Consistencies in Apple and Google Product Design

Many people have compared Apple's and Google's recent projects, such as their tablets and smartphones, saying they're quite similar. While I disagree with this statement (I hold true to the opinion that Apple products are higher quality; I'm a fan of end-to-end integration), I understand where the similarity is drawn from. Google's list of Ten Things We Know To Be True is oddly reminiscent of many of Apple's core values (such as #9). The one Fact that stands out in relation to Apple, however, is Fact #2: It's best to do one thing really, really well.

Reading this fact brought to mind images of Jobs's triumphant return to Apple, where he gloriously cut down the product list from hundreds of projects to just 4. Interestingly enough, although Apple's focus began on the personal computer and Google's focus began on a search engine, but the two companies product lines still converged on tablets, applications, and cellphones. Both reached these product lines by way of their own respective focus, though, and these differences show in the products themselves. Apple's desktop (or laptop) became a center to which all mobile devices (phones, cameras, ipods) were synced. Google's products, on the other hand, stem from the ambition to personalize the internet to each specific user (a goal more in sync with Fact #1). The result is a lot of information collection.

While the business models for Apple and Google follow many of the same ideals, the products themselves are quite different. I say this with some level of reserve, however, because I used to be a firm supporter of the PC over the Mac. I have since changed my mind, and may do so again. At this level in the game, however, Apple has presented a series of seamless, intuitively designed products that aren't compatible or customizable to the extend of an Android or a Chromebook, but run faster and more conveniently. The Ten Things We Know To Be True have clearly been utilized by both Google and Apple, but in my opinion they've been utilized better at Apple.

I haven't mentioned the Google search engine yet, and for good reason. I believe that Google has done an impressive job personalizing search results and advertisements to users, however I am fundamentally against the idea. I believe that by providing selective information to individuals, Google may be contributing to one of two things: a super-impressional "hive-mind" type online community, or a community unopen to change, due to constant reinforcement of beliefs. Both of these extremes are just that, extreme, but moving toward any extreme is never a good start.