Google Android
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There has been much hype about Google developing a phone - the G Phone as it has been dubbed. Well there is no one G-Phone. What Google has done is chosen to develop a platform upon which handset makers and developers can create their own applications. They have released the SDK to developers as open-source.
So what does Google get out of this? What do members of the alliance that developed the platform gain? Well Google will likely get more users of its web services. Google Search is an obvious one, but also other services such as maps, and even yet to be created services which in turn drives advertising revenue. Since the platform is open, any handset maker can use it. Any developer can develop to it. This openness should prod innovation.
The Android Developer Challenge
To encourage development, Google has launched the Android Developer Challenge. The contest will reward winners for their developed applications. A panel of judges will pick 50 winners from entries received from Jan. 2 through March 3, 2008. In the first phase of the competition, those winners will each get $25,000 and be eligible for ten awards of $100,000 and another ten $275,000 awards. The second phase of the competition will feature another $5 million in prize money.
I for one am very excited about the G-Phone. HTC is one of the handset partners and they make excellent devices such as the HTC Mogul (my wife’s phone). It has features my paltry Treo 650 doesn’t have such as a 2mp camera with flash and a much larger screen. I’ve posted some videos below so you can see Android in action. These are of course just demos to show you what it is able to do. What it does in the future will be determined by the creative developers that choose to create applications for it. Notice how some of the cool features of the iPhone are there such as dragging a website around on the page and “flicking” through contacts. It won’t be long before all the cool features of the iPhone are emulated on this platform.
Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the availability of the SDK, that it will be open source in the future, and demo applications on the Android platform.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FJHYqE0RDg
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The creators of Android talk about their new open platform for mobile phones and the Open Handset Alliance.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rYozIZOgDk
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A first hand look at building an Android application
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6ObTqIiYfE&feature=user
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Location Based Services for All
Having a common mobile platform to develop to (that is free) should boost the development of location-based services. For example there will be a proliferation of both pull and push services. Below are some examples of both.
Pull services: user requests information based on his current location such as: calling a taxi, or searching for a restaurant.
Push services: Information delivered to the user that was not requested such as: shopping coupons, weather warnings sent to users in the current location.
Opportunities exist for ad-based or subscription based services. Google should benefit from both. I would imagine an extension of Google Adsense integrated with your GPS would enable Adsense to direct ads for local resteraunts for example. Imagine how effective it would be to be walking towards a Starbucks when an ad for $1.00 off a Gigantuan Mocha Frappe appears on your screen, good of course at that location only. We could see a whole new ad market develop that has huge potential.
