Apple will be surpassed as well as Android eventually. Just a matter of time....
Me said:Gateway lost because their management turned wishy-washy and couldn't keep focus on their business model. They ended up getting sucked into Acer because they had something that Acer dearly wanted, more on that later.
After Gateway put something close to a $1B into remodeling their stores they turned around and shut them down within 6 months because they decided to get out of the direct market and start selling through the retail channel (that's why they bought eMachines, who had the channel in place and whose management had the connections into Best Buy, Walmart, etc). With a renewed focus on retail they let their B2B/Gov/Ed programs slide. Once successful with retail they turned around and decided to focus on this sliding segment of their business figuring retail could go on auto-pilot.... which didn't work, the consumer PC market has been a commodity market for years and it's a pretty cut-throat business.
As part of the deal for eMachines, the prior owner Jon Hui had a non-compete clause. When Jon decided he wanted to purchase Packard Bell who was still quite strong in Europe, Gateway and Jon made a deal to release him from the non-compete clause in exchange for GTW to get a "right of first refusal" in case he decided to sell PB. A year or so later, along comes Lenovo fresh off of purchasing IBM's PC business and wanting to boost their European business and made an attractive offer for PB ($750M if I recall correctly). Jon took it to GTW who didn't have that kind of cash any more, Acer wanted the market share too so they stepped in to buy GTW and gain that right-of-first-refusal option.
However to seal the deal GTW had to dump the B2B/Gov/Edu division which in the 6 weeks prior to the sale had just turned the corner. Problems with an Oracle-based software manufacturing system had caused a backlog of around 120K units and growing, maybe more. IT fixed the problems 6 weeks prior and had it down to about 60K-80K units and catching up fast. With this division running well it would have been profitable, but rather than telling the investors this GTW sold it to Micron's PC spin-off while loaning them the $20M to purchase it from them. Within a year or so MPC was bankrupt..... but Ted Waite the founder of GTW who still owned the controlling interest in it walked away with tons of cash.
Or perhaps not.
I learned long ago not to assume anything about technology. Things change and empires fall. New empires rise from the ashes and one day, we might be fondly remembering Android as the little engine that almost could and almost did.
Apple could falter or Apple could earn a trillion dollars in profit. iOS 6 could be the ultimate phone OS or ex-Google developers could create something that replaces Android. Or Android becomes THE predominant OS.
Or iOS could be released to other manufacturers or Apple could make a series of silly errors and all but disappear. Well, perhaps that last one is stretching things a bit; Apple will be around for decades to come.
It is a mistake to assume Android will always be with us and start thinking that it is the final solution. I think many here think Android is forever but fail to understand that that is not certain by any means. Perhaps Android is forever; then again, perhaps not.
Nothing guarantees Android will be with us in ten or twenty years. It likely will, but that is just an assumption. As soon as another OS arrives, perhaps manufacturers will start using that one.
My personal "unsupported by any documentation but based on the historical evidence" theory is that right now, there is a new OS in development and it just might be better than Android and/or iOS. Two guys in a garage are busy as we e-speak developing their new software.
I know this because there have always been two guys in a garage, somewhere, developing something new.
One never really knows what will happen.
If you want to assume something, try this: eventually, something will try to make a place along side iOS, Windows Phone, Android and Blackberry and one of those will become the leader of the pack, only to be replaced by two future guys in a garage that release something cool.
And Apple will sue them all. They are already preparing to sue themselves for creating devices that look like their devices. Apple claims that Apple is copying Apple's designs and they want Apple to pay.
Next target is Santa. He brings us iDevices and he is not licensed.
I think the most objective outlook in regards to OS longevity is ecosystem. Android has a massive ecosystem, same with iOS, and windows. If either of which are to be replaced by something foreign, that new platform should at least attempt to offer a decent ecosystem off the bat. If not, they will get nowhere. At this day and age that's what it truly breaks down to.
Apple will be surpassed as well as Android eventually. Just a matter of time....
Apple might try for a monopoly here
I hate Apple period. I hope they burn to the ground one day.
A little correction:Apple also started with Open source. They just forked off on their own which is legal but against the spirit of open source.
I am really nervous that Apple will try to end all Android products. Believe me, if they can, they will. Has anybody read Steve Jobs' book?
I wouldn't worry about it. There's too many freedom fighters out there and OPEN SOURCE software. Hell, they're even getting ubuntu linux to run on a smartphone!
Perhaps they are, but that does not mean it will go anywhere in the market. I applaud the effort, but no way I would purchase a Ubuntu phone. Not saying it is good . . not saying it is bad . . . just saying it is one more OS to deal with in the marketplace.
All I do know is from free to 700.00 or more, there is a phone, company, market and OS for everyone. Every year, the costs drop and quality goes up, and that be good enough for me.
And that is very acceptable for those who just want a device that works out of the box and doesn't question things (Things that make carriers and phone makers love).
But most users want it to run out of the box and they do not care about operating systems or rooting or jailbreaking. They want a cheap phone, access to the usual crap, a market to DL stuff, etc.
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