After a delay while Google’s engineers attempted to fix the submissions system, the Android Developer Challenge has finally opened for entries.  With a total prize-fund of $10m, the competition has both been lauded and criticised as stimulating software coding and simultaneously encouraging developers to jealously guard their skills.  Challenge I, which will be accepting entries until March 3rd, will offer 50-percent of that jackpot, with fifty winning entries getting a guaranteed $25,000 each and the possibility of supplementary awards - ten of $100,000 and ten of $275,000 - for particularly good applications.

It’s not just the Android SDK that has come under some fire for being prematurely announced; the much-publicised Developer Fund, which held promises of $10m in funding for coders willing to produce apps for the new mobile platform, has itself been delayed after Google’s engineers discovered bugs in the submissions website.  In fact, at the moment that’s no big deal: the final Terms & Conditions paperwork - which will detail such important elements as who holds the IP of submitted applications - are yet to be ready, leaving developers uncertain and cautious as to their long-term involvement in their own software and in Android itself.

“As you probably know, the Android Developer Challenge submission period for the first round is scheduled to run from today, 2 January, through 3 March. Unfortunately final testing revealed some cross-browser bugs in the application we’ll be using to allow you submit your work. We’re fixing those now, and will have the site up and running as soon as we possibly can. At the same time that the submission application becomes available, we’ll also make the final Terms and Conditions of the competition available” Android Developer Challenge blog

After lamenting the absence of (public) contenders for the $10m Google Android coding prize, mobile first-person shooter WiFi Army could stand a chance of scooping some of that cash with its blend of GPS, Google Maps and the camera likely to be included in most gPhones.  Developed by W2Pi Entertainment, players register online with a current photo and then rivals attempt to locate them using GPS-fed Google Maps.  Points are scored by “shooting” opponents with the camera; their image is compared to that on the server to confirm their identity. 

Check out the demo videos of WiFi Army after the cut

Slow development milestones for Android have previously been blamed on Google’s $10m coding “prizefund” forcing app creation undercover; could the truth be that the platform is simply not ready for primetime release?  That’s the strident criticism from developer Adam MacBeth, who has found the SDK toolkit to be riddled with bugs, poorly implemented code and a general absence of support from Google themselves.

“Functionality is not there, is poorly documented or just doesn’t work. It’s clearly not ready for prime time” Adam MacBeth

Android has the traditional carriers unnerved at the prospect of a rapidly evolving business model - unnerved enough for historically closed Verizon Wireless to let down the CDMA drawbridge, even - with open-source software promising to flood the market with low-cost, highly adapted cellular devices and advertising revenue supplanting monthly contracts and expensive add-ons.  Yet some believe this upheaval is merely the beginning; Linux software provider Wind River Systems dispatched their chief marketing officer, John Bruggeman, to talk to ZDNet’s Dana Gardner about not only the advancing role of geo-specific search and advertising, but the future of Android as a platform for mobile devices and the successful software that’s to run on it.

“You’ve got your phone. And, I know physically where that [phone's] IP address is. You are around the corner from Starbucks. Now, is Starbucks going to be willing to pay a premium to get you to drive or walk around the corner? Or, I know you’re sitting in the airport terminal. All the possibilities become very powerful concepts” John Bruggerman, Wind River Systems

With Google already experimenting with mobile adverts, and Microsoft this week launching both banner and text adverts on their MSN Mobile portal, it seems a safe bet that the business model is set to evolve.  Yet as eWeek’s Clint Boulton points out, consumers already consider banners passé and are fearful that the adverts will “clutter the tiny screens” of their devices.  The key difference will be targeting promotional content so that it is both personally and situationally specific enough to be of interest (rather than frustration) to the user, and cost effective to the company funding the advert who is, in effect, subsidising the user’s connection.

Edit: HTC tell us that this meeting never took place, and are denying that TouchFLO will necessarily make an appearance on the gPhone.  See update at the end of the article.

With developers seemingly hiding underneath their keyboards and rival hardware manufacturers and networks apparently on an hiatus of Android criticism, we’re left desperately seeking out crumbs of handset news from key players such as HTC.  Executive Style’s Adam Turner resorted to inviting HTC exec John Featherstone on a coffee date to try to prise further details out regarding the company’s cellphone plans; obviously he didn’t buy him a biscotti, as Featherstone would only confirm that the TouchFLO interface “could” be ported to Android and be included in the first wave of devices.

Open-source development continues to figure strongly on Google’s agenda, as for the forth year running the company kicks off its “Summer of Code” contest.  The project - which is open to young people over 13 who are yet to begin university studies - encourages participation in any of ten different open-source projects, including Apache, GNOME and Python.  Curiously absent, however, is any sign of the Android platform; given the current $10m prizefund for app developers, it seems strange that none of the projects included in the competition have a particularly mobile-focus.

It seemed such a straightforward idea (even if Scoble disliked it): launch a new mobile platform based on an historically fan-fuelled OS, emphasise the “phone of the people” credentials and then offer a sizable financial reward for developing new applications for it all.  But it seems that Google’s $10m moneybox might have had the opposite effect; rather than encourage new ideas, the thought of helping somebody else win a share of the fund has made expert programmers clam up:

“The fact there is close to $300,000 on the line for winning projects is making most people think twice about sharing stuff with the community. PHP-like documentation with associated user contributed code would make developing on the Android platform a dream — unfortunately there is no such thing. Unless you are an experienced Java programmer with the skills to interpret the provided documentation without extra code to look at, there is a good chance you are out of luck” Garett Rogers, ZDNet

Somewhere in the caves of the internet there are people playing Robert Scoble Bingo - you can get a full house if you predict which technologies will float the former Microsoft tech-evangelist’s boat, without getting sidetracked by those he takes an avid dislike to.  Latest under Robert’s loupe is Android, and if you thought an open-source, Linux-based free platform together with $10m of financial backing for developers would make him moist around the pelvis then think again; he’s not impressed.

“I didn’t see ONE feature that will get normal people to switch from the iPhone. This comes across like something developers developed for other developers without thought of how they were going to build a movement” Robert Scoble

One week on, and the first Android SDK details are emerging from the Open Handset Alliance.  Initial thinking was that the SDK toolkit would be primarily available for participating developers, but it turns out that - more in keeping with the Google way of doing things - it’s a full release, together with tutorials, toolkits, APIs and tips for amateur coders to start hashing something together for upcoming gPhones.  Those a little more proficient have another incentive to develop for the platform: a $10 million prize fund for the best Android applications.

After the cut: Sergey Brin and Steve Horowitz discuss the Android SDK and demo primary apps