Multitouch and touchscreens really are all the rage these days, especially in mobile devices. Apple's iPhone set the bar, and now it's up to the rest to either catch up to Apple, or outdo them. Google is trying just that with its Android mobile phone operating system, and it has demoed the capabilities of its new mobile phone operating system.
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Member since:2006-01-06
So who is Google partnering with? Who's actually shipping Android on an actual phone?
My two cents: It isn't in any carrier's interest to create a truly open platform that anybody can leverage. That's why the mobile phone market has evolved the way it has, with carriers having a chokehold on all services. They want to be the ones to sell you the ringtones, carry the messaging traffic, sell you the applications, etc. If applications can use the data pipe to bypass the carrier's SMS messaging stack, for example, it means a huge loss of revenue for the carrier; instead, the carrier is relegated to charging for data bandwidth, which is a lower-tier service and one in which traditional wired ISPs make the bulk of their money (in other words, not as desirable). Consequently, based on the economics of the situation, I have to believe that partnerships between Google and carriers will be difficult to come by. Sure, they may use Android as a platform--but will they open it up completely? Call me skeptical. It just isn't in their interest to do so.
Don't get me wrong. I HOPE that most phones eventually use an open platform. It's just that I'm not so deluded as to think that carriers will forego economic realities in favor of handing all of us the keys to their kingdom. They are in business to make money, after all, and they're probably not going to do anything which jeopardizes their revenue stream. That said, there may be other revenue opportunities (eg. advertising, search, etc) which could replace existing opportunities; but, put yourself in their shoes: why would you RISK it, when you have guaranteed revenue from SMS, etc?
Edited 2008-05-29 22:00 UTC
Member since:2006-01-04
Member since:2008-05-29
So who is Google partnering with? Who's actually shipping Android on an actual phone?
http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/oha_members.html
here are the members of the open handset alliance. t-mobile and sprint.. LG, HTC, Motorola.. plus a bunch more. it seems that android/google have some powerful players ready to support this.
Member since:2007-02-05
Personally, I'm putting a lot of hope in Verizons 'Any apps, any device' initiative (official Verizon statement: http://news.vzw.com/news/2007/11/pr2007-11-27.html ). I don't know why they did it (I think I read it was pressure from Google, maybe they wouldn't let them use Android otherwise? Doesn't make much sense since it's open source) but I'm hoping that they'll stick to the spirit of that agreement. Sprint uses a CDMA network so there should already be CDMA Android phones and I would buy one in a heartbeat if I could use it with Verizon.
Member since:2005-07-24
I recently watched all the available video footage from the Linux Foundation's April 2008 collaboration summit. It was all pretty cool. HP, Intel, Dell, kernel devs, and many others all there to come up with ways to help each other... until it came to the phone panel session. The representatives of the (many) phone initiatives sat around and took pot shots at the others, claiming theirs was the best and that the others were crap. I don't think a one of them actually had a phone on the market.
Eventually a couple of them *will* have products built on them, and hopefully the others will fade into obscurity. The phone market smells too much like the Unix wars to me. Everyone talking about being "open", but no real cooperation is apparent. That session did not even seem like it was part of the same summit as the others.
Edited 2008-05-30 02:53 UTC
Member since:2006-01-03
"""So who is Google partnering with?
Who's actually shipping Android on an actual phone?"""
NOBODY is shipping Android because it is not finished yet.
As for who's Google partnering with, well, just google for it, and you'll find plenty of information online. OK, I'll save you the effort: As for operators, there's China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo, Telefónica, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia, Sprint and KDDI... How about that? Very few of the largest are missing, and these add up to quite a large proportion of the worldwide mobile market. As for cellphone makers, there is Samsung, Motorola, LG and HTC; not bad, really, not bad at all.
Even bearing in mind their openness, think that the iPhone may be even worse for the operators: it is Apple inside and out, and there's not much room for operator identity integration. There are also leonine conditions imposed by Apple on what may be done and not done with the phone, and they pass around the hat to gather a sizeable proportion of the earnings.
Member since:2006-01-14
Member since:
2006-02-05
Its kind of funny how BlackBerry and Microsoft have been around in this market forever, and how far they have been left behind by Google and Apple. And by funny I mean sad.