Google’s Android

Google have announced a software platform called Android that aims to speed up the use of the internet on mobile phones. The plan is to provide an open shared platform and would work actively with 30 international handset makers and communications companies. Android comprises a complete “stack” of software for mobile phones, including an operating system, middleware, interface and applications and the software is designed to make it easier for developers to create mobile applications that run on many different handsets. The FT comments:

Google’s success in drawing a wide group of mobile industry players to its technology marks a sharp contrast with Microsoft, which has tried for years to win support for a mobile version of its Windows operating system.

That effort was resisted for years by many in the mobile industry, who saw it as an attempt by Microsoft to bring the economics of the PC business to the mobile, a move that might undermine the profits of hardware makers and operators, and favour the software company.

…Google and several of its partners said that the aim was to create an “open” technology that would encourage greater innovation around mobile handsets. However, the move represented a delicate balance, as Google tried to shake up the existing structure of the industry while persuading mobile companies that its approach would not disrupt their businesses.

Android
FT

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