Wow, imagine if Apple actually exposed APIs that allow Siri to do what it does? This app would destroy Siri.
Edit: I'd go so far to say this is eerily similar to the issues levied during Microsoft's anti-trust case. Google clearly is unable to compete here for no other reason than artificial walls put up by Apple on their devices in software. This is mobile's IE vs Netscape.
Is it? Apple doesn't have a monopoly on the smartphone market. The objection to Microsoft was that it was using its complete and utter dominance of desktop computers in anti-competitive ways.
So far as I can tell anyone who doesn't like iOS' walled garden can pick up and leave - to the market leader, Google.
This doesn't at all seem like monopolistic behavior, just rather restrictive and perhaps unwise.
Yeah from a monopolistic point of view, it's not really the same. But there is an argument to be made that Apple has a monopoly on the tablet market right now.
My point was less about the monopolistic nature and more that this is very similar from a product perspective to IE vs Netscape. Microsoft used its internal platform APIs as a massive amount of leverage to force IE down peoples' throats, even though Netscape was technically superior on the core ability of rendering web pages. The seamless integration caused IE to win out and eventually catch up. The stark disadvantage of Google's app is nearly identical in nature to 3rd party browsers in the mid 1990s.
> Netscape was technically superior on the core ability of
> rendering web pages
No. Unless you are comparing IE3 with Netscape 3. NN4 and onward got worse, IE4+ got better. We now call it crappy browser but by the time IE6 was out it was a clear leader (well some my argue for IE5 on Mac).
I still remember first widespread CSS bits that started to appear in the wild with IE4— hover on links, fixed background.
It was possible to duplicate hover behaviour on NN4 but it was nightmarish.
Yeah I was actually comparing IE3 with Netscape 3, which was the point at which Microsoft decided to integrate it with windows explorer and was the point at which Netscape's fate was sealed.
The big difference being, Microsoft could make a better browser than Netscape, if they put their best team on it. I don't think Apple can compete with Google at search, unless they want to spend several billion a year (as Microsoft does).
Edit: I'd go so far to say this is eerily similar to the issues levied during Microsoft's anti-trust case. Google clearly is unable to compete here for no other reason than artificial walls put up by Apple on their devices in software. This is mobile's IE vs Netscape.