What the Merging of Google Chrome and Android Means for Mobile

It may not have re-written recent headlines, but Google’s announcement that it’s putting Sundar Pichai, its senior vice president of Chrome (the company’s search engine and desktop operating system) in charge of its Android OS for mobile devices signals that bigger changes are ahead.

As I see it, these changes have both positive and negative implications.

Let’s start with the positive: Placing Chrome and Android under one roof could mean better integration between the two systems. That’s true even though a formal, more complete product union hasn’t been announced and details were carefully avoided at a recent press conference.

As the lines between what constitutes a mobile versus non-mobile device continue to blur, having siloed operating systems for each seems increasingly antiquated and inefficient, doesn’t it? So it’s very likely that in the next 5-10 years, those distinctions will become redundant. To wit, why not start the merging journey now – especially as Android remains the world’s most popular mobile operating system and Apple struggles through what might be called a delayed post-Jobs slump?

As of this writing Apple’s stock price, $452.08, was down more than 15% from a year ago. And, according to 2013’s Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, Samsung and Amazon dethroned Apple as the most loyally-followed brands. Regular readers of this blog and my column on Mobile Marketer will know that I’m a huge supporter of Android vs. Apple, so I can’t help but feel a little smug by these latest findings.

Now for the negative…

Corporate conglomeration and cooperation can equally become euphemisms for “monopoly” – not the board game, but the real-world competition-stifling monstrosity. I say this only because Google has a very successful track record of making its competitors obsolete. Remember all those late-90s and early-2000s search engines? Save for Yahoo and Microsoft, I can’t think of any left standing. So I Googled (a word that has become synonymous with Internet search itself) “most popular search engines,” and found a great post on Search Engine Land.

These numbers say it all:

And let’s not forget that “Google,” the verb, has been recognized as part of the English language since 2006.

So, imagine a future where Google is essentially the unchallenged king of web searching, mobile operating systems, social networking and, if prototypes like Google Glass (the soon-to-be-launched wearable computer) prove successful, hardware too. Don’t misunderstand – I am all for Google, but forgive me if I also see signs of trouble on the merger horizon ahead. Anti-trust, anyone? It also sets a dangerous precedent for competitor mobile companies, Apple included, as they seek similar types of hyper-conglomeration and cross-industry ambitions.

In a sense I’m reminded of German and European history. What began in 1951 with the inception of the European Coal and Steel Community, six countries with one shared trading market, culminated – after decades of gradual unification – in 1993 with the formation of the European Union. The EU has expanded several times since. While the philosophies underwriting its formation are noble – peace, prosperity and stability – the price of too much merging has come at a very high cost. Today (in an ironic nod to history) Germany again dominates Europe politically and economically. With the Euro uniting all in feast-or-famine outcomes, some countries have struggled under what’s become the European debt crisis. And it’s a crisis that won’t be abating any time soon.

Here’s hoping that Google’s subtle yet not-so-subtle corporate structural change doesn’t signal its aspirations to become the strongman of mobile.

That wouldn’t be good for the US, Europe or the rest of the world.

Attention Airlines and Airline Passengers: Muzzle Your Mobile And Keep Your Mouths Shut

Dear Airlines and Loud Mobile Phone Users,

On a recent flight home to Miami, I had the unpleasant experience of seeing the mobile phone future unfold in the seat right next to me. Suffice it to say, I didn’t like what I saw one bit, and even less what I heard. A thoroughly annoying git, who, for love nor money, would not put away his phone, despite complaints from his fellow passengers. Instead, he chose to pollute the cabin airwaves with his loud, inane jabber and nonsensical information – information that certainly could have been saved for a more appropriate location. Like his office. Or better still, underwater.

Since the dawn of mobile technology, much has changed. “Brick” phones that looked like, well, bricks, morphed into wallet-sized flip phones. And thanks to RIM’s now almost extinct Blackberry (and later Apple, Android and Windows), our phones have grown “smart.” The mobile web is ubiquitous and whether you’re deep underground in some subways in Tokyo, or standing atop Mount Everest Base Camp at 17,598 feet, chances are you’re never far from a reliable cellular signal.

But one thing has remained unchanged. When you board any aircraft, you are reminded by the flight attendants to “please turn off your cell phones and other electronic devices as we prepare for takeoff.” Minus a few stragglers, the din of human voices soon settles and the thrum of engine turbines powers up. Wrapped in an auditory cocoon that shuts out the world, passengers have passed their inflight boredom by watching movies, playing video games, fiddling with their mostly-dormant phones, reading books, getting buzzed, catching up on emails, dozing off, or maybe doing a little shopping via the inflight store.

But if the Federal Aviation Administration has its way, as it hinted at in August 2012, passengers may soon be able to use their mobile phones to make calls during the flight. Before that fateful day arrives, I wanted to go on record loud and speakerphone clear, and say that I think this is a poor decision.

A very, very, poor decision.  

In the name of progress, convenience and peace to all humankind, turning on mobile phone capabilities inflight will undoubtedly turn one of the modern world’s last bastions of relative quiet into a place of chattering, annoying, and like the flights themselves, nonstop conversations. Make no mistake, I’m not a Luddite on the ground. But can’t we all just go on in ignorant bliss believing that mass mobile phone use would crash planes?

Sadly, no.

While a recent article haply pointed out that since 2008, passengers on United Arab Emirates flights have made approximately 625,000 inflight mobile calls with only two official airline complaints, somehow I’m not buying that “official reports” are an honest measure of p’d off passengers. So, please, to my fellow flyers, I beg of you, when the time finally comes when five-hour flights allow five-hour calls, consider this heart-felt plea: muzzle your mobile and keep your mouths shut!

And to the airlines: please, please, please don’t do it.

Signed,

Luddite in the Sky

One More Mobile Divination for 2010!

These predictions come from a recent column in MediaPost by Ryan Deutsch, vice president, strategic services and market development for StrongMail Systems. It’s definitely worth a read! His forecast? Cautiously optimistic (my preferred stance), while straight up on what's working and what needs work!

"As we all gear up for the new year, I figured I would join the long list of bloggers making predictions for 2010. As a courtesy, I am going to keep my positions simple and VERY straightforward, as this will make it easy for each of you to call me out at year's end for any and all completely incorrect calls that I made.” Cheers, Ryan!

The Year of SMS, Sort of Could it be? As email marketers, we have heard for years how critical SMS communications would be to brands and consumers. In fact, I recently heard an analyst joke that we just finished the Decade of SMS Marketing. It felt like each year would be the year for marketers to invest heavily in mobile programs, but that investment never seemed to become a reality.

While mobile has become critical for alert and time-sensitive communications, applications for direct marketing have not materialized. While some brands have leveraged mobile in a meaningful way (to capture off-line options to campaigns, for example), few have committed heavily. I think 2010 will be the year of mobile - but not from a traditional direct marketing standpoint. As applications proliferate on mobile devices and further integrate location services, we will see marketers trying to leverage true location marketing.

I think 2010 is the year for early adopters in location-based marketing. If you are not the early adopter type, be sure you are using mobile for critical alerts or offline opt-ins while you wait for location-based case studies to hit the street. Then make sure you have a mobile (iPhone/Android) application ready to go for 2011."

You can read the rest of Ryan's predictions on MediaPost here