For the last few months there has been a lot of buzz going on about Google releasing a new Cell Phone. The quotes I saw were along the lines of, “iPhone Killer” and that sort of thing.
Even though I’m an avid fan of my iPhone, I was very curious to see how this was all going to pan out. After all, one must justify their iPhone as a worthy investment, right?
Well, as of yesterday, the news was released. Google was not releasing a physical phone per se, but a unified platform technology called Android (umm . . anyone else get connotations of human like robots trying to take over the world?). While the gist is that Android would be an open source avenue for developers to have access to a unified phone technology – there seems to me a problem.
I know that Apple owns my phone. They determine what goes into it and how it functions. They make their money from a rather lucrative deal with AT&T – but it’s still behind the scenes. I get a great piece of hardware and relatively consistent updates.
With Android, you may get some of those same things (minus Apple aesthetics), but Google owns the phone. Developers create the tools and possible content, and that’s not such a big deal — but let’s remember what Google does for a living: They are advertisers.
By giving Google the power to create the tool, they are now authorized to use that very same tool: to push adverts. This means device owners will now carry wireless ad space – not just a phone.
Am I wrong on this speculation? We shall see.
What’s New, Marcus? Ramblings on Technology
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Dino Corvino
11:46 am on November 6th
Google is not creating a phone, ANDROID is an Operating system.
Marcus Nelson
12:15 pm on November 6th
Dino – that’s good to point out, but it’s actually more than just an OS. It’s an operating system, user-interface and applications – also referred to as a “platform.”
Google is going to use their Open Handset Alliance to offer a Software Developer’s Kit to assist programmers with creating tools and applications to use on the phones that run the Android platform.
So, to be more specific, Google plans on leveraging Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile to create hardware that runs Android. So Google will not be the ones manufacturing these gadgets, only the peer pressure that exploits them (at least, that’s what I think will happen).
Dino Corvino
2:18 pm on November 6th
I think the significance of this is the ability for Motorola for example, to stop building a crappy OS, and adopt the google one.
I think your exactly right in your reading of the situation. I view this as a nuclear bomb being dropped technology wise. I mean world wide if you look at the adopting of the gsm based cell in asian countries, and how penetration will work there.
It is shocking to me that there are no real “Google is evil” stories yet.