Roland00Address
Platinum Member
Personally it is my belief that we need a simpler way to communicate information about this tablet vs this tablet or this phone vs that phone against another phone to the majority of people who are not technically inclined. People don't understand technology for it is ALOT of details and unless you understand the importance of each detail then knowing some details does not matter. When some information is just as dangerous as no information then you have a dysfunctional marketplace.
With Android the vast amount of choices and bad information exchange leads to a race to the bottom when it comes to specs. When the difference between an $8 dollar cpu and a $30 dollar cpu can make an order of magnitude of difference in the end user result, why would the OEM choose to use the crappy cpu? Because people don't know that $8 dollar cpu is crappy and since it has the marketing buzz terms like quad core they will buy it. It also allows the OEMs to maximize profit by dramatically charging more for upgrades, charge $100 dollars for the good cpu vs the crappy cpu even though the cost to the oem may only be $20 dollars for the marketplace is too dysfunctional to have adequate competition to drive down prices. (Adequate competition though does lead to less profit for the OEMs and thus less OEMs)
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The answer in my mind is an information specialist who understands the products and is able to assign ratings, 5 star, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star, and is a waste of your money with no redeeming features.
Google is one of the few companies that could play such a role in the phone and tablet marketplace, and it can do so in a way that would not piss off their OEMs and in fact be encouraged by their OEMs. They may be actually doing this with their Android Silver Program which we little to no information on.
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What I propose Google do is to create a platform similar to how in the past Intel created the platforms "Centrino" and "Ultrabook". The power of the platform is that to call yourself by trademark terms you must follow google's rules. The platform will have 4 ratings.
Now to get a certification these OEMS must pay Google a marginal certification fee which is supposed to cover the cost of the certification but not be a main revenue generator for Google.
Now before Google is taking applications for that year they release the criteria for the certification a large amount of time before hand (lets say 6 months or so). So for example for the 2015 certification, google in the summer possibly at 2014 Google I/O will release the requirements to get the Android Certification for 2015.
To get gold you need to have the following requirements (lets say for phones) for a 2015 phone.
2015 Gold Phone
Now certain things like features, like voiceless control, quality of camera, etc are not important and these will be partly how OEMs differentiate themselves.
The Silver, Bronze, and White ratings are the same idea but much more liberal with the specs to make the requirement.
For example slower cpu, gpu, nand with Silver, lose the ac with silver, 720p or higher. Same software requirements and updates.
Bronze and White even less performance requirements. Require manufacturers to be up to date with software at the time of release but limit updates to a lesser time period such as 6 months due to the fact these are more basic hardware and thus may not be able to do all the features in the newest version of google, etc.
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What this does it sends signaling mechanism to customer. They understand they will get a good phone if they buy gold or silver but it may cost more to do so. OEMs will be competing on price and features outside and beyond google requirements. Eventually google will learn what outside features are that awesome and should be folded into the next year google spec requirements.
While OEMs may make less money with this arrangement due to bringing more information to the marketplace, it will also help smaller OEMS compete for people will trust them for they got Google's seal of approval and they know the hardware is good. Instead people will be using more rationality in their buying decisions instead of just buying Samsung or Apple just because of the name and since they can't understand everything else about the market they just buy what they feel is good for all the information is overwhelming and contradictory.
This will also increase innovation and improvement turn around for the entire industry.
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Your thoughts?
With Android the vast amount of choices and bad information exchange leads to a race to the bottom when it comes to specs. When the difference between an $8 dollar cpu and a $30 dollar cpu can make an order of magnitude of difference in the end user result, why would the OEM choose to use the crappy cpu? Because people don't know that $8 dollar cpu is crappy and since it has the marketing buzz terms like quad core they will buy it. It also allows the OEMs to maximize profit by dramatically charging more for upgrades, charge $100 dollars for the good cpu vs the crappy cpu even though the cost to the oem may only be $20 dollars for the marketplace is too dysfunctional to have adequate competition to drive down prices. (Adequate competition though does lead to less profit for the OEMs and thus less OEMs)
------------------------------------------
The answer in my mind is an information specialist who understands the products and is able to assign ratings, 5 star, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star, and is a waste of your money with no redeeming features.
Google is one of the few companies that could play such a role in the phone and tablet marketplace, and it can do so in a way that would not piss off their OEMs and in fact be encouraged by their OEMs. They may be actually doing this with their Android Silver Program which we little to no information on.
------------------------------------------
What I propose Google do is to create a platform similar to how in the past Intel created the platforms "Centrino" and "Ultrabook". The power of the platform is that to call yourself by trademark terms you must follow google's rules. The platform will have 4 ratings.
- Google Certified Android Gold, followed by the year
- Google Certified Android Silver, followed by the year
- Google Certified Android Bronze, followed by the year
- Google Certified Android White, followed by the year
Now to get a certification these OEMS must pay Google a marginal certification fee which is supposed to cover the cost of the certification but not be a main revenue generator for Google.
Now before Google is taking applications for that year they release the criteria for the certification a large amount of time before hand (lets say 6 months or so). So for example for the 2015 certification, google in the summer possibly at 2014 Google I/O will release the requirements to get the Android Certification for 2015.
To get gold you need to have the following requirements (lets say for phones) for a 2015 phone.
2015 Gold Phone
- CPU: Snapdragon 805 or Higher Qualcomm, Similar other brands of cpus also here whatever is the equivalent ARM reference CPU, whatever is the equivalent Intel Etc
- Minimum of R GPU performance
- Minimum of S Nand performance
- Minimum of T Battery Life
- LTE or similar 4G technology with certain minimum specs
- 802.11 AC
- 1920x1080 screen or better
- Up to date with whatever version of Google Software that is out by some date lets just say Oct 2014 for a 2015 certification or within 6 months of the last google date whichever is newer.
- Follow Google Guidelines concerning many things
- Updates from the manufacturer within 6 months of Google posting an update (or some other number)
- Updates from the manufacturer for 1 year after the phone is released, coinciding with Google's posting new updates.
Now certain things like features, like voiceless control, quality of camera, etc are not important and these will be partly how OEMs differentiate themselves.
The Silver, Bronze, and White ratings are the same idea but much more liberal with the specs to make the requirement.
For example slower cpu, gpu, nand with Silver, lose the ac with silver, 720p or higher. Same software requirements and updates.
Bronze and White even less performance requirements. Require manufacturers to be up to date with software at the time of release but limit updates to a lesser time period such as 6 months due to the fact these are more basic hardware and thus may not be able to do all the features in the newest version of google, etc.
------------------------------------------
What this does it sends signaling mechanism to customer. They understand they will get a good phone if they buy gold or silver but it may cost more to do so. OEMs will be competing on price and features outside and beyond google requirements. Eventually google will learn what outside features are that awesome and should be folded into the next year google spec requirements.
While OEMs may make less money with this arrangement due to bringing more information to the marketplace, it will also help smaller OEMS compete for people will trust them for they got Google's seal of approval and they know the hardware is good. Instead people will be using more rationality in their buying decisions instead of just buying Samsung or Apple just because of the name and since they can't understand everything else about the market they just buy what they feel is good for all the information is overwhelming and contradictory.
This will also increase innovation and improvement turn around for the entire industry.
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Your thoughts?
