Jake
05-29-2013, 07:43 PM
Although Apple has its own desktop operating system in Mac OS X and it has its own mobile operating system in iOS, the company has always been open to sometimes porting its applications to other platforms. The most notable of these are of course iTunes and Safari which are both available for Windows as well as the Mac. Until now Apple hasn't ported any of its mobile apps to Android. However in a recent interview Apple's CEO Tim Cook stated that given the right circumstances Apple would consider porting some of its apps to Android.
Apple has several in-house apps that it delivers for iOS, the question is which of them would benefit Apple if they were ported to Android? Among Apple's current apps are iMessage, Maps, iTunes and Safari.
If it made sense for us to do that, we would do that. You could apply that to every area of Apple.
I shall resist the temptation to take a swipe at Apple's map app. I think we can safely say that porting that to Android won't help any Android users or Apple. Interestingly iTunes and Safari are already on Windows so Apple isn't adverse to running those on non-Apple systems. Safari hasn't been a huge success on Windows and has a long way to go to catch up with the likes of Chrome and Mozilla. Porting it to Android would probably just be a waste of resources on Apple's part. iTunes as a mobile app allows users to buy music, films and TV programs. Thankfully the mobile version of iTunes has nothing to do with syncing content. As a store front and as a player for DRM encoded video there could be some merit in porting it to Android. However there could be some resistance from Android users who don't want to get sucked into the Apple way of doing things, however for mixed Apple / Android households it could be a benefit.
One other potential candidate that could benefit both Apple users and Android users is iMessage. Apple's instant messenger service works on iOS and on OS X. It allows users on these platforms to send texts, documents, photos, videos, contact information, and group messages. It is seen as an alternative to SMS or MMS, but without the per message cost. However porting it to other platforms other than iOS would mean opening up iCloud to Android and that is something that Apple might not be prepared to do.
What do you think? Would you like to see iMessage or iTunes on Android?
Apple has several in-house apps that it delivers for iOS, the question is which of them would benefit Apple if they were ported to Android? Among Apple's current apps are iMessage, Maps, iTunes and Safari.
If it made sense for us to do that, we would do that. You could apply that to every area of Apple.
I shall resist the temptation to take a swipe at Apple's map app. I think we can safely say that porting that to Android won't help any Android users or Apple. Interestingly iTunes and Safari are already on Windows so Apple isn't adverse to running those on non-Apple systems. Safari hasn't been a huge success on Windows and has a long way to go to catch up with the likes of Chrome and Mozilla. Porting it to Android would probably just be a waste of resources on Apple's part. iTunes as a mobile app allows users to buy music, films and TV programs. Thankfully the mobile version of iTunes has nothing to do with syncing content. As a store front and as a player for DRM encoded video there could be some merit in porting it to Android. However there could be some resistance from Android users who don't want to get sucked into the Apple way of doing things, however for mixed Apple / Android households it could be a benefit.
One other potential candidate that could benefit both Apple users and Android users is iMessage. Apple's instant messenger service works on iOS and on OS X. It allows users on these platforms to send texts, documents, photos, videos, contact information, and group messages. It is seen as an alternative to SMS or MMS, but without the per message cost. However porting it to other platforms other than iOS would mean opening up iCloud to Android and that is something that Apple might not be prepared to do.
What do you think? Would you like to see iMessage or iTunes on Android?