Android’s Software May Improve Phones

Dear Propeller Heads: My co-worker swears she read somewhere that Google released a mobile phone. I don’t believe it. They’re a search company! Who’s right? A: You would’ve won that bet. How will Google make a splash in the mobile-phone world without releasing a phone? The same way it always does: with software.

Google acquired startup Android Inc., according to a 2005 report by BusinessWeek. Android’s Andy Rubin had founded Danger Inc., the company behind the uber-cool-in-2002 hiptop mobile phone (now marketed as the T-Mobile Sidekick).

The Internet was abuzz back then about what this meant. Rumor was that Google would release its own phone, but in November 2007 that speculation was put to rest.

The company announced the Google Android mobile-phone software based on their previous acquisition. It also trumpeted the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational group of companies including Motorola, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, Qualcomm and 30 others that will support mobile applications using Android.

Google released programming tools (code.google.com/android) for anyone to download, making Android an open platform. The company also built it on popular existing technologies, making it easy for programmers to get started.

Android provides a compatibility layer across multiple devices, allowing programmers to write applications for Android and have them automatically run on multiple phones.

This is preferable to having companies create one version of the same application for each phone, and it also prevents consumers from needing to repurchase mobile applications whenever they switch phones.

Google sweetened the pot further with a two-part Android Developer Challenge. Round One, which ended in April, encouraged programmers to submit their Android applications to Google for judging.

Round Two, scheduled to start later in the year as Android phones become available, lets Round One winners improve their applications.

Some industry pundits have hailed Android as an “iPhone killer,” even though the iPhone is an actual phone and Android is software. It could be months before we know if Android leads to better phones, but the future looks promising for consumers.

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