All the conversations about open or closed are somewhat irrelevant. Consumers don’t care about open or closed. They care about the user experience. They care that things are intuitive and they don’t have to “think” about things.

If users are unsure about

• which app store to go to
• which apps will be available in each app store
• whether an app will work on their phone
• if an app works differently on each phone, it is not a good experience for users. The average user will not understand it.

If, however, Android can

• get one uber-app store that all Android users, irrespective of carrier and phone model, can access
• apps that work on all phones without the consumer having to think about it
• apps work the same way on all phones

then Android will win.

I really wished that Apple would not “approve” apps. They could offer a section for the “unapproved” apps that a consumer can use that their own peril. But they have no need to do this because right now, Android is till too hard to use.

Now, coming to the topic of Open – right now, Android lets the carriers play the role Apple plays for it’s app store. How, precisely, is that open? They are both closed – just in different ways.