Not that much happening, apparently….
Windows 7 beta getting yanked.
The Dalai Lama wasn’t tweeting.
Another prediction of $99 iPhones.
iTunes gets digital Marvel comics.
Apple nixed Android multi-touch?
Microsoft’s ten thousandth patent granted.
Kaspersky’s customer database gets exposed.
Two new rumors this week are different in the details but share an interesting overarching theme: TechCrunch is reporting that Apple is working on an iPhone OS-based tablet computer that’s essentially a giant iPod Touch for release this fall, and VentureBeat has a fascinating post that not only shows Google’s Android OS running on an Asus Eee PC but says the OS is hardwired to run on netbooks, and that Android netbooks will likely show up in 2010. We don’t know for sure that Apple will ever release more computer-like devices based on iPhone OS or that Android will migrate to laptops, but both ideas are utterly plausible. More plausible, in fact, than the possibility that both OSes will stay phone-only forever.
Techwise, I’m still not sure whether I’m grateful 2008 is almost over or sorry to see it shuffle off into the past. I do know that it was a strange, eventful year–and that much of the biggest news involved Apple, Google, Microsoft, and various combinations thereof. Here’s a recap of the year’s biggest stories, as judged by a blue-ribbon panel consisting of…well, me. Feel free to counter my choices in comments if you disagree with ’em–actually, I’d be grateful if you would.
The Open Handset Alliance–the organization responsible for Google’s Android open-source mobile operating system–has rallied more companies into its camp, significantly increasing the likelihood that there will be an influx of Android-based devices in the near future. C0nsumers will be the big winners: With Apple and RIM battling furiously, the added jolt that an influx of Android-based devices has on the marketplace could inspire even greater innovation.
Today, the alliance announced that 14 more companies had joined its membership rolls, and that those companies would either be manufacturing compatible devices, introducing complementary products and services, or contributing code to the Android open source Project. Google was the founding member of the alliance, and is the primary contributor to Android.
The new members include AKM Semiconductor, ARM, ASUSTek Computer, Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International, Huawei Technologies, Omron Software, Softbank Mobile, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba and Vodafone. They join a conglomeration of nearly 50 other companies, including carriiers, device manufacturers, and chip makers’s G1, the first phone powered by Android, stacks up well against comparable smart phones and has received reasonably favorable reviews.
More importantly, the G1 is partly credited for driving device maker HTC’s record profits last month. With proven sales appeal and its royalty-free license, other device makers are likely to follow HTC’s lead and adopt Android.
If you’re not on T-Mobile because you either aren’t in their coverage area or don’t want to be, yet want a G1, you’re now in luck. Google has announced a developer program where the company will offer an unlocked G1 for $399 in exchange for registration on the Android Market site as a developer.
Each developer would be limited to 1 device, although Google adds the caveat “for now,” suggesting that it may expand the limit to multiple devices in the future.
The SIM-unlocked device will function just the same as the T-Mobile G1 does, save for the obvious lock-in to the carrier. In addition, the device would not enforce signed system images, allowing for further development possibilities.
Obviously, since the device is not intended for public consumption, Google’s not going to provide any kind of support for the device. However, if its anything like the black market unlocked iPhones developed, enterprising third-party developers will step in to fill that void.
The offer will be available to developers in the following countries: the US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Canada, France, Taiwan, Spain, Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Hungary. Google hopes to expand the program elsewhere in the coming months.
Even though it seems as if the company is trying to keep end users out, I can’t see why the G1 wouldn’t see a similar reaction as the unlocked iPhone did. While it certainly is not to the scale the iPhone had, Google’s first Android phone has performed past some of the rosiest sales expectiations of industry analysts.
About 1 million units are expected to be shipped by HTC by the end of this year, which is about twice what was anticipated. There are going to be some hardcore users outside of T-Mobile that will happily pay a premium for the device I’d think. After all, people were crazy enough to pay $600+ for an iPhone.
Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion.
In other words, Google has a built-in “kill switch” to remotely disable applications that violate their developer agreement.
While the terms of this agreement certainly seem reasonable, tech critics thought back to February, when Apple explained its own terms of service for the iPhone, which also seemed reasonable at the time. As we know, Apple’s developer agreement turned out to be much more trouble than initially anticipated, causing a storm of criticism around the developer NDA and Apple’s disqualification of apps that “duplicated functionality” of other Apple applications.
T-Mobile’s G1, the first phone to use Google’s Android operating system, doesn’t go officially on sale until October 22nd. But a bunch of reviews ave hit the Web. And since I don’t have a G1–I’m hoping to remedy that–I’ve been reading other folks’ takes on the device.
After the jump, highly-compressed summaries of three of the reviews I’ve checked out so far.
Erick Schonfeld over at TechCrunch is reporting that Motorola is set to expand its team working on Android from 50 to 350, indicating the company may be about get really serious about devices operating on the platform. Word of the expansion comes from a Android developer who apparently has been targeted by the company.
And it doesn’t end with Motorola. Erick’s source also says that Nokia and Verizon made an appearance last week at a conference that was intended for developers who had not seen the G1. While Motorola isn’t a big surprise — it already is a part of the Open Handset Alliance — neither Nokia nor Verizon are officially affiliated with the organization.
It’s not clear when Motorola plans to release its own Android powered devices, although such a ramp-up seems to indicate any announcement may not be too far off. But the fact that Nokia is also showing possible interest may mean the iPhone could face some serious competition very soon.
Then again, Nokia controls Symbian, which has a commanding lead of the market already. Some 65 percent of all smart phones run the OS, nearly six times that of the second place Windows Mobile (11.5 percent). All of this just could be some good old oppo research.
Having Nokia developers familiar with Android does not hurt, however. If the OS suddenly takes off, the company would not be caught off-guard and could release its own phone.
Add this to the news that pre-sale allotments of the G1 are apparently close to being sold out, and the folks at the Googleplex in Mountain View must be smiling ear-to-ear right now.
I still run hot and cold on the prospects for Google’s Android OS. With this week’s launch of the T-Mobile G1, though, I’m feeling fairly upbeat about it. For now, at least… Continue Reading →
So T-Mobile’s G1 has been unveiled. It looks neat–and it looks like the most serious rival to the iPhone yet, though the BlackBerry Bold could be a contender once AT&T starts selling the darn thing.
What the G1 doesn’t seem to be is transcendent–a phone that’s as impressive as the iPhone, but in different ways. And the world could use such a phone. Some stuff about the iPhone is a matter of personal preference: Lots of folks are OK with the onscreen keyboard, but there are at least as many hardcore smartphone users who won’t ever buy a phone that doesn’t have (to quote Steve Jobs) little plastic keys.
Then there are the things about the iPhone that may stress out even Apple’s biggest fans, such as the company’s monopoly on application distribution and its mysterious, troubling policies on what does and doesn’t get in. All in all, I think there’s an opportunity for somebody to build a phone that’s the opposite of an iPhone in some ways, and better than an iPhone in others, and maybe even open in ways that no phone has been to date. And Google’s Android OS seems like the best platform to build it on.
