Google Phone

A freshly published Google patent filing suggests that, while the company may be on good terms with cellular carriers now, in the future the telcos might be a little more resentful.  Titled “Flexible Communication Systems and Methods”, the document describes a system whereby a mobile device - such as an Android cellphone - could monitor and judge available wireless networks and route voice and data traffic over whichever was the cheapest. Google’s filing describes cellular, WiFi and WiMAX networks as all being potential routes, with the technicalities invisible to the user; their example is a mobile handset that works on home WiFi then seamlessly transitions to a WiFi hotspot or cellular network when outside.

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The deadline for phase one of Google’s Android Developer Challenge closed yesterday, and so the entrants are beginning to show off their wares. One of the more eye-catching is Enkin, an augmented reality app for Android which overlays GPS, motion information and other data over a live camera view of a user’s surroundings. As an idea it’s similar to designer Mac Funamizu’s encyclopedia frame concept, using real-time queries of online information to offer users pertinent information about their environment.

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Having gone to Barcelona more than a little ambivalent about Android, Vincent ended up pretty impressed by the state of Google’s mobile OS (you can read all our coverage here); from what he saw, the software and hardware partners Google has managed to bring on board are doing a pretty good job of turning what could be just another Linux cellphone distro into something capable of threatening Symbian and Windows Mobile. It looks like the BBC’s Darren Waters feels much the same way after meeting with Android developer Andy Rubin (and shooting the video you can see after the cut); despite demonstrating an alpha version of the software stack, the handset Rubin brought was still capable of browsing the full internet, smoothly showing Google Maps and even the hitherto desktop-only Street View location-image app.

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Google has released a new version of the Android SDK, m5-rc14, making significant GUI and API changes that, in many cases, have been prompted by developer feedback. Layout animations have now been included, making transitions within and between apps smoother, a greater number of audio codecs are supported (including Ogg Vorbis and MIDI) and there’s a geocoding process that streamlines location searches in the mapping software.

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Recently Google held three developer workshops - in London, Munich and Tel Aviv - to publicise accurate Android facts and demonstrate how to code on the platform; another such event will be held on the 23rd in Boston.  Lance Davis of RegDeveloper was invited, along with other software coders, to visit Google’s London office and get some basic understanding of how the company has put together the Android embedded OS. 

For the non-coders among us, or those new to mobile development, Lance neatly illustrates the challenge Google has faced - and perhaps set for programmers already working in the field - by comparing computer versus phone architecture:

“Computer people coming to mobile have a very different view of phone architecture to phone people adding features. Phone people see the phone functions - the GSM chipset, Bluetooth, DVB-H, for example, as a foundation, with drivers on top. Then there’s an abstraction layer, an operating system, a user interface framework and the applications on top. Computer people look at the system as a processor with a BIOS on top, then an OS, framework and applications. The bits that mobile phone people see as a foundation, the computer people see as an adjunct connected by drivers. Voice is just another application. And this approach was reflected yesterday” Lance Davis, RegDeveloper

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Last year we suggested that, rather than Microsoft or Apple, Nokia was Android’s main competitor; since then, the Finnish company has announced Q4 2007 sales of €15,7bn ($23bn), an increase of 34-percent over the same quarter the previous year, and strong performance in all regions bar the US.  Today, however, comes the next step in Nokia’s plans to rival the Open Handset Alliance: they’ve made a €104m ($153) bid for Trolltech, a multi-platform Linux developer responsible for the software currently found running Google Earth, Skype, and a variety of mobile devices including Sony’s Mylo messenger.

“The technology landscape evolves and, for Nokia, software plays a major role in our growth strategy for devices, PCs and the integration with the Internet. We continue to focus on areas where we can differentiate and add more value. Common cross-platform layers on top of our software platforms attract innovation and enable Web 2.0 technologies in the mobile space.  Trolltech’s deep understanding of open source software and its strong technology assets will enable both Nokia and others to innovate on our device platforms while reducing time-to-market. This acquisition will also further increase the competitiveness of S60 and Series 40″ Kai Öistämö, Executive Vice President, Devices, Nokia

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While the cosy group press releases might indicate otherwise, and Google’s assertions of a verbal compatibility contract attempt to sooth the troubled brows of interoperability advocates, don’t doubt that each member of the Open Handset Alliance is in the Android game for their own progression.  Latest cellular casualty is Qualcomm, who have this week suffered in a business-damaging patent dispute with fellow OHA member Broadcom.  The California ruling - that until January 2009 Qualcomm can continue to sell certain wireless chips that infringe three of its semiconductor rival’s patents, together with an immediate injunction on some WCDMA chips in its range - will see the company pay royalties while similarly hurrying to develop non-contentious products for existing clients.

“While Qualcomm will attempt to obtain further relief and clarity from the court on certain aspects of its order, the inability to obtain such relief will have an immediate short-term impact as handset customers transition to new designs for WCDMA products” Paul Jacobs, Chief Executive, Qualcomm

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Just as the creatively overhauled Google interface for the Apple iPhone was heralded as the search company “practising” for their own Android platform, the news that Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo is considering using Google-powered search and email functionality in their own handsets will likely be viewed as further evidence of paving the way for 2008’s gPhones.  Sources quoted in the Nikkei business daily claimed that from as early as Spring DoCoMo subscribers with compatible handsets will be able to access their Google-based email, calendar, photos and searches through the i-mode network.

“We are currently studying the possibility of an alliance in search services with domestic or overseas partners, but nothing has been decided yet” Hiroto Nakagawa, DoCoMo spokesman

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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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