the iPhone “Mac 2.0,” but says this isn’t anything to smile about. Rather, he says that the iPhone — while it has many of the strengths so often seen from Apple — is also repeating the same foolish mistakes that pushed them to a marginalized position in the desktop computing wars.
Gassée doesn’t seem to have anything against either the iPhone or Mac computers. He says that the system both had, from their beginnings, amazing promise. But it’s not all about features or potential. “By refusing to license the operating system — iOS, in this case — the iPhone will drown in a sea of Android smartphones, says Gassée.
While the Mac started out as a major player in the industry, their refusal to let “clones” of their system exist allowed Microsoft to flood the market, pushing Mac to as low as a two percent share. Although their presence in the desktop arena has improved over recent years, they remain an option for a select and somewhat wealthier minority — which may be the exact position that the iPhone is heading toward in the war against Android.
