Developers concerned about the amount of time it might take to get up and running with the Android platform will hopefully have their fears assuaged, after Google’s Dave Burke - an engineering manager within the mobile team - demonstrated how quick it can be to code up an application.  Talking about the OHA’s plans at the Future of Mobile Conference in London today, he managed to put together a working mobile browser in less than eight minutes.

While he opened the floor to questions, there was little new information above and beyond what we already know about Android.  Burke did respond to suggestions that Android was retreading ground already covered by the OpenMoko cellphone, dismissing the project as simply “talking about specifications”:

“The difference with Moko is this [Android] is real.  We have a lot of momentum with key partners. We are not talking about specifications, we’re just building it and trying to get support” Dave Burke, Google

Confusion about the flexibility of the platform was also addressed; apparently handset manufacturers will be free to “swap out” software Google provides, presumably replacing it with either their own versions or those of a third-party.  Burke stated this as the primary reason the search company is not concerned by the prospect of anti-trust allegations regarding the potentially large amount of Google-provided software on each handset.

Finally, if you can’t wait for the first handsets to hit the shelves before getting your hands on the full source code, you may be interested to know that Google Europe are hiring code-jockeys.  If you’re less keen on changing employers, however, then check out the Android Community and get coding!