With the unveiling of the Apple iPad this week, the tech industry is now abuzz with the thought of the way that Apple's device could potentially change the way that we use the internet at home and on the road.  There is no doubt in my mind that there is a segment of the population who will find this to be a very key purchase for their home.  Think of how many casual computer users use their laptops -- searching the web, shopping, browsing photos on Facebook or Flickr -- and other non-text intenstive operations.  The keyboard-less tablet device with wifi and/or a mobile connection is the perfect solution for surfing around the home.

But it is the operating system and the platform of the iPad that I have long-term questions about in the home.  While Apple is going to great lengths to integrate itself into my everyday internet activities with products like iLife and AppleTV, I think I know who will ultimately win our homes and our home-area network -- Google.

 

Reason #1:  The Android Open-Source OS

Anyone who has ever tried to do something creative and interesting with software will tell you that open-source software provides a tremendous opportunity to expand and enhance functionality that the original developers provided in the official code.  Just look at the way that the Apache web server has developed over time as developers were allowed access to the source code and encouraged to create all kinds of add-ons that would work with the server's core code.  Over time, this made it a better product -- more stable, more robust and the ability to run on all kinds of hardware.

The Android OS, while in its infancy, will mature over time and will be able to support multiple devices, screens, and interfaces.  Having toyed around with basic Android app development, the structure of the code is such that it very logically separates the device its being displayed on from the core functionality.  This will be a key component to its success in the home.

 

Reason #2: Device Agnosticism

Bill Gates realized at a very young age that success would lie in having your software run on hardware not created by one manufacturer, but a variety.  IBM wanted to buy Gates' "DOS" operating system from him.  But realizing that PC's would be in so many homes in the near future, Gates decided to license DOS to IBM and subsequently made money off of every version sold on an IBM computer.  The future was not in the hardware, but the ability to have control over the heart of the PC -- the software.

Apple has married its OS to specific devices, much like it has done most of its existence with its vertical integration model.  Value can be gained from complete control over the hardware and software, but it can also be the Achiiles heel.  Think back to 1995:  Apple realized that there was an opportunity spread its OS by allowing hardware mandufacturers to enter into the "Macintosh clone program".  Even then, Apple realized that the software was driving their success.

At the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, one company, Touch Revolution, gave us a glimpse on how the future might look, both from a hardware and channel/software concept.  Touch Revolution (as seen in the video, below) has several appliances that they are embedding Android into for control.  They show us an example of a phone, a copier, a microwave and a washing machine all running Android.  How about an app to cook a tenderloin in the oven?  Download the "linens" app for custom wash cycles.  After all -- hardware is hardware, the heart is in the software controlling it.

What about your thermostat running Android?  Why not?  It has relays and sensors just like these appliances.  There is no reason that Android couldn't control this basic instrumentation.  Pick anything that you have to interface with and control in your home and the possibility exists of basic control using Android.

 

Reason #3: The Cloud

The iPad announcement got me thinking about how this might change the way consumers used their computers at home.  Many of us already have a laptop that's in the kitchen for surfing while the pasta's boiling or in the livingroom while our spouse watches TV.  That laptop has a hard drive and somewhere to store what we're working on.  The iPad has flash drive ability which, mentally, seems very temporary.

Could tablet devices force people to start thinking "in the cloud" about their applications they run?  If so, then guess who does that very well. 

Yes, Google.  The same Google that makes the Android OS.

Take a look at what the Google cloud offers:  e-mail, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software, a newsreader, a search mechanism, photo storage and sharing, phone service, YouTube integration, and even health records storage.  While the prospects of storing all of your data with someone else might seem scary, my feeling is that we will soon see the benefits of handing over some privacy outweigh the benefits of not doing so, at least in some situations.

 

What if it's an Android tablet-type computer like one of these from last month's CES show?  In theory, don't you think that there would be tight integration between the cloud apps from Google and an Android tablet?  We can only hope that Google has thought about native app support for directly accessing the API's for all of their cloud applications.

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So if we pause for a moment to recap, we have an open-source operating system that can be run on a variety of devices in the home with our productivity/internet applications existing in the cloud with Google.  We have devices that are mechanical (like washers, dryers, HVAC equipment) and need to be controlled, but we're controlling them with smarts based off of developers worldwide who have customized applications for specific needs that we can choose from. Notice we're talking about electronic devices that use electricity.

In Part 2, I'll paint a picture of Google's ultimate goal of becoming the hub of our home electronic lives.