Google Android delays advantage Apple and iPhone 3G
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google, which said in November that it along with more than 30 partners would begin releasing the first Android-based mobile phones during the second half of the year, now says those handsets won't arrive till the fourth quarter. Some partners, however, are finding they'll need even more time than that.
For instance, the financial paper said that T-Mobile's first Android-based handset is now due during the fourth quarter, but the project is consuming so many of Google's resources that a similar initiative by Sprint Nextel won't be ready by year's end as originally planned.
Similarly, the world's largest wireless carrier, China Mobile, had also anticipated marketing an Android handset to its more than 400 million subscribers in the third quarter, but people familiar with the situation say the carrier may see those plans pushed out till early next year.
For its part, Sprint is is said to have sought development of its own brand of services based off Android for a phone that would run on its current 3G network, rather than bundle those the standard services Google has built into its mobile platform. Those plans may now be up on the chopping block, according to the Journal, as the carrier considers scrapping them in favor of throwing its resources behind a handset that would operate on its future 4G network.
Meanwhile, China Mobile is reportedly finding it difficult to both intertwine the Google software with its own branded data services, as well as translate it from Roman characters into Chinese.
"Meanwhile, the Android software has yet to win broad support from large mobile-software developers," the Jornal said. "Some say it is difficult to develop programs while Google is making changes as it finishes its own software."
Google's Android takes design cues from Apple's iPhone software.
Android's rocky start underscore the challenges faced by Google — or any other high tech firm — when trying to manage a large group of hardware, software and service providers. By contrast Apple, whose upcoming iPhone 3G is expected to present one of the strongest tests of Google's Android strategy, maintains a tight grip on nearly every aspect of the handset's design.
Android's new slide-to-unlock system.
Google, aware of the benchmarks in service, quality and user experience set by the original iPhone, is further reported by the Journal to have seeded to its handset partners several prototype devices, including one that "has a long touch-screen, similar to the Apple iPhone, a swivel-out full keyboard, and a trackball for navigation similar to the kind on some BlackBerrys."
More information on the Apple-inspired Google Android platform is available in AppleInsider's Android topics page, or in specific reports on the software's initial announcement, notes of interest, development kit, and recent refinements.
48 Comments
Android has a lot of promise, but I have seen no video that has demonstrated that it's near a release date. I had no idea that it was expected to launch in mainstream devices later this year.
I'm somewhat eager to see Android out there...it will spawn some healthy competition between Apple, Google and Everyone Else. It could possibly also bring back 1995 in the sense that Android will be good enough for everyone but I think that's highly improbable now that kids/teens/young adults are now the people that think Apple is cool. I think things are only going to go uphill for Apple for at least the next decade.
A wildly popular Android also means more Webkit share. Which means more companies will finally get their heads out of their asses and stop supporting IE6, start adopting web standards, perhaps stop relying on Flash and remove artificial Safari-blocking code.
Android has a lot of promise, but I have seen no video that has demonstrated that it's near a release date. I had no idea that it was expected to launch in mainstream devices later this year.
True...and like MS, Google will have one heck of a job to support all the different phone hardware and configurations that Android will have to deal with. Hardware keyboards, trackballs, touch, different CPUs, different display sizes. I'd be surprised if Android didn't have a rocky start.
A wildly popular Android also means more Webkit share. Which means more companies will finally get their heads out of their asses and stop supporting IE6, start adopting web standards, perhaps stop relying on Flash and remove artificial Safari-blocking code.
Come on now lad, get a grip of yourself. Get back to reality, Joe public are all sheep and will be using IE x for years to come. Unfortunately.
From video footage i have seen of Android it looks just as complicated to navigate as the typical software on current mobiles. I'm sure it'll have some cool stuff but mobile companies are going to have to come up with some decent hardware for consumers to really appreciate what it can do.
Apple has the advantage in that it creates beautiful hardware and software that just works, plus it's a sub-zero product. With the new prices of 3G iPhone a lot of iPod/iTouch users will see the iPhone as the next logical step. It's possible the games already over before it's even begun.