Glitches Bug Google's Android Software
SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. claims its Android mobile-phone software will usher in a new era of wireless communications. But for developers like Adam MacBeth, Android has so far brought headaches and frustration.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's Android push was already drawing skeptics before a line of code shipped: a November 2007 analysis called the Google Phone a business-tech nightmare waiting to happen, questioning whether an ad-funded, carrier-loosening OS could hold together. This week's reporting adds the developer's-eye view to that doubt — engineers like Adam MacBeth say the pre-release tools are buggy and slow going, and Ars Technica's same-day hands-on reaches a similarly split verdict on what the early Android SDK delivers.
First-order effects
- Developers targeting Android's first devices are burning time working around SDK defects instead of building the launch app catalog Google's 'new era of wireless' pitch depends on.
Second-order effects
- If the tooling stays rough into launch, Google's pitch to handset makers and carriers weakens: a platform is only as attractive as its third-party apps, and rival phone software stacks get an opening to argue they are the safer bet.
Third-order effects
- The episode tests whether a free, ad-supported mobile OS can sustain a healthy developer ecosystem through its rocky infancy — the question that separates platforms that compound from ones that stall.
The trend: Mobile competition is shifting from handset hardware to developer ecosystems, where SDK quality at launch decides which platforms attract the app builders.