Hurricane Sandy Causes Google To Cancel Its Android Event
Google's big Android event on Monday in New York City was supposed to be the rain on the parade of Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 event happening on the same day in San Francisco. But Google's event is literally being washed out …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google had set October 29 for a New York Android presentation after announcing the date earlier in October, with coverage already outlining the expected announcements. The cancellation also echoes an earlier instance in which Google and Samsung rescheduled an Android event, making event timing a recurring complication for the platform's launch cadence.
First-order effects
- Google loses its planned in-person Android showcase in New York, disrupting the scheduled briefing for attendees and press.
- Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 event in San Francisco no longer faces a same-day Android event competing for media attention.
Second-order effects
- Android partners and media outlets preparing around Google's presentation must shift from a single scheduled news moment to whatever alternative communications Google chooses.
- Microsoft gains a clearer launch-day narrative window, while Google gives up the planned opportunity to counterprogram Windows Phone 8.
Third-order effects
- Repeated disruption of major Android events reinforces the value of launch plans that can continue without a single physical presentation.
- As mobile platforms schedule announcements against rival events, control of the media calendar becomes part of product-launch competition rather than a logistical detail.
The trend: Mobile platform launches are becoming increasingly shaped by competition for coordinated media attention as well as by the products being announced.