A Little about Google Android
Android is an open source mobile phone platform based on the Linux operating system and developed by the Open Handset Alliance.[1] The unveiling of the Android platform on 5 November, 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 34 hardware, software and telecoms companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.[2] When released in 2008, the Android platform will be made available under the Apache v2 open-source license.[3]
History
Google acquires Android Inc.
In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc., a small startup company based in Palo Alto, CA.[4] Android's co-founders who went to work at Google included Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (one of the first engineers at WebTV). At the time, little was known about the functions of Android Inc. other than they made software for mobile phones.[4] This began rumors that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market, although it was unclear at the time as to what function they would perform in that market.
At Google, the team, led by Rubin, had developed a Linux-based mobile device OS which they were marketing to handset makers and carriers on the premise of providing a flexible, customizable system.[citation needed] It was reported that Google had already lined up a series of hardware component and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation on their part.[5][6][7]
In December 2006, speculation that Google would be entering the mobile phone market began to grow once again.[8] Reports from both the BBC and The Wall Street Journal noting that Google wanted "Google search and Google applications on mobile, and it is working hard every day to deliver that." Print and online media outlets soon began reporting rumors that Google was developing a Google-branded handset.[9] More speculation followed reporting that as Google was defining technical specifications, they were showing prototypes to cellphone manufacturers and network operators. As many as 30 prototype 'GPhones' (Google phones) are reported to be operating "in the wild".[10] Network World reported that Google’s GPhone was actually an open source software phone operating system, rather than a specific hardware device like the iPhone.[10] Phoronix had reported that Google was looking to team up on the GPhone with OpenMoko,[11] a project to create a smartphone platform using free software, including the Linux kernel.
Patents filed
In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google has filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony, hinting at the arrival of the gPhone in the (then) near future.[12][13] Some of the notable U.S. patents and patent applications filed by Google in the area of mobile telephony were as follows:[12]
- U.S. Patent 6,785,566 : Cellular Telephone Case
- U.S. Patent 6,982,945 : Baseband Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Transceiver
- U.S. Patent 6,829,289 : Application of a Pseudo-randomly Shuffled Hadamard Function in a Wireless CDMA System
- U.S. Patent Application number US20070067329: Overloaded Communication Session
- U.S. Patent Application number US20070159522: Image-based Contextual Advertisement Method and Branded Barcodes
- U.S. Patent Application number US20060004627: Advertisements for Devices with Call Functionality Such as Mobile Phones
- U.S. Patent Application number US20050185060: Image Base Inquiry System for Search Engines for Mobile Telephones with Integrated Cameras
- U.S. Patent Application number US20070066364: Customized Data Retrieval Applications for Mobile Devices Providing Interpretation of Markup Language Data
Google applied for a patent for a mobile payment system[14] to complement its plans to launch[7] what was thought to be a Google phone. Known as GPay,[15] it covered a system that would let the user send a text message to Google giving the details of a payment to a specified recipient. GPay would then debit the user's bank account, crediting the money to the payee.
Open Handset Alliance
"Today's announcement is more ambitious than any single 'Google Phone' that the press has been speculating about over the past few weeks. Our vision is that the powerful platform we're unveiling will power thousands of different phone models."
-Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman/CEO[16]
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On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which include Google, HTC, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, and NVIDIA, was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices.[1] Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, an open source mobile phone platform based on the Linux operating system.[1] Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt took a moment in the official press release to dispel all previous rumors and speculation of a stand-alone Google phone existing.
On the day Android was revealed, several notable companies in the mobile phone market who were not a part of the OHA released responses to the announcement.[17] John Forsyth of Symbian stated, "If Google was not involved the industry would have just yawned and rolled over. We take it seriously but we are the ones with real phones, real phone platforms, and a wealth of volume built up over years." Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris remained neutral, saying "We have a great relationship with Google and this doesn't change anything. They are certainly an important partner for iPhone." Scott Horn from Microsoft's Windows Mobile marketing team stated, "It really sounds that they are getting a whole bunch of people together to build a phone and that's something we've been doing for five years." Nokia has stated, "We don't see this as a threat." Later, Nokia spokesman Kari Tuutti stated, "It's not ruled out at all. If we would see this as beneficial we would think about taking part in it."[18] Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated, "Their efforts are just some words on paper right now. They have a press release, we have many, many millions of customers, great software, many hardware devices and they're welcome in our world."[19]
Development
On 12 November 2007 the OHA released a preview of the Android software development kit which includes development and debugging tools, a set of libraries, a device emulator, documentation, sample projects, tutorials, FAQs, and more.[3] Developers are required to download the Android SDK to an x86-based computer running Windows XP or Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later, or Ubuntu Linux (Dapper Drake or later). Other modern distributions of Linux will also likely work but are not directly supported. Requirements also include Eclipse 3.2 or later, with Java Development Tools and the Android SDK's plugin, or Java and Javac 1.5 or 1.6, Apache Ant, and Python 2.2 or later.
Features
With the release of the SDK, features and specifications for Android are slowly being released.[20][21]
- Handset layouts
- The platform is adaptable to both larger, VGA devices and more traditional smartphone layouts.
- Connectivity
- Android supports a wide variety of connectivity technologies including Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi.
- Messaging
- Both SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging including threaded text messaging.
- Web browser
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- The web browser available in Android is based off of the open-source WebKit application framework.
- Java virtual machine
- Android provides the Dalvik virtual machine, a specialized Java VM implementation designed for mobile device use.
- Media support
- Android will support advanced audio/video/still media formats such as MPEG-4, h.264, MP3, and AAC.
- Additional hardware support
- Android is fully capable of utilizing video/still cameras, touchscreens, GPS, compasses, accelerometers, and accelerated 3D graphics.
- Development environment
- Includes a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, a plugin for the Eclipse IDE.
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