The chilling Conspiracy called ANDROID!!

It took me a few weeks to figure out one the most brilliant and amazing conspiracies of all time…

 

PROLOGUE

 

First, after going through hell to change my Android firmware ( from 2.1 to 2.2) on a piece of **** called the Samsung Galaxy 19000 phone, I began to experience some strange pains:

 

– My regular gmail account was no longer linked to the Android Marketplace, and no matter what I would do, it would say ‘this e-mail has been registered’ and the Android Marketplace would not allow me reset my e-mail id. Finally I registered another google id with my android. (On the google blog, check how many similar complains exist)!

 

– So far,  I have tried ‘linking’ my credit card to my new Android Market e-mail id at least 21 times… the process just doesn’t go thru. Given that I had to fill 19 form fields each time I try, I have given up.

 

THE LAST 24 HOURS

 

This morning in San Francisco, sitting inside the St. Regis lobby, while talking to a potential partner, I had a major REALISATION (Like Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree and was in meditation – I was sitting in a Hotel Lobby meditating on my business).

 

The gentleman sitting besides me was explaining to me – how his Company wanted to take our Android Apps and ‘bundle’ them as a special pack – to sell as a ‘value pack’ to their large consumer base.

 

This meant taking say 10 Android apps costing $ 99 cents each (total value $ 9.99) – & then being offered by this Company as a ’10 games best offer’ at $ 4.99.

 

Obviously, the offer and the transaction would flow NOT from the Android market place but via any regular mobile deck of this Company. So the communication would say – ‘All Android users – visit this site.com and get your $ 9.99 apps for $ 4.99’. 

 

This conversation got me really thinking….

 

While this American Company was righteous in contacting us, sitting with me in this plush hotel lobby and trying to create a new pack of discounted app directed to their large audience, my mind immediately flew to the Den of Thieves…CHINA!!

 

Lots of pirates there would immediately  take our hit games, RIP them apart and offer them for FREE on the Android platform after embedding their ads.

 

This was another Napster and the business of Pirated music all over again.

 

Android was the MP3 of Games!!

 

Side Note – For online games, we invented a technology called ‘Inviziads’ – that was essentially placing INVISIBLE ads in games so that when they were pirated, they automatically became VISIBLE and those ads would then drive traffic back to our sites. (Inviziads has become a 15 mn unique monthly audience business in the world as per comScore).

 

My mind was racing to create ‘Mobile Invizi’!!

 

Fact  – we have already had one of our Games ( LA Traffic Mayhem) pirated into an Android version – when we told google about it, they shrugged their shoulders…)

 

THE CHIEF CONSPIRATOR!!

 

THE CONSPIRACY THEORY.

 

Its very very simple.

 

Google owns Android.

 

Google owns the largest Advertising platform ever invented in the Galaxy – Ad words and Ad Sense.

 

Google owns Ad Mob ( the largest mobile ad network in the world)

 

So Google wants maximum ads in Android. Full Stop.

 

Consumer revenue can come much later.

 

The more the friction in downloading paid apps (thanks to credit card acceptance, piracy etc), the more the Companies like ours will switch to offering free games with ADS!

 

THIS WORKS LIKE A CHARM FOR GOOGLE.

 

Angry Birds – the iPhone app that probably has 100 Million US$ in revenue on iTunes offers its app FREE on Android…

 

WHY?

 

Are Android users living on Pluto?

 

Nope. They live on Earth like Apple users.

 

However, Angry Birds realized that Android users will never pay for Angry Birds Games coz Google has spoilt consumers across the board (google.com, gmail, youtube, orkut.com etc) by offering free content in exchange for ADS.

 

If Angry Birds had tried to get consumers to pay for their games on Android, there would have been massive Pirated versions of Angry Birds going around on Android.

 

Angry Birds became Clever Birds on Android and Rich Birds on iTunes!

 

THE REALITY.

 

Just look at the Ecosystem today:

 

Apple product owners:

 

Hardware – Apple

Platform (iOs) and Billing Software (iTunes)- Apple

Apps – Independent 3rd parties

Prominent Advertising platform – Ad Mob (google)

 

Android Product Owners

 

Hardware – HTC, Samsung etc

Platform (Android) and Billing Software (Android) – Google

Apps – Independent 3rd parties

Prominent Advertising platform – Ad Mob (google)

 

If you look at the Android situation, Google benefits the most when its ads get displayed on its own platform since that’s the core of its business.

 

Like I have said before – APPLE IS A PRODUCT Company – it understands consumers and their entertainment needs – hence PAID APPS is Apple’s DNA

 

Google is a ADS PLATFORM company that really doesn’t care or know how to entertain consumers – it MATCH MAKES consumers and ads. Hence the more ads, the better for google.

 

 

THE FINAL WORD:

 

Android:

 

GOOGLE ROCKS AND IS KING!

 

Poor operators and device makers – they are now left to what they were supposed to do – power up the airwaves and make cheaper handsets.

 

In India, finally the moron Operators who controlled the VAS business via their curated decks and Draconian revenue shares will be buried in unmarked graves!!

 

 

Apple:

 

Apple will be the most valuable Company in the world by virtue of this unbelievable hardware + software combination.

 

Consumers will be the most satisfied – by their product and the quality of software on it!

 

Operators be dammed.

 

 

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