Comparing Apples And Googles

Ever since Apple has become the largest IT company, people tend to compare it to Google. This tendency has intensified even more as Google, with the Android OS invaded Apple's turf of smartphones and Internet tablets. But really, these companies should not be compared. Because they are different. They do different things, have different strengths and fundamentally, they do not compete.

Google is the company that has indexed the Internet, representing today the majority of information and knowledge of our civilization. They did this, in principle, by creating a computer system different to any other system ever created. Every computer system on Earth works worse, as it grows and handles more information. Google is different. The bigger it is and the more data it processes, it works better. Faster and more accurately. Google has tried many ways to monetize what they have been doing, and so far the most successful for them way to make money has been selling ads as sponsored links.

Google has hundreds of products, some of them official, some still in the "Labs". They do not sell them. They create them to attract and keep user's attention. They want us to stay within Google domain and never go anywhere else. Because as long as we use a Google product, we either provide information to Google or potentially consume the ads they sell. And yes, they are successful in what they are doing. We find ourselves turning to Google more and more often and staying within their reach longer and longer (sometimes even not realizing that). Google applications and services are free, so very often we do not think about them in terms of "products". We take Gmail, Search, Docs, Picasa for granted. As if the Internet has always had these services. Google also wants the reach (as opposed to rich, which is the Apple's case). They want more and more people use more and more Web. Search, applications, services. This is the reason they acquired Android and keep funding the mobile space. They know many of us today just cannot live without Google. They want this audience to grow.

Now Apple. The masters of monetization of the art of industrial design. Apple has just a handful of quite simple products. So simple people are often scratching their heads asking why it takes Apple do do something obvious. Like a nice looking computer. Not cluttered with tons of cables. Or elegantly designed Internet tablet. Actually the iPad, as a concept, had been obvious for years. But it took Apple to build it and only then the other vendors woke up and started working on their own designs. Which, in majority, are inferior. Apple has discovered people will pay premium for a nice computer case (I refer to the MacMini here). Or a keyboard, for instance (using Windows, I type this column on an Apple keyboard, I paid almost $100 for... only because it looks nice on my desk). Now they have just made the second iPad, with magnets being the key selling point. And guess what... people are buying it! One would think strange, as neither the MacMini, nor the Mac keyboard nor the iPad 2 are any better than any typical PC computer or a Logitech keyboard or the iPad 1. But yes, people do pay premium for the looks. It is not only they like the form. They feel better. They feel they are smarter using elegant products. It is like a dress or shoes. Apple's got the looks and it sells.

It would not be fair if I finished here. True, Apple is more than looks. Apple removes the burden of making decisions. Their product line is very simple. One phone (in different colors and storage capacities). One tablet. Two laptops (the Air and the classic, in different screen sizes). Everybody understands the difference between black and white iPhone. Everybody distinguishes the 16GB iPad from the 64GB one. Now go and try to figure out the laptops Dell makes. Disaster (is the Vostro 130x-something the same laptop as the Latitude 13?). Clear message. One version of the OS (Microsoft, can you hear that?). People often go and buy iPhones, because they do not know what the alternatives are. They are not sure what it means the HTC Widlfire runs Android 2.2 while the SonyEricsson runs 1.6. Apple makes it nice to attract and simple to choose. That is why such crowds frequent the Apple Stores. And Apple also guarantees whatever you buy will work. They removed the Flash, as it was destabilizing their platforms. They do not hesitate to make such freedom - restricting decisions, because they know the average consumer will benefit from them. Power users prefer to install Firefox with AdBlock. Apple simply removes Flash and gives this way less pop-ups and more battery life to the users. Who love them because otherwise they would never install a pop-up killer and be frustrated browsing the Internet.

Not dragging this story too long, I think you feel the difference between Google and Apple. Where their strength and expertise is and how they differ in core competencies and long term strategies. This is why comparing the two is like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. We are free and we have the freedom to choose. Some of us will be using Apple products some will be using Google products. Both companies will thrive, at least for some time. And none will kill the other. Because simply they are just different animals.