iOS as a Network System

I ran across this old link today and I think it’s applicable to what is going on in the mobile OS space. In this post Kevin Kelly talks about “network systems” need to grow from small systems in order to become large and complex. It’s not possible to just “install” it. iOS and Android definitely fit this model as candidates that have started out as good but small OSes (remember when we didn’t have copy and paste in iOS?) hat have now grown into large and complex OSes that can be viewed as large “network systems”. I believe webOS can become the next large “network system” if it can hold out long enough and come into parity with iOS. That said, the reports are in; the first iteration of webOS wasn’t up to snuff but the latest update brings it closer on par with iOS and slightly ahead of Android 3.0. Within this context Dan Frommer’s comment makes a lot of sense: “it’s better to seed the market than to sit still”.