So its Android-inside, but what exactly does that mean for the Google-powered devices you’ll be seeing on shelves in six to twelve months time? And, perhaps more importantly, where do the 33 manufacturers, networks, software designers and components specialists fit into Google’s master-plan? For a start, it’s familiar names we’re seeing topping out the list, with HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung all adding their handset clout while T-Mobile USA and Sprint head the US carriers. Undoubtedly they’ll all be clamouring for the Android SDK Google have promised within the next week, and then spending the next few months doing what the search company’s own engineers have apparently been occupying themselves with recently: mixing up Google’s range of internet services into phone-friendly “mashups” such as location-based friend searching.

The fact is, the long-rumored Google-Phone or “gPhone” failed to arrive; instead, we get something that, while it won’t grace so many magazine covers or cause queues outside phone stores, could potentially shake up the cellphone market far more so than a single handset might. Helmed by ex-Danger Andy Rubin, Android is a commonly shared software platform of basic applications - presumed to include SMS and MMS messaging and call management, as well as a mobile browser (based on Apple’s Webkit), calendar, address book, email, maps and access to the Google payment system - and the toolkit to build more complex programmes on top of that. The benefit for the manufacturer is that Google will give them the OS free, in fact it’s set to be opened up to the general public within the next twelve months; Google’s return is the opportunity to serve up finely targeted adverts to each user.

Still, there are more questions today than there are answers. Although Google has named the 34 companies that make up the Open Handset Alliance, details of the role each will play and, more importantly, the strength each will wield in group discussion is still unknown. That’s a lot of potentially clamouring voices, and so far Google hasn’t told us whether they’ll have the majority vote, whether further membership is solely at its behest or how closely it will expect handset producers to match their devices to the Android concept.

In terms of industry cooperation, it’s a momentous day - never before have so many companies opened up their respective intellectual property to each other in a manner that so readily supports open-source - and while we may not know the nature or specifications of the handsets themselves, it’s far to assume that rivals in the hardware and network businesses will be looking on with some trepidation.

Android