FEATURE ANDROID

IDC’s research di- rector John Dela- ney described the Nexus One as “the best Android phone to hit the market so far,” when it launched

in January, so if Moss is right about Google’s motivation then perhaps it succeeded. But the price of the unit, and the choice of sales channel, were set in a way that didn’t seem designed to encourage uptake in huge vol- umes. It was thought that perhaps Google would try and undercut Apple with its pricing, but it did not. Delaney believes that Google sees these

devices as a means to an end. And that end is to build a large user base for Google’s mobile services; to expose that user base to advertising; and to collect the data its user base generates. “In other words, Google wants to be everyone’s starting point when they use the mobile internet,” Delaney said. But not everyone thinks that Google got

everything right with the Nexus One. Sy Choud- hury points out that the Facebook integration, which was done very successfully by Motorola and HTC, was not particularly good on the Nexus one and that the media player experience on the handset is “pretty mediocre.” “What’s happened is what happens with

every open source project,” says Qualcomm’s Sy Choudhury. “Google has realised that there are constituencies who will take Android in differ- ent directions and that, if they are to have more of a guiding hand in what the Google experience defines, they’re going to have to step up to the plate a little bit more. I think Google has realised that Android can be both the open platform and

the showcase but that they don’t get everything for free just by throwing it out there and having the best web services,” he says. No mobile operating system can be judged

fully independently of its applications, of course and the Android Market application store cur- rently has more than 30,000 applications on its shelves. In its approach to its application store, Google has made another concession to carriers, as Informa’s Jamie Moss explains: “It’s interesting to note that it may be

the relatively small monetary value that application stores have that has enabled Google to take its approach with the Android Market—taking a zero cut of the revenue and instead giving a 30 per cent cut to the mobile operators in payment for billing,” he says. “This dramatically increases the flexibility of the store, by not requiring the user to sign up to any other billing mechanism (un- like with Apple’s App Store) and not directly competing with the carriers. In this way the mass-market chances of the Android Market are boosted,” he says. And some developers are praising the

Android platform accessibility. Sean Guy works for UK developer The iPhone Devel- opers: “While many developers have found Apple’s development environment easy to use, it is of course limited to Mac only,” he says. “Google’s Eclipse/Java approach, on the other hand, allows one and all to develop and launch an application. In short, the overall application publishing experience for [an Android] developer is relatively painless. The same is not to be said for developing on the iPhone platform.” Guy continues: “Android represents the ability for developers to innovate and drive

Android Apple

Predicted smartphone shipments by operating systems (millions)

2010

20.78

2011

35.84

Blackberry Microsoft Symbian Total

Android share

28.56 29.28 47.23

124.55 250.40 8.3%

35.82 31.63 70.56

163.57 337.42 10.6%

2012

54.27

42.43 33.71 91.09

192.13 413.63 13.1%

2013

75.31

47.61 35.45

110.51 214.85 483.73 15.6%

the platform forwards, whereas the iPhone wants you to do it Apple’s way. This same unrestricted environment will eventually result in more Android apps hitting us- ers’ phones. Now if Google can control the amount of bugs on the platform in a non- intrusive manner, then the user will benefit from apps written by developers from all walks of life.” For all the focus on Android as a smart-

phone operating system, and Eric Schmidt’s assertion in February that Google’s new philosophy is “mobile first” the plan is for Android’s reach to extend beyond the mobile form factor. This is the fourth prong in the An- droid offensive, says Qualcomm’s Sy Choud- hury, to complement the Google-experience, operator-experience and OEM-experience approaches. And with Apple’s iPad drawing so much attention, the expanded form factor is likely to be a key experimental battleground for operating systems. Huawei, Dell and HP are among the firms producing this next tier of Android devices, which can include smartbooks, netbooks and tablets. There is even an Android e- reader scheduled for launch this month. US firm Spring Design manufactures the ‘Alex’, which features a 3.5-inch colour screen suitable for browsing and running Android applications as well as a paper-like 6-inch EPD screen. The device will have wifi, GSM and EV-DO connectivity and, like the Amazon Kindle with which it will compete in the marketplace, will not be tied to a cellular contract. Rather the cost of con- nectivity will be bundled into the price of the ebooks. We are now in a world where people are

2014

95.64

51.47 36.75

126.31 234.78 544.95 17.6%

Source: Informa Telecoms & Media. For more information visit www.intelligencecentre.net

starting to choose their mobile phone based on the operating system that it runs and the applications that the operating system enables. The strengths of Android seem to lie in the fact that any player in the market that wants to get involved in its development can do so, and define their products as they see fit without having to foot the sizable bill that comes with the development of an operating system. Google is not motivated to become a lead-

ing handset hardware brand but it has laid down a challenge to OEMs and carriers with the launch of its range of terminals. By invit- ing them to prove that they can do a better job than it can itself, Google has effectively guaranteed that a range of key mobile players will take its Android operating system and contribute to its evolution. n

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