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- The Guardian
- Thursday November 15 2007
Want to get some money? Develop an application for Google's new "Android" mobile phone platform: the giant search company announced this week that it has $10m (£4.8m) to be awarded to people who develop programs for it. "No strings attached - for great mobile apps built for the Android platform," the company says at the web page for the Android Developer Challenge (tinyurl.com/27mqwx).
Among the suggestions are social networking, media (such as photos) management, gaming, instant messaging, news, mashups and "whatever you're excited about". But while some may be excited about being paid to code, many more are intrigued by the role that Google will play in the newly announced Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies, including handset makers such as HTC and mobile networks including T-Mobile and Sprint.
Google also released some videos suggesting how the phone might work, with mockups and video demonstrations suggesting that it has Apple's iPhone in its sights: among the key features would be a touchscreen, fast-scrolling maps and email - as well, of course, as making telephone calls.
The browser is based on WebKit, the open source product on which Apple builds its own Safari browser, used in the iPhone.
Android also means that the phone will be built on the Linux operating system. That isn't a first, but with Google and big handset makers such as HTC as well as networks with the heft of T-Mobile behind it, Android has the potential to create a new handset that could be low-cost and very adaptable: Google talks about being able to change the main interface as you like.
But to Google, the main value lies in extending its potential reach for serving adverts.
"There are at least 3 billion mobile users in the world today, and there are more mobile phones worldwide than there are internet users or landline phones," says Eric Schmidt, its chairman and chief executive. "Getting people access to info is Google's core mission and mobile phones have to be part of that."
Android-based phones are planned to go on sale in the second half of 2008.
