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 ]

[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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

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]

Originally Posted by irnchriz

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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?

[macFanDave]

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

[kim kap sol]

Originally Posted by godrifle

...is up with that headline?

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]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

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]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

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.

Originally Posted by Cavallo

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]

Originally Posted by kim kap sol

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]

Originally Posted by merdhead

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by merdhead

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]

Originally Posted by Booga

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]

Originally Posted by Olternaut

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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...

[SpamSandwich]

Originally Posted by 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.

The title should have been:

"Android Faults. Advantage: iPhone"

[Booga]

Originally Posted by SpamSandwich

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]

Originally Posted by merdhead

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]

Originally Posted by Booga

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]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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]

Originally Posted by Booga

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]

Originally Posted by 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?

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]

Originally Posted by solipsism

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.