Maybe they can make that hideous Android interface look better.

More here.

Computerworld offers results in the ongoing back and forth regarding Adobe Flash’s viability on mobile platforms.  In short, tests conducted using Flash on several mobile operating systems including Google’s latest (Android Froyo) show a marked battery and performance drain and even crashed at one point.

No doubt Apple needs to work a little harder to avoid appearing heavy handed in this and other lines they’ve drawn in the sand.  However, the facts on this one are hard to dispute – even if Apple’s protecting their own turf more than they’re protecting their customers.

Word from Electronista is that MobileMe might become an entirely free service as Apple bids to directly compete against Google’s similar package of free offerings for Android users.  Sources cited indicate such an change to the service will come sooner rather than later, which makes a certain amount of sense, considering

• the next release of the iPhone OS will arrive soon, along with the iPhone
• Lala was shuddered and is almost certain to be replaced with a similar free music streaming service from Apple
• the iPad offers a compelling frontend to a file service like iDisk
• Apple’s new North Carolina mega-datacenter is rapidly approaching online status

Despite Apple’s propensity to charge for pretty much everything they touch, the promise of increased revenue through their iAd advertising service, the App Store sales explosion, and an inevitable shift to increased uptick in what’s now being termed ‘really personal computers’ like iPad certainly offers Apple a chance to drive a seamless package of mobile services that’s highly competitive with Google while taking away the need for their newest customers to go anywhere else for their needs.

If you think simply buying a Google Android device is going to set you free from closed ecosystems like the Apple iPhone and App Store combo, think again.

Carriers are already showing signs of taking advantage of the devices on their networks that aren’t explicitly locked to any particular mobile OS, and Android seems to be the most likely target.

Why? Google shares its technologies with the world – in this case, any hardware maker that wants to play – in the interest of driving advertising dollars, while Apple develops superior interfaces from hardware to software because that’s their primary focus.

If interface development is simply a handout for the world and means to and end and hardware is a latch on, who has control?  In the mobile world, barring any specific agreement requiring these two not be decoupled are altered in any way, the carrier.

This is the pecking order that resulting in carrier control and a lack of innovation in the mobile device industry – at least until Apple came on the scene.  And it will continue unabated if consumers aren’t careful.

Choose wisely.  More here: AT&T won’t allow unsigned Android apps on the Dell Aero? Might alter phone operating system longer term?.

What’s the argument here?  Don’t even consider trying to clone one of Steve’s babies.  If you were a friend, you will be an enemy.  And it will be personal.

It seems Apple’s been making calls on their competitors long before their recent suit against HTC.  The technologies in question?  Multitouch seems to be the most important IP Apple seeks to protect, while dozens of other iPhone-related patents also are in place.

From the report:

• “The HTC suit, which is recognized as a proxy battle against Google, is causing OEMs to re-examine the strategy of relying overmuch on Android, lest it prove vulnerable in terms of core IP,” he wrote. “This concern comes atop pre-existing misgivings about Google’s end-game in wireless. (to commoditize the OEMs? To arrogate all value-added services?)”  The conflict, Reiner said, has created an opportunity for Microsoft’s newly unveiled Windows Phone 7 Series, due to launch this fall. Microsoft has also told potential customers it would support them legally if they, like HTC, were hit with a lawsuit over intellectual property.

Now we get to see just how much Microsoft will ante up against Apple’s patent base at a time the two seem to be building alliances.  Looks like we could be headed for another settlement similar to the technology agreement made over a decade ago between the two which sent millions (and a commitment to continue updating Microsoft Office for Mac) to Apple.

As for Google, that relationship seems headed south.

More: Apple’s patent ‘warning shots’ prove disruptive for handset makers.

Gruber: I Stand By This Quip From October.

It appears not all Apple apologists are big fans of Apple’s decision to sue HTC.

For the last two years a segment of the press has worked to keep their eyes on the real long term focus for Apple: their under-the-covers intellectual property.  Not just the software, rather the battery life and more importantly the CPU.  And if the Apple iPad is any indicator, Apple’s purchase of fabless chipmaker PA Semi could be the greatest acquisition any company’s made over the last decade.  That’s right: any company.

Here’s what we know: the iPad is a flamethrower.  It’s nasty fast.  So fast the iPad’s speed is often the first thing anyone who’s touched it mentions.  It’s great to see software and interface guys like John Gruber talk in detail about the iPad’s blazing performance.  When that happens, you know it’s hot.

As Gruber also points out, what’s scary for the competition now is not the package Apple’s put together with this device.  Frankly, Apple’s competitors have spent well over two years being scared and trying anything to catch up or differentiate.  No, what’s got to keep the also-rans up at night is the beginning of the end of the battles on the commodity hardware market.  They used to compete with Apple to be the first to market with the fastest devices, and nowhere has this been more visible and critical than the mobile processor sector.  With Apple’s A4 mobile CPU serving as the iPad’s engine (and companies like Intel and Samsung on the outside looking in), the game has changed forever.

The ‘real’ Web 2.0 and Internet 3.0 begin and end with mobile devices, and that’s why Apple now touts itself as the largest mobile device company in the world.  It can’t be overstated: the mobile industry is now firmly positioned to completely supplant every computing technology we’ve created and used to this point.  The iPhone and App Store set the table, and future devices will drive the hole ever more open.  Starts to make Apple’s acquisition of mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless look pretty smart, doesn’t it?

Even if Apple’s competitors come within shouting distance of their technological advantages on the software front (and some might say Google Android and Palm WebOS are in fact in that ballpark), Apple’s ability to deliver far superior processor performance means a massive advantage every time you try these devices head-to-head in the future.

More importantly it raises the performance ceiling dramatically for Apple, meaning their ability to drive more ‘wow’ features into iPhone OS will far exceed what the Googles, Palms, Nokias, and Microsofts of the world will be able to achieve.

This is a one horse race unless another entrant steps up and attempts to change the game rules.

Andy Ihnatko talks about Google’s Nexus One and how it fits in with the competition  Here’s an important snippet:

• The touchscreen is a serious source of concern. I frequently needed to tap buttons more than once to get the Nexus to recognize the tap. Just as often, an app would think I’d tapped an item close to what I had been aiming for.  My suspicions about the Nexus’ touchscreen began to mount and so I charged up my loaner Droid and did some side-by-side comparisons. Yup: when doing the same tasks in the same apps side-by-side, the Droid was far better at correctly interpreting my intentions than the Nexus.

His full writeup can be found here.