安卓胜利在望？

    谷歌（Google）的安卓移动操作系统似乎势如破竹。近期的一系列通告（从靓丽的新手机到领导层变动）表明，谷歌（Google）在多家公司之间的未来移动网络争夺战中正在取得优势。

    苹果（Apple）在过去几个月里无所作为，3月份已经来了又去，但它没有举行重磅的发布。这也帮了谷歌一把。苹果分析师们会告诉各位，苹果的日程安排通常是这样的：9月份推出音乐产品和服务，10月份是为Mac电脑保留，3月份则发布其他产品，差不多就是如此。但在今年的3月份，果粉们什么也没有得到。“我们并不期待苹果会推出大量的重磅产品。”Piper Jaffray公司的分析师金恩•明斯特最近对《财富》（Fortune）杂志说，“但居然连一个都没有，太令人失望了。”与此同时，约翰•格鲁伯最近在博客文章中写到，苹果的下一代移动操作系统iOS 7已经被推迟发布。

    相比之下，有关谷歌的文章中出现了很多好评，包括：

    安卓应用商店得到改善。谷歌似乎正在努力改善其移动应用商店Google Play。首先，科技新闻网站TechCrunch在周一报道称，谷歌更加积极地从其应用商店中移除不符合规定或者垃圾邮件式的应用。2月份被移除的应用数量达到了创纪录的水平，大约有6万个应用被下架，是有史以来最多的一次（并不全是被谷歌移除，但大多数都是）。其次，谷歌在4月9日推出了重新设计的新版Google Play。它表示，公司简化了某些令人困惑的部分，以使内容搜索更加简单。这是个积极的改变，有利于苹果、谷歌或微软（Microsoft）解决移动应用可发现性的问题。

    大幅改进的设备。不可否认，有些安卓手机相当糟糕。但这是自然的事情，因为谷歌允许其他公司把安卓系统用于五花八门的硬件（问问微软即知）。如今，有两款新的安卓手机令技术迷们跃跃欲试。首先是三星的Galaxy S4，热销手机S3的接替者。Galaxy S4在3月中旬揭开面纱。有些人认为发布会很俗气，但这款尚未上市的手机好评如潮。其次是HTC One手机，也将在不久后上市。评论家们对这款手机大加赞扬，把它称为最好的安卓设备。

    新的领导层。安卓业务似乎被交到了合适的人选手中。今年3月，谷歌CEO拉里•佩奇宣布，安卓部门缔造者和长期领导者安迪•罗宾将卸任，负责Chrome和应用的高级副总裁桑达尔•皮查伊将接替他的位置。我的同事米古尔•赫尔夫特最近报道称，皮查伊是个“为人安静、善于分析的高管”，在短短四年里就使Chrome成为使用量最大的互联网浏览器。米古尔在对佩奇进行深入报道的过程中发现，佩奇和皮查伊“看起来关系融洽，相处愉快”。皮查伊获得了佩奇的支持，同时还拥有出色的过往记录，极有可能推动安卓继续向前发展。

    It looks like Google's mobile operating system, Android, is on a roll. A string of recent announcements—from sexy new phones to leadership changes—suggests that Google is gaining momentum in the multi-firm fight for the future of the mobile web.

    It doesn't hurt that Apple (AAPL) has been rather quiet the last few months. March came and wentwithout a major announcement. Appleologists will tell you that the calendar typically looks something like this: September is for music products and services, October is reserved for the Mac, and March is for everything else, more or less. This year, the Apple faithful got nothing. "We weren't expecting a ton of fireworks," analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray recently told Fortune. "But the fact that it wasn't there was incrementally disappointing." Meanwhile, John Grubber recently blogged that iOS 7, the next iteration of Apple's bedrock mobile operating system, has been delayed. (This graphic may sum up why.)

    In contrast, there have been a number of positives in Google's (GOOG) column. These include:

    The Android store is improving. Google appears to be trying to improve its mobile store, Play. First, as TechCrunch reported Monday, the company has gotten more aggressive about removing non-compliant or spam-like applications from the marketplace. February set records for the number of apps removed; about 60,000 programs were junked, the largest round of deletions to date. (Not all were removed by Google, but it seems most were.) Secondly, Google today started rolling out a redesigned version of Play. The company says it is streamlining some confusing parts of the store and trying to make finding content easier. It's an evolutionary change, but anything that gets Apple, Google or Microsoft (MSFT) closer to solving the problem of discoverability in mobile apps is a good thing.

    Way better devices. Let's face it, there have been some pretty bad Android-powered phones. That may be only natural since Google allows other companies to use its OS on varying flavors of hardware. (Just ask Microsoft.) Now two new Android phones are getting the technorati worked up. The first is Samsung's Galaxy S4, the successor to the wildly popular S3. It was unveiled in a mid-March presentation that some thought was tacky. But the phone itself is generating positive buzz ahead of its release. The second is HTC's One phone, also due out soon.Reviewers have been raving about this phone, calling it the best Android device yet and so on.

    New leadership. The Android business appears to be in good hands. In March, Google CEO Larry Page announced that Andy Rubin, the Android division's founder and longtime leader, would be stepping aside. Sundar Pichai, the senior vice president in charge of Chrome and apps, took his place. As my colleague Miguel Helft recently reported, Pichai is a "quiet, analytic executive" who helped make Chrome the most-used Internet browser in just four years. In the course of reporting his in-depth profile of Page, Miguel observed that Page and Pichai "seemed to have a warm, easygoing rapport." Pichai, with Page's support and an impressive track record, is in a good position to push Android further.