from Hacker News

Google Is Eating Apple's Ecosystem for Lunch

by seanwoods on 1/21/18, 11:17 AM with 48 comments

• by zitterbewegung on 1/21/18, 2:42 PM

  Vendor lock in through making products working together is not only present in Apple's ecosystem but in Google's and also Facebook .

  It looks like they changed their ecosystem to use Google Products because they have more feature that they want. All of these decisions are valid. To be honest the biggest issue with Google is the support and longevity of the software that they create. On Apple it seems like they are slowly moving to more of a service oriented platform and are attempting to overhaul it but at the cost of their Prosumers.

  I really hope that eventually in the "post screen era" that we don't have to buy devices that are owned by one company.

• by goblins on 1/21/18, 2:38 PM

  This horrifies me!

  Can't think of anything I would want less than one of the big 5 US companies spying on me everywhere all the time.

• by pharrington on 1/21/18, 3:29 PM

  I clicked "flag" because this strikes me exactly as an unmarked advertisement.

• by yequalsx on 1/21/18, 2:45 PM

  All of my devices are Apple devices. A crappy Dell laptop and my disasstifaction with Windows led me to switch to Apple 12 years ago. I loved the Mac operating system and that momentum got me to buy iPads and their phones. I use Apple Music. I use iDrive.

  I don’t use Siri. Apple Maps sucks and as a result I don’t use CarPlay. Apple Music search sucks. There’s a bunch of thing now in Apple’s ecosystem that don’t “just work”. More and more I find myself telling my wife that Apple is slipping. Privacy concerns are the only thing keeping off of Google’s system but it won’t be long before the hostile nature of Apples system forces me to abandon ship.

  I think Apple ought to spend a year concentrating on fixing the increasing number of annoyances and stop doing stupid things like keeping Google maps off Car Play. What’s the point of adding features that don’t “just work”?

• by pfarnsworth on 1/21/18, 3:36 PM

  Google photos is one of the most amazing and useful apps I’ve ever used. Being able to search on the contents of a photo is the first real 21st app that I’ve run across, in my opinion.

  However I’ll never move to Android. I’ve tried it and it just isn’t as good as iOS. I’m not saying iOS is great but it’s ceetainly better in my opinion.

  Things like FaceTime are very easy for my parents and relatives to understand vs something like Skype or google hangouts. Photostream sharing is also a very easy and intuitive way for me to share pics of the kids with my relatives as well.

  The biggest thing for me, though, was the fact that iMessage and iPhone was uncrackable by the fbi. It’s a very public fight they had to keep our data secure.

• by mccoyspace on 1/21/18, 3:00 PM

  An interesting take on Google vs Apple. I would have loved to hear at least something about Alexa. I’m a hardcore Apple and Amazon user (plenty of Google too). I see myself staying imperfectly hybrid for awhile. (Edit:) the observation of post-screen being a way to be connected but not distracted was a real revelation. Would love that....

• by melling on 1/21/18, 2:42 PM

  Amazon’s Echo is far ahead of Google Home in sales. They’re trying to get voice in everything. Many companies were showing off Alexa built into their products at CES.

  Voice as a user interface is almost here:

  https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/voice-as-a-user-inte...

  How long before a significant amount of search is simply asking some device a question and being told the answer?

• by JepZ on 1/21/18, 3:30 PM

  Well, we all know that the google services are pretty convenient, but the problem is much less their functionality as the things 'you have to do' in order to use them, like:

  - load all your images on their servers

  - load all your documents on their servers

  - load all your mails on their servers

  - load all your contacts on their servers

  - load all your appointments on their servers

  - load all your...

  That way it is completely non-transparent what they are doing with your data. I mean for every app on our smartphone we have a detailed list of permissions, but for google its just 'take it all'?!?

• by ghufran_syed on 1/21/18, 3:41 PM

  Yeah, my “workflow” when I get in the car:

  1: “hey Siri, open google” -> opens google app

  2: “ok google, navigate to [name of destination] -> opens it in google maps...

• by scarface74 on 1/22/18, 10:48 AM

  I don't disagree that technically that Google is better at this kind of stuff than Apple, but "millions" of devices is vague. Google doesn't release numbers. How many has it sold?

  Everything he says is technically possible, but how many people are both technical enough to set this stuff up and care enough to even bother? I know people who have smart speakers, but most of them just use them for music.

• by phyller on 1/21/18, 3:47 PM

  Almost all of the magical things described are exactly why I will never own one of these. Google makes money off of knowing everything about you. Orwell's "1984" is a bit ridiculous, but with respect to technology, we are almost there. At least Apple still makes money off of selling things, I think there is at least a better chance of privacy with them.

• by BadassFractal on 1/21/18, 2:28 PM

  Can I buy into the google software ecosystem + Google Home without trading in my MBP/iPhone/iPad for a Chromebook/Pixel/Nexus?

• by muninn_ on 1/21/18, 2:28 PM

  Here we go again...

  Ok a couple of quick quotes:

  "I say 'OK Google, goodbye when I leave the house to turn off the lights" k. I just turn off the lights. Why do I need a Google Home to do that? Why can't I do that with Homekit or Echo?

  " grew frustrated by Apple's terrible iCloud pricing, and how seemingly great Google Photos appeared to be"

  iCloud's pricing isn't terrible, it's just fine. They don't mine my photos and data, and I pay $2.99/month for 200gb. Some people don't understand that "free" photo storage isn't actually free.

  "First, Google Assistant alongside Google Home is wild. When you own a Pixel, saying OK Google at home activates your speakers and your phone"

  yawn

  "Apple's direction, for better or for worse, is to lock you into a single track and make it agonizing to use anything but the official services"

  Really?

  Look, I think the Pixel 2 is a great phone and Google has some great products, even if I disagree with their business practices, but this article is over-the-top bad.

• by neuro_imager on 1/21/18, 2:59 PM

  Has anyone here tried using Purism? They're claiming that they provide 'high-quality privacy, security, and freedom focused computers and software.' They have their own OS and software. I'm tempted to buy one of their laptops and put on an order for their upcoming mobile phone. Does anyone have any experience with this company and its products? Do you lose a lot when you move from the evil 5?

  https://puri.sm/