I just read on BBC world's technology news that- "the first mobile telephone using Google's Android software is due to be unveiled on 23 September".
Hold on just one second ...... Holy cow! that's today !!
Anyway, according to the BBC, it will be be available on the US network of T-Mobile and is expected to be on sale in October. Google recruited the services of around 30 firms to help develop the Android software- a move which resulted in the formation of the "Open Handset Alliance"- Nice
Apparently, the idea behind the Android software is to "do for phone software what Open Source Linux has done for PC's"- Fair enough!
But the thing here is- Google faces really stiff competition from already established mobile giants such as Nokia- with the Symbian Software, and Microsoft with it's mobile OS. There is also the issue of Apple and its iPhone.
How Google plans to circumvent these imposing hurdles beats my imagination, but we would just have to wait and see. The psychological battle has already begun though, with John Forsyth, vice president of strategy at Symbian dismissing Google's Android.
According to Forsyth, Google lacks the required experience. He said: "making a mobile OS is a very specialised form of rocket science. It's not search rocket science.
Meanwhile, there have already been statements linking Nokia with the "Android", and with Nokia UK already in discussions with Google about using the platform, who knows.....
Simon Ainslie, Nokia UK's managing director, said:
"We are always open to discussion and debate on that. We were not ready to make any commitment to it or discuss it at the time. We are having ongoing discussions with Google."
Mr Forsyth goes on to further "blast" Google, saying;
"Search and a mobile phone platform are completely different things."
"It's costly, arduous and at times a deeply unsexy job of supporting customers day by day in launching phones. That's something there's very little experience of in Google's environment.
"if you are a serious phone maker and you are asked to bet your handsets on somebody, you would want to bet on someone with a track record of delivery and support."
"It's very clear what developers want - volume and a stable platform that doesn't keep breaking. You have to have a lot of zeroes in your sales figures before a developer gets out of bed.
"They are talking about having a phone by the end of next year. It's not one that is going to ignite developers."
Well, the Saga continues....... I for one am keen on seeing just how well Google's Android would do with respect to the market. Judging from what i have seen so far, I am not too quick to play down the effects of the "New Kid on the Block". You just have to look at Face Book today to fully understand what i mean.
By Rollins Orlu,
Principal Web Consultant at
Darrel Technologies
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