Google Android delays advantage Apple and iPhone 3G

[AppleInsider]

Apple's second-generation mobile handset will have a several month head start on those based around Google's upcoming Android mobile platform, as the search giant and its partners are reportedly struggling to push the first models to market by year's end.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google, which said in November that it along with more than 30 partners would begin releasing the first Android-based mobile phones during the second half of the year, now says those handsets won't arrive till the fourth quarter. Some partners, however, are finding they'll need even more time than that.

For instance, the financial paper said that T-Mobile's first Android-based handset is now due during the fourth quarter, but the project is consuming so many of Google's resources that a similar initiative by Sprint Nextel won't be ready by year's end as originally planned.

Similarly, the world's largest wireless carrier, China Mobile, had also anticipated marketing an Android handset to its more than 400 million subscribers in the third quarter, but people familiar with the situation say the carrier may see those plans pushed out till early next year.

For its part, Sprint is is said to have sought development of its own brand of services based off Android for a phone that would run on its current 3G network, rather than bundle those the standard services Google has built into its mobile platform. Those plans may now be up on the chopping block, according to the Journal, as the carrier considers scrapping them in favor of throwing its resources behind a handset that would operate on its future 4G network.

Meanwhile, China Mobile is reportedly finding it difficult to both intertwine the Google software with its own branded data services, as well as translate it from Roman characters into Chinese.

"Meanwhile, the Android software has yet to win broad support from large mobile-software developers," the Jornal said. "Some say it is difficult to develop programs while Google is making changes as it finishes its own software."

Google's Android takes design cues from Apple's iPhone software.

Android's rocky start underscore the challenges faced by Google -- or any other high tech firm -- when trying to manage a large group of hardware, software and service providers. By contrast Apple, whose upcoming iPhone 3G is expected to present one of the strongest tests of Google's Android strategy, maintains a tight grip on nearly every aspect of the handset's design.

Android's new slide-to-unlock system.

Google, aware of the benchmarks in service, quality and user experience set by the original iPhone, is further reported by the Journal to have seeded to its handset partners several prototype devices, including one that "has a long touch-screen, similar to the Apple iPhone, a swivel-out full keyboard, and a trackball for navigation similar to the kind on some BlackBerrys."

More information on the Apple-inspired Google Android platform is available in AppleInsider's Android topics page, or in specific reports on the software's initial announcement, notes of interest, development kit, and recent refinements. [ View this article at AppleInsider.com ] (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=4237)

[solipsism]

Android has a lot of promise, but I have seen no video that has demonstrated that it's near a release date. I had no idea that it was expected to launch in mainstream devices later this year.

[kim kap sol]

I'm somewhat eager to see Android out there...it will spawn some healthy competition between Apple, Google and Everyone Else. It could possibly also bring back 1995 in the sense that Android will be good enough for everyone but I think that's highly improbable now that kids/teens/young adults are now the people that think Apple is cool. I think things are only going to go uphill for Apple for at least the next decade.

A wildly popular Android also means more Webkit share. Which means more companies will finally get their heads out of their asses and stop supporting IE6, start adopting web standards, perhaps stop relying on Flash and remove artificial Safari-blocking code.

[kim kap sol]

Android has a lot of promise, but I have seen no video that has demonstrated that it's near a release date. I had no idea that it was expected to launch in mainstream devices later this year.

True...and like MS, Google will have one heck of a job to support all the different phone hardware and configurations that Android will have to deal with. Hardware keyboards, trackballs, touch, different CPUs, different display sizes. I'd be surprised if Android didn't have a rocky start.

[irnchriz]

A wildly popular Android also means more Webkit share. Which means more companies will finally get their heads out of their asses and stop supporting IE6, start adopting web standards, perhaps stop relying on Flash and remove artificial Safari-blocking code.

Come on now lad, get a grip of yourself. Get back to reality, Joe public are all sheep and will be using IE x for years to come. Unfortunately.

[Mr Underhill]

From video footage i have seen of Android it looks just as complicated to navigate as the typical software on current mobiles. I'm sure it'll have some cool stuff but mobile companies are going to have to come up with some decent hardware for consumers to really appreciate what it can do.

Apple has the advantage in that it creates beautiful hardware and software that just works, plus it's a sub-zero product. With the new prices of 3G iPhone a lot of iPod/iTouch users will see the iPhone as the next logical step. It's possible the games already over before it's even begun.

[kim kap sol]

Come on now lad, get a grip of yourself. Get back to reality, Joe public are all sheep and will be using IE x for years to come. Unfortunately.

You're probably right. :)

[Booga]

I'm somewhat eager to see Android out there...it will spawn some healthy competition between Apple, Google and Everyone Else. It could possibly also bring back 1995 in the sense that Android will be good enough for everyone but I think that's highly improbable now that kids/teens/young adults are now the people that think Apple is cool. I think things are only going to go uphill for Apple for at least the next decade.

A wildly popular Android also means more Webkit share. Which means more companies will finally get their heads out of their asses and stop supporting IE6, start adopting web standards, perhaps stop relying on Flash and remove artificial Safari-blocking code.
I'm wondering whether Android will be more like Windows or more like OS/2 in its market penetration. Unlike the desktop computer market, cellphones are a much more limited playground, and top-to-bottom control probably has more of a positive effect.

[godrifle]

...is up with that headline? :lol:

[macFanDave]

I hear they are getting Duke Nukem Forever ported to Android for the launch. ;)

[kim kap sol]

...is up with that headline? :lol:

Yes...it's an odd headline...'advantage' in this case is used as a verb. Still, the headline doesn't sound right. I don't know why headlines have to sacrifice comprehensiveness for brevity. "Google Android delays give Apple and iPhone 3G an advantage" would be slightly longer but makes a shit of a lot more sense.

[aaarrrgggh]

Great news for Apple and RIM, terrible news for consumers. Looking at the WSJ article, looks like there are serious delays being caused by all the incumbants. I had such high hopes for ditching my iPhone later this year; I figured HTC would finally have something interesting that drops Windows Mobile.

The really good news for Apple is that it might encourage China Mobile to embrace the iPhone rather than pour more energy into Android for the short term.

So, aside from the crap about mobile internet advertising revenue, what exactly does Google stand to gain with Android?

[Booga]

So, aside from the crap about mobile internet advertising revenue, what exactly does Google stand to gain with Android?

That's a really good question. Since the iPhone is far and away the most common mobile platform to browse the web on in the US, and is pretty competitive worldwide despite being in a small number of markets with a limited offering, I would think Google would be very well served by partnering with Apple on it. Instead, they're alienating Apple and undermining that success.

Google won't be hurt by it in the short term, but it doesn't seem like a very wise long-term strategy.

[Gee4orce]

Android will be Google's Vista.

I am working on an application for iPhone, and a co-developer is working on the Android version. The iPhone app is nearly complete and looks slick. The Android version - well - isn't. It's not even partially complete, and probably a good six months away from actually being releasable, and, incredibly, Google's own APIs for their online services aren't compatible with Android !

Whilst my collegue is trying to figure out how to get a basic UI up and running that doesn't look like ass, I'm busy profiling my application in instruments and Shark to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of the iPhone. There are no tools remotely comparable to this on Android.

[tundraboy]

Google is trying to do for mobile phones what DOS/Windows did for personal computers.

It's not going to succeed this time.

DOS/Windows is an exception, albeit a very big one, but an exception nonetheless brought about by the unwitting generosity of IBM.

Playsforsure flopped. All game consoles are closed systems. iPod is closed. And in smart phones the two pacesetters are closed. It seems that in complex consumer products, when not conferred the advantage of monopoly power, open systems cannot compete with closed systems because their ability to offer a quality product is being sabotaged by the sheer complexity of having to work with multiple hardware platforms.

[GQB]

Waaaaahhhhh!!!!!
Google PROMISED to have Android out by now.
They're liars liars liars liars and corporate jerks who just want to make a profit and hate us really cool Sudoku developers.

That felt soooo good.

The real problem with Android is that its destined to become the next Windows (in the bad sense) as it is forced to accommodate every god-awful hardware platform that anyone comes up with. And each of those platforms has a fresh chance to make Android look bad.

I've been enjoying all of the breathless news accounts of how Apple (who's lapped the field twice now on the competition) is shaking in its boots about Android.

[Walter Slocombe]

Yes...it's an odd headline...'advantage' in this case is used as a verb. Still, the headline doesn't sound right. I don't know why headlines have to sacrifice comprehensiveness for brevity. "Google Android delays give Apple and iPhone 3G an advantage" would be slightly longer but makes a shit of a lot more sense.

could it be the effects of Wimbeldon starting?

advantage Apple ? :)

[anantksundaram]

Android will be Google's Vista.

I am working on an application for iPhone, and a co-developer is working on the Android version. The iPhone app is nearly complete and looks slick. The Android version - well - isn't. It's not even partially complete, and probably a good six months away from actually being releasable, and, incredibly, Google's own APIs for their online services aren't compatible with Android !

Whilst my collegue is trying to figure out how to get a basic UI up and running that doesn't look like ass, I'm busy profiling my application in instruments and Shark to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of the iPhone. There are no tools remotely comparable to this on Android.

Fascinating insight from the ground-level.

Thanks.

[Mr Underhill]

is forced to accommodate every god-awful hardware platform that anyone comes up with. And each of those platforms has a fresh chance to make Android look bad.

If we were talking desktop computers i would have totally disagreed with you, but not now were talking mobile platform. Just like the typical windows user, the vast majority of mobile users will be happy with the Netto style interface of Android brought about by their current mobiles. The big difference is most people will also own iPod's and are able to make the comparison.

One device to rule them all is the goal and Apple are so close to forging it. Let's just hope their 3rd party friends don't rain on their parade.

[Cavallo]

Yes...it's an odd headline...'advantage' in this case is used as a verb. Still, the headline doesn't sound right. I don't know why headlines have to sacrifice comprehensiveness for brevity. "Google Android delays give Apple and iPhone 3G an advantage" would be slightly longer but makes a shit of a lot more sense.

I'm glad someone pointed this out. My initial reaction was "I could have sworn 'advantage' was a noun."

Verbing weirds language.

[JeffDM]

Yes...it's an odd headline...'advantage' in this case is used as a verb. Still, the headline doesn't sound right. I don't know why headlines have to sacrifice comprehensiveness for brevity. "Google Android delays give Apple and iPhone 3G an advantage" would be slightly longer but makes a shit of a lot more sense.

I'm glad someone pointed this out. My initial reaction was "I could have sworn 'advantage' was a noun."

Verbing weirds language.

It is also a transitive verb, but it's still awkward sounding. The use, as shown, is very different from the examples in the OS X dictionary.

[merdhead]

Yes...it's an odd headline...'advantage' in this case is used as a verb. Still, the headline doesn't sound right. I don't know why headlines have to sacrifice comprehensiveness for brevity. "Google Android delays give Apple and iPhone 3G an advantage" would be slightly longer but makes a shit of a lot more sense.
I'm a native speaker of English and that headline is perfectly normal. If they had used 'disadvantage' instead would have said anything? Generally English is better when it's brief and direct.

[macFanDave]

I'm a native speaker of English and that headline is perfectly normal. If they had used 'disadvantage' instead would have said anything? Generally English is better when it's brief and direct.

Also, the rules of writing headlines are unique. Omitting forms of "to be," articles and some prepositions are common practice in headline writing.

The expanded form might read: Google Android delays [are an] advantage [to] Apple and [the] iPhone 3G.

That's how you are supposed to convert a headline into a proper declarative sentence.

[Isomorphic]

The thing about the iPhone is that it restricts user freedom: It's locked (to a carrier), and one can't develop for it without Apple's blessing. (Apple has taken pages out of Microsoft's playbook.)

If Apple removed these artificial restrictions, I'd buy three iPhones.

Google Android may or may not provide a more open alternative to Apple/RIM/Windows Mobile/Symbian. If they don't, someone else certainly needs to. OpenMoko?

In the meantime I will continue with Symbian.

[solipsism]

The thing about the iPhone is that it restricts user freedom: It's locked (to a carrier), and one can't develop for it without Apple's blessing. (Apple has taken pages out of Microsoft's playbook.)

If Apple removed these artificial restrictions, I'd buy three iPhones.

Google Android may or may not provide a more open alternative to Apple/RIM/Windows Mobile/Symbian. If they don't, someone else certainly needs to. OpenMoko?

In the meantime I will continue with Symbian.
Symbian sounds like a fine choice for you, but for the average person a closed device that is stable, with a single centralized place for 3rd-party apps that have been given a seal of approval is a better option. Unless you want to start a business that supplies tech support for mobiles then a completely open device is not the answer for the masses.

[Olternaut]

I'm a native speaker of English and that headline is perfectly normal. If they had used 'disadvantage' instead would have said anything? Generally English is better when it's brief and direct.

No. It would have been better if they wrote:

"Google Android delayed....advantage Apple and the iPhone 3G."

or

"Google Android delays give the advantage to Apple and the iPhone 3G."

I'm sorry dude but that headline isn't perfectly normal but it only seems so to you. My 7th grade english teacher would slap the crap out of you. I'm not even talking about college here but junior high school.....grade school?

[cparka23]

The title problem with the title is that "delays" and "advantage" are sitting right next to each other. They can both be nouns or verbs.

As for the video, I'm fairly convinced that the first guy is a machine. He's got too much forehead, which is probably where all your cached search results get stored. After listening to him talk about Android, I think the title of the article makes more sense when read in the style of Christopher Walken.

[SpamSandwich]

That's a really good question. Since the iPhone is far and away the most common mobile platform to browse the web on in the US, and is pretty competitive worldwide despite being in a small number of markets with a limited offering, I would think Google would be very well served by partnering with Apple on it. Instead, they're alienating Apple and undermining that success.

Google won't be hurt by it in the short term, but it doesn't seem like a very wise long-term strategy.

Google alienate Apple? Nonsense. Google can take the same path that Apple and Adobe have taken. Partner when it makes sense, and compete when it makes sense.

[merdhead]

No. It would have been better if they wrote:

"Google Android delayed....advantage Apple and the iPhone 3G."

or

"Google Android delays give the advantage to Apple and the iPhone 3G."

I'm sorry dude but that headline isn't perfectly normal but it only seems so to you. My 7th grade english teacher would slap the crap out of you. I'm not even talking about college here but junior high school.....grade school?
Your teacher is a moron, if that's the case. The headline is grammatical. Just because you prefer it more verbose is just because you hear it that way, not because it's correct.

[SpamSandwich]

Android will be Google's Vista.

I am working on an application for iPhone, and a co-developer is working on the Android version. The iPhone app is nearly complete and looks slick. The Android version - well - isn't. It's not even partially complete, and probably a good six months away from actually being releasable, and, incredibly, Google's own APIs for their online services aren't compatible with Android !

Whilst my collegue is trying to figure out how to get a basic UI up and running that doesn't look like ass, I'm busy profiling my application in instruments and Shark to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of the iPhone. There are no tools remotely comparable to this on Android.

I'm beginning to think that the whole Android strategy may have been planted in Eric Schmidt's mind by Steve Jobs. Jobs knew it would be a nearly impossible task to catch all phone manufacturers with one lariat... so now Steve just sits back and laughs and laughs and laughs... :lol:

[SpamSandwich]

The title problem with the title is that "delays" and "advantage" are sitting right next to each other. They can both be nouns or verbs.

As for the video, I'm fairly convinced that the first guy is a machine. He's got too much forehead, which is probably where all your cached search results get stored. After listening to him talk about Android, I think the title of the article makes more sense when read in the style of Christopher Walken.

The title should have been:

"Android Faults. Advantage: iPhone"

[Booga]

Google alienate Apple? Nonsense. Google can take the same path that Apple and Adobe have taken. Partner when it makes sense, and compete when it makes sense.
But the whole point is that Android is free. In what sense is Google "competing"?

[Bageljoey]

Your teacher is a moron, if that's the case. The headline is grammatical. Just because you prefer it more verbose is just because you hear it that way, not because it's correct.

Come now, come now. It is clear that for many people it took at least a second glance at the title to parse its meaning--even if some people are so smart that they could figure it out easily.

And the alternatives that you pan--I think your are mistaking clarity for verbosity. They only ad one to three words and they all have a purpose.

Let us not forget, the reason obscure headlines were tolerated in the past had to do with the constraints of fitting headlines atop columns on newsprint. Unless there is a hard copy of AI out there I have been missing, this is not needed here...

[solipsism]

But the whole point is that Android is free. In what sense is Google "competing"?

Being free doesn't mean they aren't competing.

[Bageljoey]

Being free doesn't mean they aren't competing.

Obviously. But the question originally was why are they competing. What is their gain?

If it is free then they are not compeating for sales.
If it is for use of Google services, well iPhone users have been using them quite well already--what is the need for Google to spend such resources on Android?

[SpamSandwich]

But the whole point is that Android is free. In what sense is Google "competing"?

Google is competing with every alternative available, including iPhone and the manufacturer's phone UI's. Google could basically have the net result of cracking wide open the types of devices that are used to wirelessly communicate, since a company's resources could go toward improving the manufactured product instead of wasting time and money developing the best OS. I think it will also have the effect of eliminating all but the most efficient phone manufacturers, which is the same thing that happened to PC companies.

[ifiredmyboss.com]

The default search on the iPhone is Google. It is trying to beat out all of the Windows phones as well as the other OS's that don't default to Google as default search.

I would guess that 90% of all searches on the iPhone use Google. Why "compete" with that?

[solipsism]

The default search on the iPhone is Google. It is trying to beat out all of the Windows phones as well as the other OS's that don't default to Google as default search.

I would guess that 90% of all searches on the iPhone use Google. Why "compete" with that?

Google's search engine is competing with other search engines.
Google's built-in search is competing with Yahoo's built-in search on iPhone's Safari
Google's Android is competing with all mobile OSes.

[SpamSandwich]

Google's search engine is competing with other search engines.
Google's built-in search is competing with Yahoo's built-in search on iPhone's Safari
Google's Android is competing with all mobile OSes.

Not only that, but Google is also competing with every other form of display advertising.

[nagromme]

Android is a great endeavor and I hope it takes off as a source of innovation and a better alternative than Microsoft can come up with.

But as I understand it, "Android phones," as a group, are NOT a single platform and do not compete as a group with the iPhone. That's because one Android phone does not work like another (some might have a touchscreen, some just a standard numpad, plus a variety of screen sizes etc.). And software for one Android phone will not work for another. And a developer who makes software for one company's Android phone does not have something they can sell for another company's phone: they'd have to rework and redesign it for the screen and controls of that other phone. And if they take the time to make their app as close to universal as possible, with controls that are the same whether you use numpad or touchscreen, then that app won't do either one WELL. (Imaging using a Motorola numpad user interface on an iPhone--not good!)

The iPhone's strength is it's software: the ease-of-use and power of the built-in OS, the suite of included apps, the ease of multi-touch interaction, and the easy tools for developers to give users even more new stuff.

You'll never be able to look and say "iPhone has # apps available, while Android has # apps available." All you could say is "this model Android phone has # apps. This other model has some other number of apps. They're not compatible with each other."

Still, Android is a great tool to give some company(s) a head start on making their own great phone platform. One of them may succeed very well, and then it won't matter to them that other Android phones aren't compatible.

[SpamSandwich]

Still, Android is a great tool to give some company(s) a head start on making their own great phone platform. One of them may succeed very well, and then it won't matter to them that other Android phones aren't compatible.

I believe there will be a winnowing out period of phones that don't make the cut. Could be that there will be far fewer cell phone manufacturers in the Android future.

[mariofreak85]

Am I the only one who wishes that the iPhone had that unlock screen?

[huerix]

This is in line with google's timeline, but who cares, let's all beat up on the GOOGster.

Why slam the UI/API when they are just getting off the ground. It will take time and hard work, but unlike Apple and Microsoft, this will be an open platform... I think it will be very cool but give it some freaking time, they are on track and noone should have assumed they would compete with the iPhone 3g's release.

Remember, people trashed the iPhone, and some continue to, but never dismiss a promising technology based on the current beta or release version. The API took forever... in fact in some ways iPhone is still barely off the ground.

disclosures: very long AAPL and GOOG

[gmon750]

I for one welcome Android and the competition it brings. However, the problems they are facing is what happens when there are too many players on the field. The handset makers and the Android software and the wireless carriers all want their hands in the cookie jar and it's making a mess of everything. This is the advantage that Apple has over the competition in that they control all aspects of the phone development. That's why the hardware/software combo works so smoothly. The wireless carriers just need to plug it into their network. Their only hope is that the quality of that handheld is enough to entice new subscribers onto their network and keep current customers satisfied.

Android has a lot of potential in theory. But like a lot of things in technology, some things just look better on paper than in reality.

[webhead]

Please please please everyone can we stop "welcoming" android to the mobile device market, or say we are welcoming the competition, or Android will be the greatest thing since MS Dos, Android will save us all and bring healthy competition!!!!

When Android actually does come to market then it can be touted as the new savior, but until it does, please refer to it as "possibly" android will be great! When and if android ever makes it to market it will be crap, it will be installed on crap phones and will be used by people who don't care if their phone is crap.

Google has a way way way up hill journey to get android to the level of the iphone. Just look, the iphone second generation will soon be released, by the time Android actually comes out the iphone could be in a third generation. The first generation of Android will for sure be complete crap, and be plagued with problems working on so many different types of hardware, it will be a few years after the initial release of Android before Android can update and work our all the kinks. So you're really looking at 2-3 years from now (if ever) at having a good version of Android. You think they'll be able to catch up to the iphone then?

Everyone is hyping Android like it's already here, works fine and is great! Google has 30 different partners on the project??? Are you kidding me!!! No way they will deliver on time with that kind of bureaucracy, no way. Expect further delays as well as a lack of features in the final product as a few of the developers will become upset with the difficulties and delays and pull out at the last minute and take their features with them. Let’s not praise that which does not yet exist.

[NasserAE]

Google is missing the point with Android. Mobile phones are not about the software along not the hardware alone. A successful phone is a phone with great hardware and software integration, that's why the iPhone succeeds. Don't expect Android applications to work on all Android phones. Different input methods and different screens will be just one of the problems. If I remember correctly, years back people said the same thing about Symbian and look what have happened.

[hypermark]

I'm beginning to think that the whole Android strategy may have been planted in Eric Schmidt's mind by Steve Jobs. Jobs knew it would be a nearly impossible task to catch all phone manufacturers with one lariat... so now Steve just sits back and laughs and laughs and laughs... :lol:

This delay is unsurprising for two reasons. One, the mobile space is NOT where the PC space was when Microsoft burst onto the scene. Phones are on third generation and expectations of a next-generation solution are that it be better than existing solutions. When DOS rolled out there was a nascent market, a low bar and one vendor (IBM) with power to be King Maker.

If anything, the carriers that look to embrace Android are trying to make/keep themselves kings and figure to be largely selfish/demanding about their needs, forcing Google to care/feed them if they are going to put resources behind the project. Does Google take care of the big fish or focus on little fish disrupters?

Two, unlike the PC, mobile is incredibly performance sensitive/optimized, making all of these form factors, CPU, service, etc. non-trivial to support when you get to the world of taking devices from PC development environments to actual carrier supported deployments.

Hence, Google has their work cut out for them. Not to say that they won't get there. Just don't expect miracles in 1.0.

Mark

[winterspan]

I would think Google would be very well served by partnering with Apple on it. Instead, they're alienating Apple and undermining that success. Google won't be hurt by it in the short term, but it doesn't seem like a very wise long-term strategy.

What? Undermining Apple? I don't think Android is really even competing with the iPhone. Android will be an excellent system for your average cellphone, and most likley will just kick Microsoft out of the market.


It's possible the games already over before it's even begun.

Again, this is not a zero-sum game here with one "champion". There is a huge market, with plenty of room for multiple competitos. I'm sure Android will eventually be successful, but I don't see it as a direct competitor with the iPhone.

Android will be Google's Vista.

I am working on an application for iPhone, and a co-developer is working on the Android version. The iPhone app is nearly complete and looks slick. The Android version - well - isn't. It's not even partially complete, and probably a good six months away from actually being releasable, and, incredibly, Google's own APIs for their online services aren't compatible with Android !

Whilst my collegue is trying to figure out how to get a basic UI up and running that doesn't look like ass, I'm busy profiling my application in instruments and Shark to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of the iPhone. There are no tools remotely comparable to this on Android.

Android is a major work in progress, and it'll take time to get it right. For god sakes, Google started with just a basic linux distro, some libraries, and Eclipse and are trying to create a completely modern mobile operating system. Apple on the other hand not only has had a multi-year head start, but they started with an in-house, modern operating system, developer APIs, and mature development IDE and debugging tools.

Give it some time and I'm sure Android will at least be a magnitude better than the crap pile that's been coming from Redmond, WA. (Win Mobile)


....And software for one Android phone will not work for another. And a developer who makes software for one company's Android phone does not have something they can sell for another company's phone: they'd have to rework and redesign it for the screen and controls of that other phone. And if they take the time to make their app as close to universal as possible, with controls that are the same whether you use numpad or touchscreen, then that app won't do either one WELL. ....

...Still, Android is a great tool to give some company(s) a head start on making their own great phone platform. One of them may succeed very well, and then it won't matter to them that other Android phones aren't compatible.

Understanding there will be interface and control challenges, isn't one of the primary features of Android going to be universal app compatibility? I doubt different manufacturers/carriers change the base system so much as to break app compatibility...





When Android actually does come to market then it can be touted as the new savior, but until it does, please refer to it as "possibly" android will be great!

...When and if android ever makes it to market it will be crap, it will be installed on crap phones and will be used by people who don't care if their phone is crap.
...The first generation of Android will for sure be complete crap, and be plagued with problems working on so many different types of hardware..
...So you're really looking at 2-3 years from now (if ever) at having a good version of Android.
...Expect further delays as well as a lack of features in the final product as a few of the developers will become upset with the difficulties and delays and pull out at the last minute and take their features with them.

Let’s not praise that which does not yet exist.


Talk about hypocrisy! You tell everyone to withhold judgment of the Android project until it is complete and actually shipping on a device, then you spend the rest of your post stating that it is sure to be crap! wtf?

[/V\/V\4ck3y27]

Why is Google involved with this?

Simple.

They're banking the future on helping increase/pad their revenues with regards to Search, Data mining (and services related to data mining), extending the reach of their services (i.e. Youtube, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Apps., etc.) and Adsense and any other future web platform applications they seek to publish. You know, the various things Google does that generates them revenues and profits?

In this vain, iPhone is *NOT* the enemy since in many ways... Android and iPhone are using similar technologies. iPhone supports Google search, which you can bank that Android will as well. While Android competes with iPhone on cell phones, it is not it's *SOLE* purpose nor is iPhone in any way hurtful to Google, the company. Call it a win-win, not just for Google... but it increases Webkit's marketshare for every Android phone or internet device shipping (which is helpful to Apple, it means that applications written using web standards that Webkit supports will be compatible with iPhone, and the openness of Android could quite possibly lead to Android on iPhone API implementations if there is a need... I doubt it's a high priority but I could see it... the key is, those API's will be controlled on iPhone via Apple as necessary, it won't end up as a Gears-like plug-in that extends iPhone in ways Apple has no control/say in), and it also is a win-win for open source as Android, from the outset, is to be given to the public for free... meaning via a GPL or LGPL license. Given Google's belief in stuff like HTML 5 and the movement of making "the web" the platform, and Apple's intents to do much the same (HTML 5 support in Webkit/Safari, Sproutcore, anyone?), consider Google more of a parallel ally with their own intentions and agendas, but intentions and agendas that are more complimentary than cannibalizing of Apple's intentions and agendas. In other words... if you aren't going to buy an iPhone, then you're likely to buy one of another x # of potential phone platforms. Adding Android to the mix helps increase Apple's potential marketshare by increasing the # of available platforms. Call it, increased market dilution if you will.

What Android also does is help potentially open things up, not just for phones... but for rich internet media devices. True, many of these "rich internet media devices" will be nothing more than iPhones and other smart phones (i.e. Blackberry, Symbian, PalmOS, Windows Mobile/PocketPC, Mobile Linux, etc.) themselves. Yet they will not be the only options in this market, much as iPod Touch already shows this to be the case.

I fully expect, over time, with the eventual rollout of Wi-Max and services like Mobile Skype, that there is a full and real potential that mobile internet handsets could begin to creep into wireless telco's revenues simply by the amount of users that forego cell service for a Voice over IP telephony service on a device driven by Android on common hardware. The key there is there will be a need for national and/or international Wi-Fi support with a similar coverage area to existing wireless carriers, but the very real notion is that VOIP is coming to the handset sooner or later. It'll be up to the Verizon's, AT&T's, T-Mobiles, Sprint's (who has jumped on with their purchase of Clearwire) et al. to compete just as the wired telcos have had to with Vonage and Comcast and other VOIP providers. The reality here is, if you want VOIP on a mobile phone or internet device... it won't be an Apple phone at this time. Apple, as part of their SDK, and due to their strong contract with AT&T, prohibits the development of said software for the iPhone at this time.

In as far as Android being "the next MS-DOS", that's malarkey in itself. When Google finishes up the final featureset of Android and releases it openly via public license, Android will in effect become more like a mobile handheld Linux (what it's based on) than Windows. Developers from the major telcos and other hardware providers can embrace and extend the built-in featureset to make Android more robust and then, without the moving target of an unfinalized Android,... it'll be much easier to develop for if the API's themselves are more concrete. Unlike DOS/Windows where everything is half-shod proprietary in OS but open in hardware, Android will be more like Linux in that it's a completely open and accessible product and advances in relation to improving the various licensed pieces requires pushing the tech back into the open. Companies can hire engineering staffs to mold Android into their needs. They can harness increased support from the open-source community to increase the OS's platform independence, via core modifications and driver improvements. Moral of the story... I could even see technologies from Android, via GPL/LGPL, make their way into iPhone at somepoint (and vice-versa as a result of those licenses).

http://code.google.com/android/kb/licensingandoss.html

While the GUI of Android, thus far in the demos shown, is a bit kitschy and perhaps not entirely feature complete enough... it has tons of potential and it's primarily about flexibility in implementation. After all, Google has not committed to shipping a "G-phone" but have committed to releasing a platform others can make various phones and other devices from. What you see of Android on-stage at Google's IO conference, is not necessarily what the end products shipping from various providers will look like. The phones UI is flexible, whether using a touch-screen gesture based UI to a standard d-button pad based UI, and it'll likely only get more flexible in time.

Android... is about protecting and increasing Google's usable share with their internet apps. and services. It isn't about killing off iPhone. In fact, I'd argue that Android is as much an asset to Apple as it is Google, much as iPhone is an incredible asset to Google as well (which is why a Google exec. is on the board and why Google is shown just about everytime a Mac or iPhone product is launched). After all, Google isn't to profit from Android as a platform... merely profit from what the platform enables for their apps and services. iPhone can profit from further increase in the Webkit marketshare. Mobileme, in future variants, could even be compatible with Android in as much as it is iPhone and others, and each sale of a Mobileme license is a profit for Apple. It all benefits all of us as competition is always good.

The recent announcement in relation to Symbian is likely of similar benefit to Apple, as Nokia's use of Symbian relies on a variant of Webkit as the browser of choice. Nokia, to try and stay competitive with Android and LiMo and iPhone is going to buy up Symbian and make the OS open source.

http://www.macworld.com/article/134133/2008/06/nokia_symbian.html

None of this is *ANYTHING* like Microsoft which has a feudal, almost downright allergic reaction to anything that's not created internally and isn't a proprietary answer to a question that often is best answered already (by another open source or standardized technology).