Google is Leapfrogging Apple

Google is done playing catch-up. Today they're setting the agenda: With Android Froyo, Google TV, mobile ads and streaming media, Google isn't just matching Apple — they're taking the lead.

The I/O conference for Google has been so dense it could make you dizzy, with announcements from nearly every corner of Google's ever-expanding apparatus. The meatiest news comes direct from Google's most intense battlefronts: Android Froyo (version 2.2); a bevy of clever new cloud services; and a mobile ad platform paired with Google TV marching into battle with competing products from Microsoft, and much more pointedly, Apple.

During the last 18 months, Google has been going through a period of frantic catch-up, in which we saw Android reach feature parity with iPhone OS, the Android Market explode, and Google's confidence slowly build. Apple had been setting the terms of the battle, baiting Google into action. The competition was fierce, but the fight was on Apple's terms.

Google is tired of that. In the space of two days, they've leapfrogged Apple spectacularly: They've matched Apple's mobile OS in predictable ways, and embarrassed it in others (Flash on mobiles may not be as horrific as Apple has implied); they've invaded the living room with a dedication and vigor that makes Apple TV look like a jokey experiment; they've steamrolled the mobile ad market with as solid a platform as Apple's and, more importantly, hundreds of thousands of advertisers; they've taken massive steps into the cloud, and into streaming — the kind of stuff nerds talk about, but didn't expect to see so soon.

Read More...