Google Unleashes an Android

After months of speculation, Google recently announced its entry into the crowded mobile market. However, instead of designing the long-rumored Gphone, the search giant released Android, a Linuxbased mobile OS. Google developed Android in conjunction with the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of mobile service providers, handset manufacturers, chipmakers, and software developers, and the company has recently made a free, downloadable development kit available. To help spur innovation, Google is also offering $10 million in prizes to developers, in awards ranging from $25,000 to $275,000. While the OS itself is open, Google has placed no restrictions on how the platform is utilized, so service providers could, for instance, remove VoIP capabilities from Android handsets in order to tie users to income-generating voice minutes. In the United States, Android-based devices will initially be available on Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s networks, with numerous handset manufacturers planning to release devices in early 2008. AT&T, which has a major stake in Apple’s iPhone, is not
a member of the OHA; as to whether the service provider would ever offer Android-powered phones, a spokesperson stated, “AT&T does not comment on what it might or might not do in the future.”
While Google hasn’t directly explained how it plans to generate revenue from Android, the OS will make it easy to use Google’s entire suite of apps on mobile devices, bringing an almost PC-like experience to cell phones—and more mobile users on the web almost certainly means more eyes on the search giant’s Ad Sense-generated advertising.

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