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Google, Android and Open Source Telephones
11 6th, 2007Not surprisingly, I have an opinion about Google’s new Android phone operating system and their Open Handset Alliance, and as much as I don’t want to admit it I believe this is great for the consumer and even better for the phone manufacturers. Why? Because, finally the phone manufacturers can spend less time working on creating an OS for their phone and put those investment dollars into making their phones better telephones. Add in to that some additional functionality on even the most generic of phones and you potentially end up with an exploding smart-phone revolution that significantly improves the end-user experience.
It is yet to be seen how the companies that have signed on will take advantage of the open-source nature of the Android system, or even how similar the phones will be when they come off the assembly line. The open-source nature of the idea allows for so much variety and my greatest fear is that they’ll all come to a similar end result. Fortunately, companies will be able to choose what they offer - their own OS, a Windows platform or an open-source Linux platform, so maybe my fears won’t reach fruition and the market will allow the differentiation to come out in the user experience, the fit and finish of the product and, quite often, the hip factor that the handset carries.
What I don’t understand is how a company like Google can honestly suggest that this new technology will make the mobile internet experience “better than on a PC.” I’ve used the internet on my Blackberry, and frankly until web-developers get on board and write a user experience and code specifically for handsets I don’t see how a poor user experience is going to change with a new interface. It’s a tiny screen, a typically slow speed connection, and a sacrificed keyboard. Those things aren’t likely to change if phone manufacturers aren’t looking to alienate their customers, because frankly my Blackberry 8830 is plenty big enough. We’ll see what dribbles out in the second half of 2008, but I don’t see a revolutionary change from what we’re used to seeing today and I definitely don’t see it being better than my PC.
The ultimate winners here could be Linux and the Windows Mobile OS. Up until now the Microsoft product offering has been mixed, but now that the Google money machine has rolled into the open-source camp I imagine that Microsoft is going to have to step up to the plate or find the future of its mobile OS fading into the sunset. As a Windows systems administrator (everyone has to have a day job), I value the tools that the Windows Mobile OS offers , but I can’t use their phones because they’re typically not a good phone. If I can’t make and receive calls equal to even the lowest end LG phone, no amount of features will change my perception of that phone. Could Google’s announcement mean that I can get a mobile platform for system administration AND a good telephone? Only time will tell.
~geek
November 7th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
After reading many blogs and watching this nice video where developers talk about Android’s conception process (http://www.weshow.com/us/p/22462/introducing_googles_android), I think Android has a great concept. Although a phone means nothing but a phone to me because it’s just not as useful as a computer, I really hope that this new platform makes me change my mind.