Gizmodo’s got pictures of the new Android-based G2 phone, this time with a 3.2 megapixel camera and no hardware keyboard (ie, just a touchscreen like the iPhone and Storm).  Apparently the device is thinner than the iPhone 3G, but we’re still bothered by its lack of symmetry.  Meanwhile, it’s been reported that Android device sales are not biting iPhone sales in the slightest. Check it out.

Tags: 3g, android, apple, business, g2, google, iphone, photos

Not a big surprise, here. This move is definitely in keeping with Google’s other maneuvres, like essentially manipulating the recent federal spectrum auctions and keeping carriers out of unilateral distribution agreements for phones with the Android license. All moves designed to keep access open, and to keep Google at the helm of web services.

But I’ve grappled with the open-sourcing of Android for a couple of reasons. When you open source something, it’s either because you’re absolutely desperate to maintain a foothold or create one (like when Netscape Corp. spun off the Mozilla project), because the intellectual property being open-sourced is already stale (the Quake engines, etc.), or because the chances of achieving marketplace competitiveness are actually improved by going open source. It’s one of the three, in my mind.

Sure, people say the Open Source community provides more abundant creative contribution and discourse, but I don’t necessarily buy that argument. Don’t confuse Open Source advocacy with volunteerism. Volunteer programmers get stuff done only when there’s something in it for them. But real volunteers get stuff done because there’s something in it for somebody ELSE. Any contributions brought to Android by the outside world that are worth assimilation into the project are going to create project management expenses for Google, and the big G has always been an innovation leader (as opposed to a leech), so sucking the community’s cheap or free “cool new ideas” into Android is NOT what Google is up to.

They’re also not desperate for a market share grab. Android is so far beyond anything Microsoft and RIM have brought to the table that perhaps only Apple’s iPhone is the only valid comparison. And Apple isn’t running away with the mobile market. There’s just too much entrenchment in the wireless industry, what with all the lock-in contracts and vendor exclusivity and so on. So Google’s open sourcing is not likely to have an effect on market share, not in the short term anyway. And it’s clear that the Android technology isn’t what you would call “stale”.

So Google’s move to open up Android has all the appearances of a tactical error. To figure out the “why”, it’s important to look at the “when”. The timing of this move is peculiarly unlike previous “big open source” announcements. Since Android has a ton of buzz and is clearly on the way up, not down, the convential wisdom that only desperate companies open source their stuff does not apply. Android will be successful in Google’s mind, whether or not it were to become an open source project.

So why? Why now?

According to the official Google posting on the matter, which rightly accuses the iPhone of having a limited, closed distribution channel, the reason for the open-sourcing is to make the platform accessible and free it from the bonds of one hardware vendor or the next. Open sourcing isn’t necessary to make the platform accessible, of course, but if you’re going to pull out a stop or two, pull ‘em all out. It’s Google, after all, not Microsoft.

Google sees a future where the carriers and hardware vendors cannot collude because platform choices are going to be made by consumers. That’s the answer to the “why”. By giving the consumers at large access to a very compelling (free) platform choice, the carriers and phonemakers have one less competitive advantage in being tied at the hip. And that is a very good thing.

Tags: android, iphone, voip, wireless

Well this is it — the first Android handset was introduced yesterday at Wembley Stadium (essentially Microsoft Stadium) in London, England.  We now know that the Android unit will indeed offer VoIP features out of the box, and that Google’s engineering team has confirmed that at least one carrier is on speaking terms about the addition of VoIP. This gives the Android a tangible edge on the iPhone, which is still in VoIP limbo.

Also included in the first Android handset, known as the G1, which has roughly the same form factor as the iPhone, is a touch screen and a set of nav buttons.  We also now know that this phone and the HTC Dream are one and the same.  The new device will be available on October 17, from T-Mobile, with other carriers, including Sprint, to follow next year.

Tags: android, google, hardware, t-mobile, voip, wireless

Google has introduced the Android Market, an online marketplace for developers to hawk the apps they’ve created for the search giant’s cell phone OS, Android. At first blush, the thing looks suspiciously like the iPhone App Store.  One key difference: the quality control aspect. Users will govern quality, rather than the proprietor of the marketplace.  Unlike Apple’s App Store, Google will apparently not have to certify applications that are offered, but rather use the “Web 2.0″ approach of YouTube, allowing users to vote up or vote down certain apps on a 5-star scale, creating the bubble effect: the good content rises to the top of the heap, while the poor ones get buried. Check it out.

Tags: android, appstore, google