Android

Benefits of OpenSocial, Android

Google’s vision of creating open platforms for both OpenSocial and Android (Open Handset Alliance) is absolutely genius. Not only does it help Google competitively but it also helps create a stronger user experience and a strong support community. Here are some of the major benefits to open platforms such as OpenSocial and Android:

User Experience: Allowing developers to design applications on top of your platform provides the ability for users to have unique experiences tailored specifically for them. From a mobile perspective there will now potentially be a thousand different versions of the same operating system each tweaked slightly so that it fits the owners needs. Furthermore it will allow people to share the coolest parts of their user experience across all networks.
Standardization: With numerous partners involved in both OpenSocial and Android, developers have a standardized way of creating applications for users without having to worry about platform. The standard platform also helps define documentation, procedures and application sharing.
Cost: Open platforms always tend to be far less expensive than mainstream/off the shelf products. With platforms such as Android in place, users will notice a cut in cost compared to hand helds operating systems like Windows Mobile and Palm OS.
Innovation: Giving developers the access to such powerful and flexible platforms will encourage increased innovation as they compete to develop the next killer application.
Support: Open Platforms (1 common base) equals Thousands of Developers which equals the amount of support available for applications and configuration that are built on top of the platform.

The one thing that might raise some concern is what will happen with the quality of products with the amount of applications that will likely be developed and the power completely in the hands of the users to install them. I would hate to see an uproar due to privacy or security concerns .

Eric Schmidt Says Android Yes, Gphone No

I am sure everyone on the planet has become of aware of Google’s new open mobile platform, Android, so I am not going to repeat the news, however I will tell you some tidbits I heard on a conference call I sat in on which included:

- Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google Inc.
- Andy Rubin, Director of Mobile Platforms, Google Inc.
- René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corp.
- Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm
- Ed Zander, Chairman and CEO of Motorola, Inc.

This call also included members from press/news companies such as: Reuters, USA Today, PC Magazine, NY Times, Chicago Tribune, and many more. The SDK for Android will be available to developers next week and mobile carriers expect this to be enough time for developers to build applications on top of the Android platform for 2008. There were numerous questions surrounding the gPhone and Eric Schmidt made it clear that there is no news on the gPhone however Android would be the perfect platform for that type of phone.

Here are few of the questions that were posed to the CEOs:

- Are there a minimum set of requirements for carriers?
No, anyone has the ability to perform any type of customization. The Apache P2 License has not restrictions.

- What’s the difference between Android and other platforms?
The difference is that Android is open to all 3rd party developers and the code is entirely open source. Eric Schmidt added that open source is the best method to drive volume and provides increased flexibility and adoption.

- Will there be any issues with existing Networks?
Android powered phones will run seamlessly on all existing networks

- How will Google leverage Android for its Ad Services
Ad services from Google are flexible enough to run on any platform, however initially there will be no ad driven models. When ads are released Google plans on creating a plan in which they share the profits with the mobile carriers.

- How does the timing of Android coincide with Open Social?
Eric says the timing was completely coincidental, but the applications built using Open Social will run well on Android. In fact, developers will be able to leverage Android to make their Open Social application mobile.

- What is the look and feel of the Interface like?
The interface is Top Notch and Google will be taking a lot of input from the community in order to enhance it. Google will be offering a hosted service for developers in order to publish and test their apps.

Other Android/Open Handset Alliance News: