Jun 7 2011

Over the Air OTA Updates Not Invented by Google

A few websites are saying that Apple stole OTA updates from Google.  This is simply not true.  Feature phones before Android and even the iPhone were released were able to do OTA updates.  It was not something that was generally public from the carriers as it was a new process.  However it is a safer way to update since carriers have the ability to restrict how many people at once do updates.  This allows them to push an update to say 10,000 random customers and monitor their support systems for bug reports.  Say if a few days and no complaints go by that are show stoppers then they move along and push 100,000 and wait a day.  Then they begin pushing to rest of their customers.  It’s a great feature.

Other things that were added such as wireless media sync have been a requested feature for years.  Apparently Zune HD had this, but I knew one person who ever bought a Zune and they returned it a few months later and bought iPhones.  Is it really stealing an idea when it’s a common sense thing?

Camera from lock screen.  People have been asking for faster ways to take pictures, and that’s what Apple has provided.  Apparently Windows 7 Phones can do this, but manufacturers have been slow to adopt the feature.   Nobody ever made a feature popular by not implementing it.  Windows 7 phone users should thank Apple that other carriers may finally take note and begin to implement it more.  This is exactly the reason that competition is good.  If there’s a great feature out there, somebody is going to implement it.

By Corey • iOS, iTunes • 2 • Tags: , , , ,