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Google: 18 Android phones coming this year, possibly more

by Thomas Ricker, posted May 28th 2009 at 5:50AM

18 Android phones, possibly 20 on the market this year according to Andy Rubin, speaking at Google I/O. Even higher if you count all the rogue, Google App-free Android deployments that Google's not aware of. Seeing as how we're already nearly half-way through the year with just a pair of Android handsets on the market (the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic) and just another -- the Samsung i7500 Galaxy -- officially in the chute, we're going to see a flood of product before year's end. In fact, Rubin claims the releases will come from 8 or 9 manufacturers with faster adoption seen in Europe as US carriers try to "create highly distinctive versions of the Android phone to give themselves an edge." Sure, edge, if that's what you want to call the US cartel of hoops and handcuffs then go right ahead. Interestingly, Rubin also further clarified the three flavors of Android which break down as follows:

Google-free: Free to download version of Android without Google applications like Gmail or Google Calendar. Access to Android applications is at the whimsical fancy of the manufacturer.
Strings attached: Same as above but manufacturers sign a distribution agreement with Google and pre-install the Google applications. Of Rubin's possible 20 phones, 12 to 14 fall into this category
The Google Experience: Phones featuring the Google logo with all Google apps installed and includes unrestricted access (neither the carrier nor handset maker can block applications they find objectionable) to the Android market. 5 or 6 of the 20, Android phone mentioned by Rubin will deliver the full Google Experience as god and Sergey designed it.

Go ahead, blow it out Google, we're ready for it.

Android Market will offer free trials, but not free bandwidth

by Tim Stevens, posted Oct 2nd 2008 at 1:53PM

Apple's App Store, with its millions of downloads, is clearly a hit with consumers. But with developers? Not so much. Like a dashing hero to a scorned mistress, Google's Andy Rubin is pledging a different, more loving and respectful relationship with those who would fill his company's Android Market with selections -- and his pockets with royalties. He indicates that the Market will enable free downloadable trials, something that Apple is stubbornly refusing to add, and that those downloads would not be subject to any arbitrary bandwidth caps. Meanwhile, T-Mobile at least will be levying a $2/month fee on developers of free apps expected to use more than the (somewhat arbitrary) amount of 15MB of data per user per month, though how they'll be keeping track of that data outside of their own content stack is unclear -- our guess is that they can't.

Google's Andy Rubin talks Android, demos apps

by Nilay Patel, posted Jun 18th 2008 at 5:04AM

We've already seen plenty of screenshots and videos of Android in action, but it's not every day Andy Rubin, Google's Senior Director of Mobile Platforms, is behind the controls, and he recently demoed the open-source phone OS to a group of reporters. Rubin specifically demonstrated non-touchscreen versions of the platform, showing off a browser designed entirely for button-based navigation, and also hit upon Android's ability to multitask, using Google Maps seamlessly with a media player and a photo app running in the background. Take that, iPhone. Of course, the hardware itself was kept super-secret, but since Android is designed to work on any phone with at least a 200MHz processor, it's understandable that Google isn't interested in distracting us with specific phone models when the focus is clearly on the OS. We'll just have to wait until later in the year to get our hands on an actual device -- hopefully the screenshots at the read links will tide you over.

[Thanks, Tarek]

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