“Confirming its long-rumored foray into the mobile market, Google said Monday it is developing a free cell phone software package so the Internet search leader can more easily peddle ads and services to people who aren’t in front of a PC,” Michael Liedtke reports for The Associated Press.
“While the announcement ended months of speculation about the Mountain View-based company’s cellular ambitions, the first phones equipped with Google’s so-called “software stack” still won’t be available until the second half of 2008,” Liedtke reports. “And Google won’t be making the phones, nor does it plan to stamp its prized brand on the devices. Instead, it will work with four cell phone manufacturers who have agreed to use Google’s programs in their handsets. Consumers will have to buy a new phone to get the Google software because the bundle wasn’t made for existing handsets.”
“Even with its market debut months away, Google’s software looms as a significant threat to other mobile operating systems made by Microsoft Corp., Research In Motion Ltd., Palm Inc. and Symbian, which is owned by Nokia Corp. and several other major phone makers
“So far, Motorola Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., HTC and LG Electronics Inc. have agreed to use Google’s software in some of their phones,” Liedtke reports. “They are among a Google-led group of 34 companies that have formed the Open Handset Alliance. Other key players include major chip makers like Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Broadcom Corp. and Nvidia Corp.”
Full article here.
Amol Sharma and Kevin J. Delaney report for The Wall Street Journal, “The Mountain View, Calif., Internet company said the new cellphone technology it is creating with its partners – which it calls Android – would enable faster development of innovative cellphone features. The platform includes several layers of software for phones, including an operating system, a user interface and applications.”
“Google’s strategy of cooperating with multiple handset maker and operator partners to develop what Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt said could be ‘thousands of different phone models’ differs starkly from that of Apple Inc., which developed a single iconic mobile device – the iPhone – that consumers now associate with its brand,” Sharma and Delaney report.
“Google’s long-term impact in the wireless industry may not be on the design of phones, but the economics of how they are sold to consumers. If the company, as expected, gives away its new mobile software to handset makers for free or at least a steep discount to existing operating system providers, the savings could be passed on to consumers. In addition, people familiar with Google’s plans say the company one day hopes to partly subsidize the cost of phones by showing targeted ads to users,” Sharma and Delaney report.
“Motorola’s participation in the Google project is striking, given how the company was burned by Apple when the iPhone launched. Motorola worked with Apple to release a music phone called the ROKR in 2005, but the iPhone dramatically upstaged that device,” Sharma and Delaney report.
Full article here.
Quentin Hardy reports for Forbes, “Google’s kicking in not just the operating system, but also an Internet browser designed for mobility (adapted from Apple’s Webkit), a calendar, an address book, maps, e-mail and access to Google’s online payments system, which can be used to buy things via phones.”
MacDailyNews Note: WebKit is an application framework included with Mac OS X v10.3 and later (and available as a software update for v10.2.7 and later) which is the basis of Mac OS X’s Safari web browser. Webkit is an open source project, combining components from both the K Desktop Environment (KDE) project and Apple. More via Wikipedia here.
“What Google gets in return is more real estate for selling ads. Ninety-nine percent of Google’s revenues come from ads, either the ones it puts next to free Internet-based services like search and e-mail, or through syndication on third-party Web pages. The bigger the Internet gets, Google executives figure, the more pages there are for ads and the more people will need search (with more ads) to find anything,” Hardy reports.
Full article here.
This whole thing still sounds very vague and nebulous to me. Did they actually show any working software or hardware?
The OHA alliance will be solely for the benefit of Google, and arguably consumers. The Major software providers, the carriers, the cellphone manufactures have yet to realize that the impact of this disruptive technology will obsolete their business models and threatens all of their revenue streams.
When they wake up, they will realize that “Android” IS THE BORG.
Then the fun begins.
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