Google Phone

Could a spinoff from Microsoft Research end up providing another open-access piece of the Android mobile-internet experience?  That looks to be the word out of Zumobi, a developer of the self-titled mobile browser that uses a unique “tiles” system of organising specific web content - such as Flickr feeds, multimedia content, information from RSS or blog data - and serving it up in a scrolling, resizing UI they’re calling the Zooming User Interface.

“Whether it’s Android [Google's platform for mobile devices], Verizon or Nokia, we want to provide a simple solution for people to access the data” Beth Goza, Senior Marketing Manager, Zumobi

Check out the video demo of the Zumobi beta release, after the cut

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It might just be Seasonal Affective Disorder, but paranoia and dark soothsaying seem to be the moods of the moment with analysts and industry professionals muttering worried concerns about Google’s long-term plans and the state of the open-source market.  While the original Android announcement - of a mobile platform built on open-source foundations that would promote flexibility and perhaps even make good on the “write once, run anywhere” mantra developers have long been promised - prompted excitement, the recent release of LiPS’ open-specifications has reminded everyone of the flipside of flexibility.  Namely, that everybody involved needs to sign up to the same standards and cooperate. 

“It’s unlikely that Android would happen to comply with LiPS 1.0 … At the end of the day, confused customers don’t buy — and confused developers don’t write apps. Then you have a fragmented ecosystem” Bill Hughes, analyst, In-Stat

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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.

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Nokia has hit back at Google’s Android platform, with CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo dismissing the Open Handset Alliance’s OS launch with the suggestion that the Finnish company themselves have already trodden much of the software ground Google and partners are currently bringing attention to: “conceptually, we could have made that announcement a long time ago.”  In fact, with their announcement of the Ovi internet-services project - that has recently clinched the support of Vodafone, already a vocal critic of Android - that will combine their music and mapping services, as well as hints of geo-targeted advertising, their position as chief rival to the Google OS seems increasingly cemented.

“Mobile phones have two qualities that PCs don’t have: they’re always with you, and they tell other people where you are” Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia

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Although some are predicting high standards of device security with Android, and the team working on the platform are busy publicising the high-level architecture that puts security under the remit of the Linux processes rather than VM, that hasn’t stopped anti-virus companies issuing ominous warnings about a spike in cellphone malware once handsets start hitting the market.  SMobile Systems, who are behind the SecurityShield anti-virus and malware package already available for Symbian, Palm, Blackberry and Windows Mobile systems, have today announced not only their concerns that Android’s Linux-base will more easily facilitate virus authors, but that they’re developing a retail product to help prevent against it.

“Once millions of consumers get these new devices into their hands, the thousands of hackers out there will turn their attention to the Google powered phones … The Google Phone platform will enable users to more easily access the Internet and download applications, which is great - but it will also encourage the hacking community to make new and more virulent strains of attacks” Rick Roscitt, CEO, SMobile Systems

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The glossy demo videos of Android are all well and good, but if the reference designs are to be translated into meaningful hardware the guts of the platform need to be better understood.  Over at the Android Developers Blog the latest podcast features two of the architects from the engineering team, Dianne Hackborn and Jason Parks, who talk us through some technical history of the project, discuss security and the way services are handled, as well as guidance on programming for small devices.

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As the Android platform matures, more third-party developers are looking to step on board with the Open Handset Alliance; the latest of these, with a strong background in enterprise data mobility, is California-based Sybase, Inc.  The company - who facilitate database systems that can be accessed on a variety of hardware and software platforms - espouse a concept they call “the Unwired Enterprise”, a cross-platform network that delivers data to Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm and Linux-based devices, among others.

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Earlier this week Google launched an update for their Maps Mobile cellphone software which uses cell tower triangulation to estimate your position; called Assisted-GPS (or “My Location” in Google-speak), the potential privacy concerns came under the microscope of NYT journalist Saul Hansell.  One of Google’s PR team, Barry Schnitt, took issue with Hansell’s description of the software as “secretly” collecting the GPS data from compatible handsets to augment the service’s accuracy, pointing - as we did - to the Privacy Policy.

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An update to Google’s Maps for Mobile service, which is currently available as a free download to compatible cellphones and has formed a flagship part of most Android demos to-date, adds the company’s own version of Assisted-GPS that uses both cell towers and other users handsets to triangulate your position.  In a product demo with the NY Times, division manager Steve Lee revealed that the software relies on unsecured GPS hardware in cellphones and other devices to identify and accurately locate individual cell towers:

“Google figures out which cell towers are where by secretly enlisting the help of a million of its mobile maps users who happen to have phones with built-in GPS devices that are not locked by the carriers (that means no one who uses Verizon). These phones have been reporting to Google where they are, based on the GPS data and what cell tower they are connected to” Saul Hansell, NY Times

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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

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