2) A Linux-based open sourceplatform for mobile cellular handsets. Android was developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a coalition of hardware, software and telecommunications companies oriented towards advancing mobile telephony standards. More than 30 companies are involved in the OHA, including Qualcomm, Broadcom, HTC, Intel, Samsung, Motorola, Sprint, Texas Instruments and Japanese wireless carriers KDDI and NTT DoCoMo.
Android began its life as a Palo Alto-based startup company, founded in 2003. That company was subsequently acquired by Google in 2005. Co-founder Andy Rubin is perhaps best known for creating the Sidekick, one of the first Internet-capable smartphones with a QWERTY keyboard.
The Android platform includes an operating system based upon Linux, a GUI, a Web browser and many other applications considered key to a modern cellular handset. Android allows synchronization to a user's address
book, calendar and other personal information management (PIM) programs, though individual software makers will have to customize their offerings. Naturally, Google Calendar and Maps will be built-in. Android will allow users to browse the Internet more easily, integrate mapping services with local business listings and use many other software features traditionally associated with personal computers rather than cellphones.
Although the initial demonstrations of Android have featured a generic QWERTY smartphone and large VGA screen, the operating system was written to run on relatively inexpensive handsets with conventional numeric keypads. Android will run on both of the most widely deployed cellular standards, GSM/HSDPA and CDMA/EV-DO. Android will also support:
Android includes software built by many different entities. For instance, the default Android web browser will be based on Webkit, like Apple's Safari. Webkit was originally based on the Konquerer Web browser for Linux. Its music and video playback software was developed by PacketVideo. Applications are written using Java and are run on Dalvik, a virtual machine that runs on top of a Linux kernel. Android will be released under the Apache v2 open source license.
Google's strategy with Android likely will involve a wireless system that subsidizes the service and hardware of users in exchange for geotargeted, customized advertising. To that end, Google is planning to bid in the January 2008 auction for the license on the 700 mHzspectrum in the U.S., an ideal frequency for high speed broadband Internet access. Creating a wide coalition of partners that are independent of wireless telecommunication carriers could free mobile handset users from proprietary, closed services that have been characterized by slow service or limited features, opening the door for rapid development and integration of social networking, mobile video or mcommerce features.
Wireless companies may be reluctant to carry Android devices on their networks due to security concerns, based upon widely available open source protocols. More fundamentally, threats to profitable revenue streams in ringtones, email and messaging services, games, GPS features and other competing applications could mean that carriers will not adopt the devices without significant market pressures. An open source Web browser that offered support for VoIP calls while on open WiFi networks, for instance, would be a substantial competitive threat to the wireless carriers. Android will also face a similar position to that initially enjoyed by Linux, as Symbian remains the world's largest mobile device operating system, with a global market share of 72% in the smartphone OS market during Q2 2007. Early support from Sprint (along with an upcoming deployment of WiMAX to over 54 million users) and T-Mobile, however, will help to drive adoption of Android-devices in the U.S. domestic market.
Google has applied for several patents for mobile use, including mobile contextual advertising and payment schemes. An image-based inquiry system that would allow users to scan items with an integrated camera and immediately receive identification of those items using an integrated search engine could radically change commerce and how individuals navigate commerce and the world at large. Google's Mobile Adsense program is a glimpse of this emerging technological ecosystem.
The Android software development kit (SDK) was released in November 2007. The Android SDK includes development and debugging tools, a device emulator, software libraries, documentation, sample projects, video tutorials and other FAQs. Google's immediate release of this SDK stands in stark contrast to Apple's approach with the iPhone, which was initially released as a closed system with no institutional support for third-party applications, or RIM's BlackBerry OS. Apple will, however, does plan to release an iPhone SDK in early 2008.
The embedded video below features Google's Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discussing the availability of the SDK, the open source prospects of the platfom and then demonstrating applications on the
Android platform.
Free and open source software (FOSS)(SearchEnterpriseLinux.com) Free and open source software (FOSS), also known as free/libre open source software (FLOSS) and free/open source software (F/OSS), is software...
gOS(SearchEnterpriseLinux.com) gOS (pronounced gee-oss) is a Linux distribution designed for use with Web-based applications rather than software that must be purchased and...
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- Android refers to:
