Ok, so there is technically no one gPhone, not yet anyway. But while many openly pan the Android announcement, I thought this is definitely a “game changing” event.
The nut of it is that the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has announced Android, a linux-based, open platform for mobile phones. While details are slim today (the SDK is supposed to be available on the OHA website on 11/12/2007), it seems Android is as open as can be:
“The platform is every piece of software you need to build a cell phone,” added Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms.
Excited? You should be.
An open platform will enable solution providers to continue to innovate with significantly more freedom. Today, feature phones (phones with closed operating systems) and smartphones (phones with an extensible operating system, like Windows Mobile or Symbian) have hardware and software access either
- intentionally crippled
- access blocked altogether
by the carriers. What is interesting is this is as frustrating to mobile phone manufacterers as it is to mobile phone users (consumers and enterprises alike). Just ask Ed Zander, CEO of Motorola:
“I hate my customers,” Zander recently huffed in reference to the carriers, according to The Wall Street Journal. (InformationWeek)
Android has the potential to end this type of arbitrary carrier blocking and tackling. As the Android folks will tell you, Android opens the door of possibilities, providing developers the capability to create new, innovative applications.
This is key to enterprises, large and small. Without a doubt more and more enterprises are mobilizing. I hear about it almost everyday from the many enterprises I speak with.
So is Android the enterprise mobility panacea? At this point, who knows? But it has the potential to make some very tough problems become very solvable. If the OHA can execute well, if its members can deliver in each of their areas, (namely handset vendors that deliver a variety of robust, aesthetically-pleasing, and ergonomic handsets) and if the carriers can resist the urge to lock down the OS (yes, it seems despite being an open platform, carriers may be able to close it), then the OHA has a real shot at not only delivering, but pushing other platforms, carriers, and handset manufacturers to do the same.
As Rob Markovich, our CEO, says, this is mile one in the marathon. I would like to think that with Android we are off to a solid 6-minute mile. Let’s see how the remaining 25 go.
Pej