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Android maker’s first in-house smartphone carries a decidedly Apple-y whiff.
Google’s "be together, not the same" Android slogan is ringing a little hollow this week, after the first smartphone designed completely from scratch by the company hit the shelves.
Yes, you can buy Android phones from other vendors, but what Google’s recently-unveiled Pixel phone says in no uncertain terms is that if you want the quintessential Android experience on a phone that won’t spontaneously combust, then you should buy direct from the source.
"Outside of this perfect world, Google’s ecosystem runs on horribly fragmented software over which Google has no control and no ability to add new features or fix problems," said Radio Free Mobile founder and institutional analyst at Edison Investment Research.
The launch of Pixel serves to illustrate that this lack of control has worn thin at Google.
Windsor has been predicting for years that Google would gradually take more control over Android.
In fact, he expects the platform to go completely in-house in 2017, with Google migrating the Android RunTime (ART) from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) to its proprietary Google Mobile Services (GMS), which contains all of its mobile apps and associated APIs.
"Only then will it have a chance to challenge the dominance of the Apple ecosystem and hold off the threat posed by Facebook," Windsor said, in a research note this week.
This vision is a far cry from the one espoused by the old Google, the one with the ‘attract as many users as possible and worry about the business model later’ ethos that we wrote about upon the launch of its first Google-branded phone, the Nexus One, in 2010.
There is also no escaping the decidedly Apple-y whiff given off by the Pixel, and the similarities aren’t just limited to Google’s decision to exercise a similar degree of control over the user experience.
Take this sentence from the Pixel Website, for example: "The highest rated smartphone camera. Ever."
Now, what other U.S.-based phone maker can you think of that loves to write in absolutes?
Could it possibly be the one that describes the A10 processor in the iPhone 7 as "the most powerful chip ever in an iPhone"?
Like the iPhone, the Pixel also comes in two screen sizes, and if you squint at the Pixel’s bevelled edges, it starts to resemble an iPhone too, albeit a blurry – or pixellated – one.
Next thing you know, Google – the company that loves things that are ad-funded and free at the point of consumption – will take Apple’s approach to pricing as well. Oh. It has.
An unlocked Pixel direct from Google costs £599 (€671) for the cheapest version, which also happens to be the exact same price tag attached to an entry-level iPhone 7.
Opting for the big-screen Pixel XL with a maxed-out 128 GB memory increases the cost to £819, which is exactly the same as a 128 GB iPhone 7 Plus.
Lets not forget as well that once you have paid up to £819 for a Pixel, Google will continue to make money off you by sharing as much of your personal information as possible with third parties.
I’m not saying Google should give the phone away for free, but at least try and be a bit different from your main rival.
Perhaps Google should change Android’s slogan to: "be the same, because being different is hard, and you make less money".
In order to be successful though, Google’s Pixel has to out-compete not just the iPhone, but rival Android devices as well, which is where Samsung’s recent travails could prove fortuitous.
"Samsung would most likely have sold over 10 million Galaxy Note 7’s during the next six-nine months and these buyers will now all be looking to purchase another device," said Windsor this week, reiterating that he doesn’t think these users will churn to Apple, which represents a big opportunity for Google.
"Google needs to massively ramp up its launch plans and ensure that when these users turn up to buy a device, it is present and available," he said.
If it will help, Google can also have my suggested Android slogan on the house.
