And You Wanna Be My Latex Salesman?

While Android is getting a lot of attention because it has attracted so many phone makers, those companies, Mr. Rubinstein [CEO of Palm], argues “have to depend on the kindness of strangers” — meaning Google — for their software.

“The companies that will deliver the best products are the ones that integrate the whole experience — the hardware, the software and the services — and aren’t getting one piece from here and one piece from there and trying to bolt it all together,” he said.

I really do root for Palm to succeed and I do believe their model of providing both the hardware and software is superior. They are in this camp together with Apple and RIM against the likes of Microsoft Windows Phone and Google Android. Why do I think Palm's model is better?

Google Android may have the biggest buzz right now, but I think in a few short years we will see the OS forking into many versions as handset makers and telco operators make customizations to fit their own needs. Developing for Android will be a nightmare and users will be just as frustrated when they find out their apps stop working when they switch to a different Android phone. I think what we will see with Android is how Linux is right now, where each distro is just different enough to confuse a non-geek and discourage him to use it.

Google themselves are vague about the strategy between Android and Chrome OS. Listening to CEO Eric Schmidt's interview at CNET Conversations, I get the feeling that Google prefers to throw both Android and Chrome OS into the market to see what develops before making a decision on which OS to put their weight on. While this strategy works fine for a company with Google's resources, it doesn't mean well for the end users.