I doubt it. To me the idea of bringing an open mobile platform into the market to drive innovation is a honorable goal and deserves respect. Will it also rock the mobile phone market? No, I don't think so. For the exact same reasons why Linux has not taken over the Windows and Apple OS PC market, the new Google Android platform will appeal to the Unix freaks among us and be a nice cool platform to built your own applications, but won't attract the masses.

First of all Apple has stolen the show with its AppStore months ago and has shown with the iPhone what it takes to offer great usability. The Google Android phone lacks also behind other platforms like Symbian or Blackberry and I bet even behind Microsoft's Windows Mobile that most people hate. So what will happen to it? With Google behind it it will survive many years and depending on how much more Google will put into it remain valid as a platform for the Linux guys around. To make it a mass market success though Google should have better partnered with Apple's iPhone and bring its strength in Search and some Google apps such as maps to that platform. I think over time that will happen too but for now the Google boys have another great toy and will play with it and since they don't need to make money with it they will let them play for a long time to come.

If I would be a software developing company who wants to make money though this platform would not be interesting. Still there are many Linux folks out there who make things without the $ sign in front of them and they will like it I guess. I am sure Steve Jobs had a big smile in his face when he watched the announcement probably thinking that these guys don't get what it takes to enter the mass market with success over night.

As for me I will play around with the Google Android phone when I get a chance next time I am in a mobile phone store that carries it and I am sure will drop it quickly as I got used now to my iPhone and expect any similar device to offer me the same user experience or even better. By then the iPhone apps will be in the second generation which will widen the gap even more.

Trying to appear as someone that you are not will always fail in B2B marketing. You will irritate rather than communicate if your marketing messages don't reflect what you really are. To spend 300 million USD as Microsoft does it right now with ad campaigns won't change that at all, in contrary, it is a total waste. As Seth Godin sums it up:"Microsoft can change this if they want to, but until they do, running ads pretending to be something other than that is a waste of money."

This Sunday I attended a great presentation at the IBC 2008 conference. The first transatlantic 3D live video transmission was shown. The CEO of Dreamworks (Shrek) was interviewed sitting in front of a nice office park in LA while the audience at IBC in Amsterdam watched it all on a big screen in 3D with polarized glasses on. (this company here claims to be THE source for 3D glasses)

They also showed 3D clips from the last (Kung Fu Panda) and their next upcoming animated movie (Monsters vs. Aliens) which were absolutely outstanding and highly impressive. Looks like that 3D will be the next really big wave in video viewing as Mr. Katzenberg said comparable to what happened when audio and color were made available quite some time ago now. We all see in 3D so it is only natural to also give that same 3D experience watching video was his explanation why soon everyone will make movies in 3D. And there are no technical hurdles any longer. Made sense to me and the live demo showed what new exciting movie theater times are ahead of us. Also Walt Disney and I suppose many other studios are working on 3D versions of their movies. While Dreamworks does not seem happy yet with the technical possibilities to transform existing 2D-made movies into 3D versions others seem to have less of a problem. Looks like Star Wars is being redone in 3D which makes of course a lot of sense for many of the outer space scenes and then Star Wars movies always tried to move the technical boundaries further.

The driver for the consumer markets will be gaming since in gaming you have ideal conditions sitting close to the screen Mr. Katzenberg said. Dreamworks also seems to work with Intel to help bring 3D experience to the mass markets. In the US 3D displays are already sold since about 2 years and by end of 2009 - just for the next Shrek movie - about 80% of all cinemas in the US will have 3D viewing capabilities already Mr. Katzenberg predicted. Or 80% of the audiences will be able to see it in 3D; I think that's what he probably said...

I am sure you already had similar experiences as I had this week. You are so busy with work and life that you miss great things and are very surprised that you have not heard of it before. I had exactly this experience myself with a great singer: Sophie Zelmani from Sweden. I suppose most of you have heard of her before as she is quite high ranked in the charts. I must admit I've never heard of her before though. When I skimmed through my iPhone iTunes store this week, (thanks to Apple) I found her name and listened to one of her songs. I was immediately taken away by her voice and the mood she spreads. After listening to lots of her songs now and - that is what you need to do with Sophie's songs - dived into her mood, I asked myself why do I like her? The answer is: she comes across as being very authentic. You simply get the feeling she thinks what she sings. No makeup BS, plain singing from the heart. Now why am I writing about this here you might have started wondering? Authenticity is key for all of us product marketing folks. If your clients get the feeling you are at the heart of things and can offer them real value without too much sales and marketing blablabla then you are nearly where you want to be: win a new fan. I became a fan of Sophie. My favorite songs and videos are: I am going home, Always You, Memory Loves You. The fall and winter can come, thanks to Sophie!