Josh OngVenture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers established the iFund in 2008, setting aside $100 million for promising new companies looking to develop for the then-fledgling iPhone OS. In 2010, the firm revealed that it was doubling the size of the fund to $200 million in preparation for the launch of the iPad.
According to a recent report by Dow Jones VentureWire, the rapid ascension of Google's Android has caused most of the companies backed by the iFund to begin developing for the platform as well.
Kleiner continued to affirm both its commitment to iOS as the favored platform and its deep relationship with Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs, while noting that the decision to develop for multiple platforms is left to the iFund companies themselves.
Matt Murphy, Kleiner partner and iFund manager, said the fund's emphasis on iOS hasn't changed. "We're still true to form in terms of our focus. It's just the overall smartphone ecosystem has gotten so much larger since we launched three years ago," Murphy said.
"You'll see most companies leading with iOS. Once they perfect the app, they'll do Android. A year ago they would for Blackberry and maybe Symbian. Now those two have dropped out of the conversation," continued Murphy, adding that "Android has done a really nice job of moving ahead of those other platforms."
Though all of the fund's 16 companies started by developing for Apple's iOS, 13 have since added Android to their business plans. Only Flipboard Inc., Callaway Digital Arts Inc. and iControl Networks Inc. have no immediate plans to build applications for Android.
iFund beneficiary Path Inc., which launched a photo-sharing app for the iPhone in November of last year and plans to release an Android version before summer, hopes to eventually split its resources between the two platforms
"Android is absolutely a top priority," said Matt Van Horn, vice president of business development for Path Inc.. "We're looking to have team parity between the two platforms."
According to one executive, the shift isn't just about market share. Scott Lahman, chief executive at iFund startup Gogii, noted that more and more developers have taken an interest in Android.
"Before it was iPhone, iPhone, iPhone," Lahman said. "Now more [job] candidates are saying they want to work on Android."
Interestingly enough, the iFund was launched with the help of Kleiner Perkins' John Doerr, a venture capitalist who was an early investor in Google and currently serves on the search giant's board of directors.
Executives at Apple and Google have traded heated words over the space they share in the mobile market. Jobs reportedly felt betrayed by Google's entrance into the smartphone race.
"We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business," Jobs allegedly said at a company meeting last year.
Google co-founder Larry Page responded by claiming that jobs was "rewriting history" by claiming that his company had copied Apple. "We had been working on Android a very long time, with the notion of producing phones that are Internet enabled and have good browsers and all that, because that did not exist in the market place," Page reportedly said.
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Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
30 Comments
To not know that Apple has skunk works projects that incubate for up to ten years tells me for a Ph.D his bulb is not to brightly lit.
There are several inner layers within Apple's core. There was when I was there and there always will be. Research is tightly controlled and tested for years before testing commences on campus, let alone off campus.
To claim that Google was working on a mobile OS before Apple is too pathetic to be funny.
Hint: The day Steve canceled Newton work had already commenced on embedded OS solutions.
These investors putting their eggs in the Android basket have more money than common sense.
It's rapidly becoming a two horse race with
The iPhone being quite fleet of foot yet Andoid is
pretty scrappy.
I can see why developers want to develop for Android because
the App Store is a competitive market while Android's Marketplace
is still growing.
@MDriftMeyer: To be fair Google never claimed to be working on a phone before Apple did. What they said was Android was already in development as a mobile OS before the iPhone was ever announced. There's no indications that Google ever planned to get into hardware production and sales as any significant part of their business. The focus was and is on Android itself, with the related ad and market revenue it brings as manufacturers adopt it as a platform.
Other than a limited phone release for it's developer testing program and as a kick-start to show Android's potential, Google still doesn't sell phones, tablets or any other Android device. They'd probably do better with Android if they did IMO. Fragmentation wouldn't exist, hardware would be consistent, the AppMarket would be easier to develop for. Essentially they WOULD be doing just what Apple has done. But they're not. The whole falling out was caused by a hissy fit from Mr. Jobs IMHO. Google has never indicated they have any ill-will for Apple that I've seen. If fact they've never indicated that Apple is even considered competition. All the nasty insults and unkind words are coming from Apple, not Google.
To be fair Google never claimed to be working on a phone before Apple did. What they said was Android was already in development as a mobile OS before the iPhone was ever announced. And Google never planned to get into hardware anyway did they? The focus was and is on Android itself, with the related ad and market revenue it brings as manufacturers adopt it as a platform. Other than a limited phone release for it's developer testing program, Google still doesn't sell phones, tablets or any other Android device. They'd probably do better with Android if they did IMO. Fragmentation wouldn't exist, hardware would be consistent, the AppMarket would be easier to develop for. Essentially they WOULD be doing just what Apple has done. But they're not. trhe whole falling out was caused by a hissy fit from Mr. Jobs IMHO. Google has never indicated they have any ill-will for Apple that I've seen. If fact they've never indicated that Apple is even considered competition. All the nasty insults and unkind words are coming from Apple, not Google.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DVt15KD3Xk