Why Quantity Is More Important Than Quality For Apps [Author Q&A]

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brianxchen

As my colleague Mike Elgan points out, the iPhone has changed the world in profound ways.

Now an ex-colleague, Brian Chen of Wired.com, has just published one of the first books to take an in-depth look at how, exactly, the smartphone world is shaping up.

Always On: How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future — and Locked Us In is an excellent overview of how the iPhone is changing the computing landscape.

I follow Apple closely, yet I was surprised at how much I learned about the world of mobile from Chen’s well-reported book (Full disclosure: I provided a blurb).

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Chen’s book looks at some of the most interesting things people are doing with smartphones in business, education and culture, and examines what happens when we can do anything from anywhere — when we’re “always on.”

There’s an excerpt from the book over at Wired.com. And here’s a link to the book on Amazon.

I had a chance to do an IM Q&A with Chen about the importance of vertical integration, how Google and Hewlett-Packard are following Apple’s lead and the primacy of software over hardware. We also get a list of Chen’s favorite apps.

You talk a lot in the book about the importance of Apple making both the hardware and the software for its devices, the so-called “vertical integration” model. How important was vertical integration as a theme in the book?

Vertical integration is a core theme whose pros and cons are implicit throughout the entire book. Apple is all about vertical integration: as the famous Steve Jobs saying goes, “We build the whole widget.”

I think it’s really fascinating that Apple today is the most valuable corporation in the world despite its “closed” M.O. that everyone assumes led to its near-bankruptcy back in the day. On the contrary, vertical integration was what enabled Apple to become a successful niche player during the early PC era, and it was when Apple went horizontal with the clone business that it nearly went broke.

Today, Apple’s vertical integration is the fundamental reason that the iPhone is so successful, and that’s because the company’s tight control has created a new benchmark for customer convenience, elegance and reliability — something that’s been impossible for horizontally integrated manufacturers to beat. Now a lot of companies are experimenting with vertical integration in hopes of replicating the blockbuster success of the iPhone and the App Store.

And what about Google’s approach, which mirrors Microsoft’s back in the PC market? Pundits are always praising the openness of Android. What benefits does it have, if any?

The “openness” of Android does allow for more hardware options, because Google provides the operating system to any manufacturer willing to support it. If you’re buying an Android phone, you can get a device with a keyboard, or a built-in game controller (i.e. the Xperia Play), as opposed to the one-size-fits-all touchscreen iPhone.

But Google’s loose control of Android is what allowed for fragmentation of the platform. Manufacturers are shipping different versions of Android on different handsets. You can’t necessarily get the same apps when switching from one Android device to another. Carriers are forcing some manufacturers to ship Android phones with bloatware, just like back in the day.

Now we’re seeing Google temporarily close the Android Honeycomb platform for tablets, and one would assume the company is trying to mitigate the chaos.

Google is trying to vertically integrate, too. When we talk about vertical integration we often associate it with the words “lock-in” and “closed,” but it’s clear that locking down a platform and tying it exclusively to Apple hardware is working for the iPhone and the iPad. It gives Apple the ability to control the quality and consistency of the software across its family of devices. One thing I don’t agree with, however, is Apple’s Puritan-esque control over the App Store.

Yeah, it’s funny that Google is getting more vertically integrated. Microsoft and HP — especially HP — are doing it too.

Right, HP’s acquisition of Palm is kind of huge. The company bought Palm to develop a tablet OS. It wants control over its mobile destiny, just like Apple.

What about apps, or classes of apps? Do you have any sense of what is the most important class of apps? Social networking, communication, entertainment?

We really didn’t call them apps until the iPhone’s App Store came around, did we? It really shows how much Apple has pushed software into the mainstream. Now people whip out their smartphones and show off cool apps during dinner time or at cafes. Before the iPhone, casual discussion about software was a nerd thing.

So there are about 400,000 apps in Apple’s App Store and 250,000 in Google’s. An argument I hear a lot is that quantity doesn’t matter; it’s all about quality.

But while quality is important, I argue that quantity is crucial. The more apps each app store has, the more likely a device can cater to every possible need for any hobby, profession or special interest.

So I wouldn’t really say there’s a most important class of apps, because the iPhone epitomizes the genius of the blank slate. It’s a gadget that can turn into anything just by downloading an app. And that’s why I think it’s Apple’s best-selling product today.

The most important app is dependent on whatever the customer does for a living, or enjoys doing for fun.

My personal favorite app, though, is Dropbox. As a technology writer, I have a shit ton of stuff that I need everywhere I go, and it’s so simple to just throw everything in my Dropbox and pull it from the “cloud.”

What other apps do you like? Gimme a list of favorites.

HeyTell – walkie talkie app
Evernote — memory-enhancing database
Tiny Wings — addictive game
BeeJive — IM with push
Camera+ — advanced camera app
Flipboard for iPad — social media
magazineKeynote — Apple’s presentation app: “Really good for editing presentations on the road.”
Uber — on-demand taxi service
Instapaper — offline web reader
So that’s 10 including Dropbox

So what does that tell you about me? I’m all work, barely any play, a little bit of time to read.

Yeah, sad.

LOL

What’s next for iPad?

My book is all about how the iPhone impacts various parts of society, and it should be interesting to see how the iPad pans out. We’re already seeing doctors experiment with it as an X-ray chart or a handheld computer for juggling patient records. We’re seeing a few schools issuing iPads to replace the textbook.

I think there are plenty of interesting things to come, especially in the field of construction. Architects and construction workers will largely benefit from a lightweight, internet-connected device that can display blueprints, or provide them with 3-D modeling on site.

I do wonder though if the iPad is just a stopgap for flexible displays that we roll up and take with us everywhere. It’s not a crazy thought.

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