Can Elon Musk really make a replacement for iPhone and Android?
Elon Musk has done various things until today; From establishing different companies and preventing the bankruptcy of Tesla and turning it into the most valuable car manufacturer in the world to buying Twitter. But now the new owner of Twitter has made a claim that is a little different from what he has done so far. Elon Musk said, perhaps out of compulsion, An alternative phone for Android and iPhone but is it possible?
The matter started when Elon Musk, in response to a conservative journalist’s tweet about the possible removal of the Twitter app from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, announced the possibility of making a replacement phone:
“I hope that doesn’t happen, but if there’s no other choice, yes, I’ll build a replacement phone.”
This statement by Elon Musk resulted in a positive reaction from his fans, but on the other hand, technology activists are very skeptical about the statement of the richest person in the world. Let’s take a closer look at this issue.
Why does Elon Musk need a phone instead of iPhone and Android?
The smartphone market is controlled by Apple and Google, and especially in the Apple ecosystem, iPhone users can only download the apps they need through the App Store. On the other hand, although there are countless app stores for Android and you can even install the raw files of apps on your phone, the official source of apps is Google Play, which is more secure than other sources.
Considering such cases, if a program is removed from the official Google and Apple app stores, it will face a big problem. Since buying Twitter, Elon Musk has made many changes to the social network and recently decided to return many blocked accounts to Twitter, including that of former US President Donald Trump.
But these actions of Elon Musk and his belief in freedom of speech (except for criticizing himself!) can cost him dearly. Because of this, some speculations suggest that the Twitter app may be removed from the App Store and Google Play. One of the reasons for these speculations was the deactivation of the Twitter account of “Phil Schiller”, responsible for Apple events and responsible for the App Store.
At the moment, we do not know why Phil Shiler has deactivated his Twitter account, but maybe it is because of the many problems that Twitter is experiencing after being taken over by Elon Musk; From blue tick troubles to activation of blocked accounts.
Although it is possible that Schiller’s action was a personal decision, there may be an important issue behind it. Elon Musk apparently wants to turn Twitter into a subscription service of some sort. So Shiller probably wants to tell Musk that any user fees should be subject to Apple paying a commission.
According to App Store rules, Apple can charge developers for any in-app transaction. 15 to 30 percent get paid So part of $8 monthly fee for Twitter Blue, will be deposited into Apple’s bank account. If Twitter wants to try more ways to make money in the future, it should give some of its revenue to Apple and of course Google.
Of course, Elon Musk is not happy about such a thing, especially at a time when Twitter is not going through a good financial situation and many advertisers have stopped working with the social network.
In addition, Google and Apple have shown that they are willing to remove apps from their stores if their rules are not respected, both in terms of content and financially, one of the clear examples of which was the Parlor social network app, which Apple and Google decided to remove. They tried to remove it. Although Twitter is much more popular and older than Parlor, it is still likely to be removed from Google Play and the App Store.
In general, money and different opinions about freedom of speech will be the main reasons for the difference between Elon Musk and Google and Apple. So maybe it makes sense for the world’s richest man to make a replacement phone.
Can Elon Musk make his own phone?
Without any doubt, Elon Musk can make a phone; Because this is very simple. There are countless companies that will make a phone for you for a fee. Even the small and new startup Nothing was able to introduce its first smartphone with a different design some time ago. Therefore, Elon Musk can also design the phone by hiring several engineers and shift the task of making it to other companies.
But why shouldn’t Elon Musk’s statement be taken seriously?
So far, we have told you why Elon Musk should make a phone, and it is very simple, but is it really possible? In response, it should be said that no matter how simple the phone is to make, it is difficult to succeed in the market. In fact, the main problem is the platform: OS + App Store + Ecosystem.
To get to know the depth of the problem, take a look at the efforts of prominent companies. Microsoft, Samsung and Amazon, they were all giants of the technology world who wanted to end the dual monopoly of Apple and Google in the market, but of course they failed. These companies spent billions of dollars and hired the smartest people to build an alternative platform to iOS and Android, but eventually abandoned their projects.
The projects of the above companies were several years ago; When there was more hope to break the monopoly of Google and Apple in the smartphone market. But now it is much more difficult. For a platform to succeed in the market, it needs a lot of apps and you need to be able to attract developers.
Although in the meantime, Huawei has been able to achieve almost acceptable success with Harmony and App Gallery, but Huawei has been in the smartphone market for years. However, in the end, Huawei may not be able to say anything against Google and Apple.
The issue becomes more difficult when your competitor company has a platform that most users need and have been downloading their apps from its store for a long time. Although creating an app is not a difficult task, having an ecosystem containing attractive apps and persuading large companies to offer their apps in your store is not so simple.
Elon Musk can easily make a new phone, easily provide a new operating system based on Android and even develop an app store, but he cannot easily provide an ecosystem of high-quality and suitable apps to users. The most difficult thing is to compete with the services offered by Google and Apple.
If the richest man in the world wants to compete with, for example, Android, he will have to build everything Google has to offer, from the Play Store to apps, for his users in months, not years.
Although Musk has managed and continues to manage several successful companies, most of their success has been based on technical innovation, not platform building. Maybe Musk’s management on Twitter can be a touchstone for him to see if he can perform successfully in the new world he has entered.
Building a new mobile platform to compete with Apple and Google is different from managing Tesla. You need to have a lot of capital (of course, Musk doesn’t have a problem with that), provide better infrastructure than the competition, encourage users to use your product, and of course talk to thousands of investors to finally convince them to invest in your company. Of course, if you have a company like Tesla and you want to enter the market through it, you don’t need to attract capital anymore and you have to convince the current investors to take risks to make a Tesla phone.
Finally, Elon Musk has shown that no one can make decisions for him. Therefore, if he wants to make a phone, he must make such a decision himself. Although we might end up with Elon Musk’s own phone, it can’t really be an Android or iPhone replacement.