Developing apps for Google Android: it's a mixed bag
The software development kit for Google's Linux-based Android mobile phone operating system has been out in the wild for a over a month now, plenty of time for developers to form opinions of the platform and assess the capabilities of the API.
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's early look Android SDK landed on November 12, 2007, giving developers their first hands-on contact with the Linux-based mobile OS behind Google's promise of 'a new era of wireless communications.' Five weeks is enough time for a first real verdict, and it is split: the API draws interest, but developers like Adam MacBeth report glitches and frustration, a complaint the Wall Street Journal put on its front page the same day.
The stakes are ecosystem-shaped rather than product-shaped. No Android handset has shipped; what Google is selling carriers and handset partners right now is the prospect that an app base will exist at launch. Early developer sentiment is the leading indicator of whether that prospect holds.
First-order effects
- Developers deciding where to spend the months before any Android phone ships now have concrete evidence of API rough edges, which raises the cost of betting early on the platform versus waiting for a more mature SDK.
- Google's marketing claim that Android will transform wireless is now running against same-day press coverage (glitches bug the software) that frames the platform as unfinished.
Second-order effects
- Carriers and handset makers weighing Android adoption will read developer frustration as a signal about launch-day app supply, potentially slowing commitments or pushing Google to smooth the SDK before hardware partners finalize roadmaps.
- Rival mobile platforms benefit from a free comparison point: every published Android gripe lowers the switching pressure on developers already invested elsewhere.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, mobile OS competition settles into a contest over developer experience and SDK governance rather than handset hardware alone — whoever iterates fastest on early feedback wins the app pipeline that makes a platform credible at launch.
The trend: Mobile platforms are being judged by developers months before their first device ships, making pre-release SDK quality a leading indicator of which operating systems attract an app ecosystem.