Rubin says that based on the screen shots he’s seen (which is funny — I’d say there’s no way he hasn’t actually seen a device itself, just about everyone in Silicon Valley has at this point), he thinks Windows Phone 7 looks “interesting” but he doesn’t see the value of it when Android is already out there. “Android is free and open; I think the only reason you create another platform is for political reasons,” Rubin says.
Of course, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has already given his stance on Android being free — that stance being: it’s not free, you have to pay patent fees for it, notably, to Microsoft.
Rubin expands his thoughts on Android versus Windows Phone 7:
I encourage everybody to use it, but I’m also not under the impression that everybody will use it, which is a good thing, because competition is good for the consumer and if somebody has an an idea for a feature or a piece of functionality in their platform and Android doesn’t do it, great. I think it’s good to have the benefit of choice, but in the end I don’t think the world needs another platform.
He notes that the key strength of Android lies in Google’s ability to create mashups of a bunch of service — meaning, thanks to their cloud computing expertise. Rubin notes that Google has been in this business “since day zero” — a clear shot at Microsoft lack of success transitioning to the web so far. “The cloud is humming away with unlimited bandwidth, acting on your behalf,” Rubin concludes.
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Authors: MG Siegler