Android To Control Your Phone

Google has finally made progress into the mobile world. And not in a way you might think. While the gPhone remains humorously speculative an Android is going to town in your smart phone.

Essentially Google has made a way for crazy open source programs to do their best with modern smart phones. Doing what Google does best, encouraging innovation.

Android is an OS for phones that want to lack "proprietary obstacles." Meaning, if it can be programed then it can go on your phone. An early version of the developer SDK will be available on November 12th, 2007 and you can expect heavy development to ensue immediately.

Android was not Google's idea incidentally. The experience and resources that went into building the OS came from a company named Android acquired by Google in it's early 22 month growth stage. I suppose Google saw something it liked. Maybe an open door into the mobile market? The company was on the cutting edge of cellular development and carried a heavy and disproportionate load of industry experience.

This specific case of the ever encroaching Google Mass absorbing a related tech company and then producing a product designed from the purchased knowledge is what we can expect to see in the future. Google doesn't just buy a company on a whim without having a plan for it. Neither does it buy the 700 Mhz spectrum without a plan for it....

Android offers expandability, customoblity, and the word "free", to the cellular industry. It's up to them to accept. Judging from Google's HUGE user base it won't take long for more companies to jump on the open source bandwagon.

What do other companies have to say?

Well, Microsoft says "It really sounds that they are getting a whole bunch of people together to build a phone and that's something we've been doing for five years," said Scott Horn, from Microsoft's Windows Mobile marketing team. (Did Microsoft release an open source phone OS yet? Did I miss that or is that still coming after 5 stinking years?)

A bit defensive.

"If Google was not involved the industry would have just yawned and rolled over," said John Forsyth of Symbian.

"We don't see this as a threat." Nokia stated bluntly.

Well that's all good and fine but there is something these companies are missing. Google IS involved. Symbian was right to say that it's Google's involvement in Android that makes this a big deal. But that doesn't change the fact that because Google is involved we can expect to see some exciting changes in the phone business.