slice of koh

It’s hard to believe that a decade has passed, and video games have evolved so much in the past 10 years.  There have been many blockbuster games in the past years, but there are few games that heavily influenced not only the video game industry but on people’s lifestyles and entertainment.  Read on for the top ten most influential games in the past decade.

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Despite multiple reassurances, it seems that Google is toying with the idea of creating, developing, and selling their own mobile hardware running Android directly to consumers.  In the U.S., mobile network carriers such as AT&T and Verizon traditionally sell mobile phones to the consumers along with service.  Some mobile phones are exclusive to the network like the IPhone or Palm Pre, so consumers cannot take their handsets to any network they want. However, in the rest of the world, it is very common for hardware developers like HTC or Nokia to sell their handsets directly to consumers, and consumers choose their service separately.

Is selling your own hardware to support your mobile OS a good idea? Do you really want to create tension in one’s relationship with the carriers and hardware developers? Verizon already put heavy marketing support behind the Motorola Droid which supports Android.  T-Mobile brought the first “Google phone” via G1 and followed up MyTouch 3G.  HTC is already enjoying double-digit growth in their Android handsets (despite their dismal Windows Mobile smartphones). What is Google doing by creating their own hardware?  For Google, it makes strategic sense to create and sell their own mobile hardware to consumers.

Currently, the mobile OS market is crowded, so consolidation will likely occur in the smartphone OS market similar to the computer OS market.  Apple’s IPhone will become the “closed environment” OS, but who will become the “mass market” OS for smartphones?  Blackberry has solid share in the U.S. and abroad.  Windows Mobile has been around for a long time, but Microsoft has not been too successful in this venture.  Nokia supports both S60 and Maemo in their smartphones.  Finally, Palm is enjoying some success with their WebOS platform despite little developer support.  Google’s Android became much stronger in the past year with tons of hardware and developer support.  Unlike other mobile OS except for the new Maemo, Android is free for hardware manufactures and application developers.

Most of Google’s revenue is entirely from advertising, so the more people who use Google applications and search, the more likely Google will be making money from people clicking on those ads. RIM and Apple have been successful because they were able to meld fantastic hardware with a huge software library.  RIM perfected the physical keyboard for messaging and emails for business people on the go.  Apple perfected the “pretty” touchscreen interface with a rich application library.  Where does that leave the others?  Nokia is stretching too much of their resources to support two operating systems.  Palm’s WebOS is great but lacks developer support.  Windows Mobile suffers from performance issues.  Where does that leave Google?  Android has grown significantly since its launch a year ago, but there hasn’t been a perfect match between hardware and software.  The G1 was still clunky in terms of hardware and software.  MyTouch 3g lacked horsepower and screen real estate.  Motorola’s Droid is probaby the closest in terms of “great” hardware and more evolved Android; however, the keyboard is subpar.  HTC Hero does not have the screen real estate to be a truly comfortable touchscreen typing experience.

If Google Android is to succeed, there needs to be a flagship phone that perfectly melds hardware with software.  If none of the hardware developers can create such a product, it’s no surprise that Google is taking it upon themselves to have more control and say in the creation of the Android hardware.  Also, allowing consumers to buy directly from the manufacturer can change the way that the U.S. mobile market operates today. Combine it with Android 2.1 and an attractive price tag, you may have a product that will gain the attention of both early adopters and mass market alike.