Google's Android platform and the Open Handset Alliance: a quick round-up
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Nov 5th 2007 7:02PM
posted Nov 5th 2007 7:02PM
Carefully orchestrated announcements for broad, sweeping initiatives like the one staged by Google today don't always do a great job of diving straight into the meat and telling it like it is, so we thought we'd boil down the Android and Open Handset Alliance sitch as best we could into a tight, easy to digest series of bullets. If this list is still wider than your attention span, though, just know this: you can pick up your Google-powered phone in the latter half of 2008.- At its core, Android forms the basis for Google's operating system and supporting software for phones. In Google's own words, it's a software stack.
- Two separate but related entities form the basis for today's announcement: the Linux-based Android mobile platform (a result of Google's 2005 acquisition of a start-up of the same name) and the Open Handset Alliance, a 33-strong group of device manufacturers, component manufacturers, software companies, and carriers that have committed to working with Android.
- There is no cut and dried "Gphone" and Google doesn't intend (or at least it hasn't indicated an intent) to enter the hardware business. Instead, it'll leave that to established players like HTC, LG, and Samsung -- and theoretically, anyone else that wants to have a go at it since the Android platform and its code base is wide open.
- Unlike the platform itself, there's no guarantee that devices based on the Android platform will be open to third party developers. Google says that'll be left to manufacturers and carriers to be decide, although it doubts they'll choose to lock them down (hmm, has Google ever worked with a carrier before?)
- Nokia, Apple (on whose board Google CEO Eric Schmidt sits), Palm, and Microsoft are notably absent from the alliance. Palm has come out today to announce that it intends to continue to integrate Google services into its future products.
- Carriers currently in the alliance include China Mobile, KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel are the two national US carriers that are signed up; AT&T and Verizon are not.
- The first Android-powered devices are expected in the second half of 2008. Rumor has it that Google has been using an HTC-sourced device, the "Dream," to demonstrate Android to potential partners. HTC may launch a version of the Dream as one of its first handsets to use the platform.
go to [http://www.googleandroidnetwork.com for more late breaking information] this official android site is updated daily
A good set of bullet-points. Well worded news :-)
The success of a cell phone doesn't rely on the content as much as the laptops/PCs. It's the form factor, user interface and style that appeal people. It's nice to have a unified platform but I'm skeptical and I want to see the actual phone first.
Careful, that's kind of what IBM was saying when they first licensed an OS from Microsoft.
"The success of a cell phone doesn't rely on the content..."
I beg to differ. The success of the Palm and WindowsMobile platforms in business and embedded environments is exactly the result of of their content - and NOT their form factors. Hell, have you looked at a Treo recently? They're huge, the UI is awful, and the keyboard is uncomfortable at best. Yet, the ability to write custom applications and embed business tools is the MAIN reason it succeeded (well, that an ubiquitous email access).
For the average user, kids who don't need real technology (just "cool" factor), and little old ladies keeping it for emergencies? You're right - form factor matters more. But for the people who spend a lot of time and money on cell phones? You better believe that content matters most.
Open Alliance for Gaming Consoles up next please!
If this existed, I'd take a 360 and add
*Allow any HDD to be used
*Allow SD cards to be used as memory
*Map one of the used buttons to eject the disk drive
*Add ability to add your own gamer picture
*Free Gamertag changes
The list goes on :).
You are charged to change your Gamertag? That I didn't know... and is a bit sad.
Not only charged, but charged 800 points ($10 USD)!
T-Mobile for the win :) Let's see how this plays out. When I first saw T-Mobile, I thought DT (German T-Mobile) but was surprised that T-Mobile US was in on something like this. Now I want to know how this open-source OS is going to work. Is the disk going to come with the SDK or do you have to venture out for the unlock tools?
JAmerican
DT is Deutsche Telekom -- a massive telecoms organisation. DT subsidiaries include all the T-Mobile providers, including the US.
Don't know why, but the more I read the less excited I get. I think a hardware gPhone would have been the way to go. I just don't see US carriers making their phones work with any kind of open source anything. Hope I'm wrong.
On both Sprint and TMobile phones, you can install most anything you want. Neither require Signed BREW apps. Verizon and AT&T (who are absent from this group, notice) are the ones that think they own your phone long after you've bought it.
while this announcement could end up being pretty exciting, i think that Google should have sat on it a little longer until they could give people a little more concrete grip on what they were offering. Saying over and over that they are developing an open mobile platform doesn't give the pubic much to take home with them or get immediately excited about.
They should have held off until they were comfortable releasing some screen, application, or product shots. A picture is worth a thousand words, and Google is obviously not quite as intuitive at creating a buzz... one thing that even the haters can't deny the likes of Apple (or even microsoft)
I don't see the impact.
Microsoft has the upper hand, as they have the attention of the business world right now. Almost every business uses Office products, which gives Microsoft the unique ability to closely integrate their mobile platform with their desktop applications. If OHA becomes a threat, all Microsoft has to do is tweak their office programs...and BOOM...a million handsets can suddenly not access their exchange server.
Face it, open source products have never really challenged the big boys. I use a lot of open source stuff, but I'm kind of techie. It takes a techie, since open source applications are often a labor of love. As a result, any company that releases an OHA handset is going to lock it down...just so they can keep Grandma from downloading some application that bricks her phone.
I'm all for breaking the cell phone monopoly...I'm just not sold that OHA is going to do it.
Have you not noticed all the people switching to openoffice? Sure, linux is not a mainstream thing. But when you put powerful open source software out in the open like this, (being offered by major carriers) there is a possibility for some real competition to microsoft. Windows mobile is nice, but it's fairly flawed. If google does this right they'll capture a good amount of smartphone users.
Sure, businesses that depend on WM's features won't be switching for at least a while. For people who don't need exchange server, this google os has a lot of potential to impress.
Many individuals are switching to openoffice, however many business (including the one I work for) would never abandon their office licenses.
When you work in the real world, Microsoft Exchange services are invaluable. Even Sharepoint is planting it's roots into the business world.
Even most Microsoft opponents know and trust Office to be one of the few Microsoft software packages that not only "just work" but "work well" to boot.
I don't think it's the up front open source that people would even know the name of that's important, it's the back end / appliance kind of things. OpenOffice is a boondoggle, the office category is on its way out. I know lots of people who are switching to web based integrated 'office' tools.
Actually Microsoft is not important in the majority of the worlds mobile phone markets. I'm not even going to comment on the quality of their software. But the fact remains that Symbian and Series 60 phones are far more interesting in the really important phone markets namely Europe, Japan and Asia. The US is a "special" phone market - and not in a good way.
Ok. I'm officially of the opinion that this does not excite me at all. Why am I here I hear you ask?
Procrastination, I reply.
What, you wanna take over this report on mice spleens? Theres only so much boredom one can take.
Engadget over work I always say.
Eric Schmidt: "We're not announcing anything, but this is THE (perfect) platform for building a Gphone. It starts a whole wave of innovation..."
Interesting - the more I read about what's coming in a week and how long Google has been working on this the more excited I get (if I get excited about any of this stuff, have to admit)!
I think this is a blockbuster in the making. Big time.
I've had T-mo for years and have never had a problem with them except no 3G!!! I think they have just redeemed themselves...
Take that AT&T and Apple!!!
I agree, as well as retract all the complains I've had about the excessive iPhone coverage. They really know how to make me eat my words.
;-) But such is a moot point at a gadget site such as this.
Oops, supposed to be @Esat
I for one welcome our Android overlords
Well...I, for one, don't welcome our soviet russian, doom playing, blender-using overlords.
Can we just let these (weak and massively overused) jokes die? Please?
What a dull story. I don't think Apple have anything to worry about after reading this. It's essentially a free open source base for engineers to create more average phones with more features that no one will use. Google are now Microsoft, over valued and weighed down by too many engineers and only able to innovate through accusation. Next.
I'm no cell phone nerd so maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to get this... but I don't get it.
I mean... all they are really saying is they are putting out a new potential OS for phones and that they have many companies interested in signing on.
Why wouldn't they... open source is nice. Tons and tons of free development put into a product (idea) which they can then sell. Just think of all the cell phone gamers they won't have to employ because every college kid and his dog will be coding stuff for this thing.
However, as they do point out... it in NO way means that the devices themselves will be open.
I see this as... I'm free to contribute to their product for nothing. I'm free to chat up how cool their open source initiative is in a fun, youthful, e2.0 viral sort of way. But... I will still have to pay $2 to put a ring tone on my my phone or send a picture out from it in a text message.
Maybe I'm just a pessimist.. and maybe things will end up brighter than this... but I see NOTHING in any of this massive announcement which pointedly says I am wrong.
The best thing I see about it is... try as they may to lock any of it down... if it's Linux based then the kids in the back room will get their hands around every nook and crannie of it... and sooner rather than later.
- Mike
Didnt a company already do this sorta?
http://www.openmoko.org/
Seems like it is more interesting because it has google backing. I dont think it will be any better though.
Google is No Apple
Most bogus announcement EVER! Google has just shown themselves to be more Microsoft/IBM than Apple. We wanted a new, ultra-innovative high-tech phone on a new cell network owned and operated by Google. We got a rock instead (ala Charlie Brown). Apple/ATT have the iPhone. HTC/Sprint have the Mogul. Google gives us a rock. Open platforms, alliances, frameworks, open source software, it all sounds so early '90s. This is what it feels like when a dream dies....
Wow... that is a tall order... I for one am excited about the idea for an open linux platform on a phone. ALP seems like it may never show up (3 years and waiting?) and with the backing of Google and 33 other manufactures and software companies this has a better chance than Open Moko... But I really don't see why everyone wants Google to make a phone. The hardware business is very different from Software and there are many costs to take into consideration. We all know that Google has the capital but they need to know that they will have sufficient return. From a business standpoint it really does make more sense to go the route of an OS that will run your apps and be open for others to develop on.
Thank you for the synopsis.
I was a bit confused to what this all really was.
Honestly, for as long as the "gPhone" has been whispered about you would have thought they would have had a prototype to really hype it up. I'm kinda like not excited at all about this for the time being. But the thought of having a phone that I can customize completely to be my own is a turn on.
In India, the service provider Bharti Airtel might join the bandwagon..
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=BOM:532454
I don't see much impact from Android. Consumers will most likely continue with Symbian, businesses with Windows Media and Apple fanboys with Iphone. The geeks will battle it out between the various Linux OS like Android, ALP and Open Moko.
I've seen a lot of comments in the announcement article, stating they'd need to see a gPhone to know if the excitement is justified. But, the big picture is to bring change to an industry that doesn't make any sense.
Here's a good read: http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20071021/free-my-phone/
I hope Google will win the odds against consortium and succeed, even it'd probably be long after wide adaptation that we start to see significant benefits. I'm not all excited about any gPhone, as I just want a portable device that's easy to sync with OSX. But. I'm actually really excited that this will put tons of pressure on carriers to come to their senses.
What about sony-ericsson?
“Nuance joined the Open Handset Alliance with other industry leaders to grow the entire mobile ecosystem,” said Steve Chambers, president, mobile and consumer services division, Nuance Communications. “We’re committed to apply our strength and leadership in voice-based search and messaging to move the market forward. By packaging and optimizing embedded speech technology components for open source distribution, we’ve given developers the opportunity to access speech solutions through open APIs using the Android platform and to easily upgrade to new, more advanced speech features as well. We believe deep collaboration with members of the Alliance will grow our core mobile business and fuel the proliferation of speech-enabled applications worldwide.”
i see a lot of great potential from android. has anyone heard about this yet?
http://www.androidforum.org/developers/13-calling-all-developers-10m-android-challenge.html
ready, set ,go ;)
Here is a quick wish list of things I will like to see in the Android platform. What do others think?
http://kashi.webhop.net/blog/Technology/index.php/archives/25
Hmm, 'Android', 'Open Handset Alliance' call me Yodic, but this is all starting to sound a bit Star Wars to me, perchance the first handset will be called the X-Wing or At-At and there's sure to be room for some people of restricted height talking too loudly on public transport into Googlic transponders whilst dressed in Lucian bear suits?
Google are late to the game and it's all a little desperate, let's listen in 12 months when all this hype about hype (clearly borrowed from the iPhone marketeers, which is and of itself akin to a surrogate child) shows some real results.
All talk and no touchphone maketh for hottish air.
My prediction is that come January El Jobs will announce that you have to apply and generally supply ‘yeah man’ DNA to design applications for the iPhone and iPod, but once you’ve shown you can yell ‘yeah man’ really loud whilst downing your fifth blueberry and kelp smoothie you’ll be shown the special stuff inside the device, you can then create applications that people can buy on iTunes. There will be a lot of license stuff, paperwork etc and strictly no voip permitted, but it’ll open up a whole new frontier and one not dependent upon super targeted assassin like advertising so favoured of Facesoft.
Google is 12 months behind and only when is unveils it's first open platform handset will El Jobs be inclined to think about opening the iPhone and by that time, we'll be downloading quality apps and not being overwhelmed with ad centric dross.
http://www.fat-man-collective.com/blog