I think the article is "completely inane and stupid", for a few reasons,
1. Because this is CNN we're talking about,
2. don't be surprised if the journalism is subpar, meaning
3. when you see stories that fail to pass the test of reasonableness, and especially
4. make sweeping claims to the cataclysmic
5. then you know it's a story written to generate pageviews.
The reason journalists write stuff like this is because the sort of people that could provide more than a half-reasoned argument for or against (which coincidentally in this case would be people that have a thorough understanding of the state of Android in the marketplace) are busy being business consultants or some other higher paying job...in short they, by nature, have the ability to generate pageviews, not accurate assessments of business positions. If they do, then they are working for the Economist or some other legitimate commentary.
This sort of thing happens in politics too, in order to generate publicity. But in this case, the idea is to generate traffic to generate money. So, you take a very peculiar stance on a well known topic, trying to make controversy out of nothing, and try to offend lots of people with your stupid reasoning. Then they all get riled up and start discussing it with each other and the news agency or person seeking media attention wins. It's actually a lot like trolling. In fact, I'd say that's definitely what this was.
1. Google buying Motorola and alienating all of the tier one handset makers (none of which to this day have the spine to state it publicly but all of which have now come up with their "plan B"),
Fails the test of reasonableness-- they're attributing malicious intent to something that was entirely about acquiring a patent portfolio. Motorola wouldn't let them license the patents, said "you have to buy the whole thing". Google said "ok". Do you see how they're trying to get your emotions fussed up with inflammatory language? "alienating tier one" "don't have the spine" etc.
2. Microsoft extracting licensing fees from these same handset makers in the form of IP indemnification and
This is the only one based on a shred of fact and though. But it's $5 per handset, so it's as if the Bill of Materials for the phone is no longer $200, it's $205. Not a huge deal, especially if Microsoft leverages these patent fees equivalently across the manufacturers.
3. Amazon shipping a wildly successful, yet unidentifiable, version of an old Android build over the holiday... and making it a wild success.
This one is just stupid. This definitely works more FOR android than it does against it.
The whole article is a lot like something many of us would come up with if we were trying to get people aggravated and generate discussion. The reason you won't find many intelligent people that read CNN is because of articles like this. The ones that still do don't see the smoke and mirrors game that they're falling into.
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