As you've probably heard, Google has announced a partnership (Open Handset Alliance) with mobile and chipset manufacturer companies, to design and implement a new mobile plaform, Android.While most general public hoped for a Google-branded handset announcement, the Android platform instead had been announced.
2. Why another platform?
Some might say - why try one more time?
Is there a place in the [rather small] smart mobile market preoccupied by Symbian, Windows Mobile, and multiple custom-built OS?
First of all, most current smartphone platforms have their own 'wrongs'.
Symbian is hard to develop for.
WinMobile is not reliable and hard on CPU.
Many others are too small to comment on.
3. Possible impact
The plaftorm will gain a significant (40-60%) share of the smartphone market, which is estimated to grow to 1 Billion devices by year 2010.
More manufacturers may join the alliance, and there might be some in-fight.
Remember the PowerPC alliance? 
MS-OS/2, anyone?4. Things to do
Watch Google closely, develop outstanding products independently. Join the OHA when the timing is right.
5. Things to not do
Ignore Android.Delude yourself it's not going to be a viable competitor to your current smartphone software.
6. Current reaction
There seems to be a common disappointment due to devices (mobile handsets) not currently available.
People got used to observe hardware and oversee the overall usability of a product.
They are left to oversee the beauty and convenience of Android Development tools instead.
Not every smartphone user wants that.
Google seems to be clearly focused on getting the best developers in its camp first.
Ten Million dollars says they may succeed.
Google tries to cater well to developers, giving them easy, simple and free development environment.
This will help create multitude of good applications, fast, when the time comes and the shipments start.
7. An Epilogue. Or is it just a Prologue?
What I want to offer you is my private view on the future of Android.
If all goes well for Google, it will swipe all other smartphone platforms into oblivion within 5-10 years.
Only Apple will stand out (probably in a niche market, like their Mac computers).
By that time Nokia will probably have the same smartphone market share as Apple.
I believe Google hopes to become to mobile industry what Microsoft had become to PC industry.
Google does all the same steps - refuse to tie their own resources in hardware development, while focusing purely on the software architecture and applications.
The handset companies would create a unified and compatible smartphone software market, allowing a single binary be run on all smartphones, thus creating a well-leveled field for software developers, as well as consistent experience for the end users.
The effects of such conditions are well known from the history of the PC.
The smart mobile usage will boom. No, I mean
This will be good for both the cell service providers and the Open Handset Alliance.
Three kings will rule the mobile software world - usability, compatibility and rich features.
What Google may currently lack is the whole ecosystem for smart mobile usage - something like Media Store, Social Networking, or the Nokia Ovi portal.
But with Google's web competence it shall not be hard to do, given they sign up the content producing companies.
On a side note, I especially like the way they focus on the builders of all that goodness.
10M bucks offered to a developer, not a manager! :)
How many companies we know that try to stimulate their engineers (not top managers!) in a similar way?
Posts
