Jason Howell von All About Android zeigt den Herstellern, was sie machen müssen, um mit Android Geräten Erfolg zu...

Jason Howell von All About Android zeigt den Herstellern, was sie machen müssen, um mit Android Geräten Erfolg zu haben. Sehr lesenswert.

Originally shared by Jason Howell (raygun01)

OEMs: Differentiate your hardware. Yes, absolutely. Do it. Here's my best recommendation on how.

AOSP. Vanilla Android. Straight up. No fancy wiz-bang functionality. Just incredible hardware running the stock Android experience, direct from Google.

But, that's not differentiation, you say. Everyone can do that. So we must make ours different. 

But that's where you're wrong.

You differentiate yourself by offering, unlike most everyone else, Google's unadulterated, MATURE version of Android. It has come a long, long way in the past two years, and the foundation is COMPLETELY different than it was when you started skinning your own "experience" over the top years ago. If your skin looks and feels like it did 2-3 years ago, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG.

You differentiate yourself from what has become the standard on Android: That every OEM thinks that their specialized software enhancements and home screen overlays actually make for a better phone experience. When in actuality, stock Jelly Bean is incredibly dynamic in its own right. And those enhancements that are poured on like wet cement come at a big, big price. Not to mention, the app ecosystem is just as dynamic as what you have to offer. So why lock people into yours?

You differentiate yourself by promising to bring updates to these devices faster, in a timeframe that your end users can respect and understand. And by doing so ensuring the security of those devices, thanks to the fact that they contain security fixes that roll out with updated versions of Android, direct from Google.

You differentiate yourself by trusting the platform on which you make your business, and by focusing on creating hardware that people want to use. People then choose your device not because of the proprietary widgets on your homescreens, but by the form and design of your device.

You differentiate yourself by making a promise to your customers that you will do whatever it takes to make sure they know without a doubt that they are worth your time and attention, even two years after they bought your device. By offering timely updates to your unadulterated version of Android, you are telling your customers how much they mean to you, well after they paid top dollar for your excellent device.

You differentiate yourself by offering something different from most everything you've offered up until now. Cause the rest of the OEMs aren't offering it this way either. That's what makes what you different from the rest.

I truly believe that any OEM that feels they need to differentiate by building proprietary functionality into their phones that will likely rarely get used on a daily basis by the majority of its users, and slows the rate of updates to a crawl, is hurting themselves in the long run. That may have made sense before Android matured. But it's there now. You don't need those extras. And by and large the users don't want or need them either. If you must include them, offer them as apps after the fact. Apps that aren't tied into the underpinnings of the OS. Do what Google does. Make those apps update-able on an independent basis and leave the core Android code alone.

I think (and yes, I may be wrong) that this is how you differentiate. And the best part is: it doesn't take being offered involvement in the Nexus program to do this.

It just takes a willingness to redefine what it means to differentiate your hardware in the world of Android, 2013.