Mike and Jim’s Week in Tech: Google’s New Version of Android

Each Saturday, Farhad Manjoo and Mike Isaac, technology reporters at The New York Times, review the week’s news, offering analysis and maybe a joke or two about the most important developments in the tech industry. Mr. Manjoo is off this week, so Mr. Isaac is conversing with Jim Kerstetter, deputy tech editor.

Mike: Another week, another newsletter without Farhad Manjoo. Also known as “vacation Manjoo.”

But look! It’s trusty deputy tech editor and guy-who-could-probably-fire-me Jim Kerstetter! Did I mention you’re looking particularly svelte today, Jim?

Jim: Why thank you, Mike. Might I say your beard looks particularly lush? Are you using conditioner?

Mike: You noticed! Beard oil, actually. I’m not kidding.

So it has been quite a week in our industry. Apple released another record quarter of sales, and analysts all shrugged and predicted the eventual end of the iPhone boom, as they tend to do. Nintendo released its first smartphone game, which for some reason did not involve Mario or anyone wearing overalls and a mustache. I predict catastrophe.

Jim: First of all, it’s pretty astonishing that Nintendo just released its first smartphone game. Did they think these smartphone things were a fad? My daughter’s little Nintendo DS is sitting on a bookshelf in our living room. It has been sitting on that shelf for two years. As for Apple, what can you say? At some point when you’ve saturated the United States, Europe and China, sales are going to slow down. I’m not saying they’re at that point. But what goes up…

I’d like to talk a little about Twitter. Mike, you’ve covered them since the early days. Is Jack Dorsey intentionally trying to scare the daylights out of his investors? He has excelled at talking down expectations.

Mike: It’s interesting. On the one hand, you could see Dorsey’s response as pragmatism: He came into a situation where the product is difficult to understand, people aren’t coming to Twitter in droves, and it’s not an overnight fix. He’s trying to tell people that he’s in it for the long haul, and things may sting for a while.

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