Google to unveil 'Android' phone software
Google is ready to unveil a suite of software for mobile phones based on open-source technology, backed by some of the largest wireless industry companies in the world. — The company is expected to hold a press conference on Monday to unveil the project …
Context & Ripple Effects
Google has been telegraphing this move for days: a press conference set for Monday followed reports that the company is negotiating deals with wireless carriers, handset makers, software developers and hardware providers ahead of the launch. The project is widely framed — though Google has not confirmed it — as an answer to Apple's iPhone, which reset expectations for phone software earlier in 2007.
What makes the announcement notable is its shape: rather than a Google-branded device, the company is readying an open-source suite of mobile software aimed squarely at the smartphone market, backed by some of the world's largest wireless companies. The move lands just after Google's OpenSocial push with MySpace shook up Web 2.0, suggesting a deliberate pattern of opening platforms to recruit allies against closed rivals.
First-order effects
- Carriers and handset makers backing Android gain a free, open-source alternative to licensed operating systems like Symbian and Microsoft's Windows Mobile, cutting per-device software costs.
Second-order effects
- Incumbent mobile OS vendors face pressure to match an open-source price of zero, while carriers that control phone features through closed deals must justify those restrictions against a platform designed to expose them.
Third-order effects
- If the alliance holds, the phone industry's center of gravity shifts from carrier-controlled proprietary stacks toward open-source platforms monetized through services and advertising — with Google positioned to route mobile search and ads through software it gives away.
The trend: Mobile computing is shifting from closed, carrier-controlled phone software toward open-source platforms backed by internet companies whose economics run on advertising rather than licenses.