Google Phone, Open Handset Alliance Announcements
After months of speculation there is an official statement from Google about their mobile phone plans. However the information on the Google mobile phone software stack (which is based on Android platform) lacks many details and the product release time frame of second half of 2008 is long. In the coming days analysts will discuss this a lot so I’ll spare you detailed comments but here’re a few things which come to mind.
The software will run on special handsets from a wide range of partners. Based on what I’ve read the phone will be more of a smart phone with easier and faster access to internet and productivity applications leading to the mashups which created waves for the Internet. There’s no limit to which the new apps can go but I think speech apps (such as those from Nuance) are going to be a big part here.
The Open Handset Alliance and Open source support is important here. there has been a good momentum going for the open-source linux phone and the google phone announcement will help it a great deal. Countries like Pakistan are embracing linux and open-source and there is potential for some interesting work. However it is not yet clear if the LIMO efforts will converge with this or not. For developers the long lead time is a bit long but being google it is the hope that the wait will be worth it. It may be worth noting here that Apple has also announced opening its iPhone to outside developers.
As opposed to Apple’s iPhone pricey brand the google phone strategy is to create a platform which is widely scalable and seen as the rescuer, the common man’s phone. In that sense it will attract tremendous attention in developing countries. If you look at the partners HTC is the among the first handset maker to come out with an android based device. Large international carriers such as China Mobile are listed as partners as well.
Addendum on Nov 12: See the video about Android and the $10 million prize. Code is here.
The google blog said:
If you’re a developer and this approach sounds exciting, give us a week or so and we’ll have an SDK available.
Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities.
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[...] application area. Google has created buzz with their android software stack and the $10 million (see details here) award announcements. Apple of course was first to the market with their market disruptive [...]
Adil – mistake corrected, thanks for pointing it out.
Hello, great to read that google is now making an operating system for cell phones which will reduce the cost of cell phones at the end and will make cell phones more productive.
Mistake in the Post:
Sir is second paragraph, you have written sotware , which is wrong i think you was interested in writing software?
I hope China Mobile means Pakistan is one of the countries the platform is available in. It would be fun to play with their SDK. Trolltech (the Qt people) was working on a similar project – dubbed ‘Greenphone’ [http://trolltech.com/products/qtopia/greenphone] , I guess Google will put a stop to that.
[...] State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan placed an interesting blog post on Google Phone, Open Handset Alliance AnnouncementsHere’s a brief overview [...]
[...] State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan created an interesting post today on Google Phone, Open Handset Alliance AnnouncementsHere’s a short outlineIt may be worth noting here that Apple has also announced opening its iPhone to outside developers…. [...]