Skip to main content

Google is from Mars, Apple is from Venus

Image used with permission by copyright holder

With the first ChromeOS products now officially on the way, I thought it would be interesting to compare Apple’s approach to the market to Google’s. If you are expecting a product comparison this isn’t it… more a comparison of each company’s unique approach, and what advantages and disadvantages they will bring. Apple and Google are the extremes, and I think looking at these extremes could be interesting this week of the ChromeOS launch.

Apple: Marketing driven, form over function, vertically integrated

Steve Jobs thinks of himself as an engineer, but actually, he is closer to a designer. Apple products are conceived in the image of what Steve Jobs thinks people will get excited about. His approach to products is actually closer to how a best-selling author might approach a book, or a very popular artist, who likes that popularity, might approach his or her creation.

The advantage to this approach is that products, even at initial launch, tend to be beautiful. They tend to hit their target market more emotionally, and it is easy to see why lines often form to buy them. People have a tendency to hold them up and show off the beauty of the design, and the elegance of the interface. While men in general tend to gravitate to technology products, Apple appeals to women better with this approach.

The disadvantages to this approach are technical limitations and ugly engineering. The first iPhone couldn’t do 3G, the second one had horrid battery life, and the fourth version had issues with the screen and the antenna. In fact, particularly with the iPhone, it often seemed the better it looked, the more issues it tended to have. I’ve spoken to folks who do tear-down analysis of new Apple products, and the common term they use is ugly. This is the downside of form over function: The outside forces compromises on the inside that can create problems.

Finally, Apple is mostly vertically integrated, meaning it designs or owns the intellectual property in much more of its offerings. This gives the company advantages in quality control, but disadvantages in volume. Apple makes higher margins as a result.

Apple has few failures, but they also release very few products. Unless you don’t really need the product to work well, you don’t really want the first version of anything Apple brings out. However, the status of being early is worth the risk to most of Apple’s initial buyers.

Google: Engineering driven, function over form, horizontally focused

Google’s approach is almost the polar opposite. Its designers dream up a ton of functions, then package it in what is often a butt-ugly product, and get it out the door. Google engineers will follow feedback closely, add or eliminate features, and reduce problems version to version, until the product is right. Eric Schmidt is the ex-CTO of Sun, and no one would accuse him of being artistic, but he is an engineer.

The advantage of this approach is that there is little in the way of limitation on new products. Initial offerings will a substantial amount of breadth, and won’t be as limited by initial perceptions of what should be in the product. Products tend to be more robust, and less likely to have performance problems. The inside of the product, compared to Apple’s, is very well-engineered, and hardware problems seem to be less prevalent.

Disadvantages of this approach include ugly duckling products like the first Android phone, relatively bad initial ease of use, and the tendency to bring lots of crap to market in order to understand a market, and develop that one jewel. This approach really appeals to guys, and the geekier the better.

Google is horizontally focused, meaning it generally relies on OEMs to move Google products. This leads to higher volume, but contributes to an image of lower quality. Google makes far less money initially from its products (actually monetizing them after the sale), but in volume, Google is passing Apple.

In the end, Google tends to release more products, but far fewer of them are hits. In total, they can reach higher volumes than Apple does. Folks just won’t be as proud of any of what results. Unless you are really geeky, you don’t want version one of anything Google brings out. For folks who love to both play with technology and have something to say about how it will advance, being first with Google is worth it.

Are you an artist or an engineer?

If you are very driven by appearance, ease of use, premium quality and consistent experience, you’ll like Apple products better. If you are driven by features, like to live on the bleeding edge of technology, and love variety and change, you’ll favor Google. In general, women tend to gravitate more to Apple, and men to Google, even though both companies largely live in segments where men are the primary decision makers. Happy first-generation Apple buyers are heavily driven by image, and happy first-time Android buyers tend to be uber-geeks. The closer to an artist you, are the better you’ll likely prefer Apple’s approach, and the closer to an engineer you are, the more likely you are to prefer Android.

Because Apple tends to attract people who are much more emotional, and react very harshly to negative reviews, people often gloss over the product’s shortcomings. Google attracts folks who often relish in pointing out defects, and attracts negative ink like a magnet. Regular folks should likely avoid first-generation products from any vendor like the plague, and the third generation is typically the magic version where the vendor gets it right, regardless of approach.

Editors' Recommendations

Rob Enderle
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Rob is President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, a forward-looking emerging technology advisory firm. Before…
Apple almost rejected Google for this key Safari feature
A MacBook with Google Chrome loaded.

As part of an ongoing antitrust trial against Google, Apple has been defending its decision to make Google the default search engine in its Safari web browser. Now, a fascinating tidbit has just emerged: Safari could have been way better at protecting your privacy than it actually is.

In transcripts from the court hearing, it has been revealed that Apple considered making DuckDuckGo the default search engine in Safari’s private browsing mode while keeping Google as the mainstay everywhere else. Despite holding 20 meetings with DuckDuckGo’s executives between 2018 and 2019, Apple ultimately decided against the move.

Read more
Update your Apple devices now to fix these dangerous exploits
A person using a laptop with a set of code seen on the display.

If you’re an Apple user -- whether you have a Mac, an iPhone, an iPad, or an Apple Watch -- you need to update your devices as soon as possible. That’s because Apple has discovered three actively exploited vulnerabilities that could cause your devices serious harm, and the patches are already out to fix them.

One of the bugs was found in Apple’s Security framework and would allow a malicious app to completely bypass a device’s signature validation. Another bug concerns the WebKit browser engine and could grant a threat actor the ability to run arbitrary code when a victim views a certain web page.

Read more
My last hope for Mac gaming is the iPhone 15 Pro
Craig Ferguson introducing Mac Gaming at WWDC.

I’ve been impatiently waiting for the Mac to finally become a great gaming computer for years, and every time I get my hopes up, they seem to be dashed with disappointment. Yet for the first time, it feels like we could be on the brink of genuinely meaningful change -- and it’s all thanks to the iPhone.

I watched Apple’s September event and saw the company claim its new A17 Pro chip would turn the iPhone 15 Pro into a miniature console, with big-name titles like Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Death Stranding making the leap to the device. That’s all well and good, I thought, but what about the Mac?

Read more