Android: Its Not the gPhone or a Lot of Other Things

By Tara Seals

What Google Inc.s new mobile initiative is not is perhaps more notable than what it is, because Mondays announcement ended much of the tantalizing speculation people have had about Googles mobile initiatives. Android is not, for instance, the so-called gPhone, a.k.a. the long-rumored Google-sponsored iPhone-ish handset. Android also is not an iPhone/Mac OS 10-for-mobile competitor, which Steve Jobs said would get its own SDK for developers in February. Android in fact isnt really competing with anyone or anything (gasp).

Also, Android is not tied to the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction, in which Google is expected to participate. It does not signal the death of the carrier-locked handset. Finally, it isnt a recipe for an ad-supported handset, either. All of which was much to the chagrin of tech journalists when brought to light this week.

During a conference call Monday morning, reporters and analysts bombarded Andy Rubin, director of mobile platforms for Google, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt with questions about what it all means. The gPhone questions were thick, with Rubin and Schmidt sticking to the party line: Google does not pre-announce products. However, Rubin said, if there were to be a gPhone, and hes not saying there will be, Android would be the platform to build it on. Later, when pressed, Schmidt did offer this: Think of it this way. There will be so many other devices, and many, many, many different types of handsets. Android starts a wave of innovation. So one way to think about gPhone is that its not just one Google phone, but hundreds or thousands of gPhones.

That didnt stop one reporter from asking one more time, wistfulness thick in her voice, so no gPhone?

The next hot topic has been Androids potential to become an open-source competitor not only to Apples iPhone OS strategy, but also to other open-source initiatives and other players like Microsofts Windows Mobile, RIMs BlackBerry and Nokia, which runs Symbian as its OS. But that line of talk a journalists dream for its heady analytical possibilities was also largely a no-go. When asked whether these competitors were asked to join the Open Handset Alliance, devoted to the development of Android-based products, Rubin said, There is the ability for anyone to join. This is not a closed alliance. He added, As an open platform it’s really for anyone to use, and it’s not for anyone’s one product.

Schmidt, who is on the board at Apple, noted: I’m an iPhone user, and a very happy iPhone user but I believe Android will be used in many very different devices. Later he added: Even competitors might adopt Android and use it, as long as its good enough. The key is to have the developers work on the applications so that they really emerge.

For their part, Google handset partners HTC and Motorola Inc. see no conflict. Long term fragmentation will stifle innovation in this industry, but collaboration will allow us to bring to market a connected, vertically integrated platform, said Ed Zander, CEO at Motorola. This is an accelerator to what we’re doing, complementary to open-source efforts with Linux. We do have other agreements with carrier partners and other vendors, and will continue to do what we’re doing there.

Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, said: Android provides the ability in our device portfolio in new category of consumer-based phones. We actually look at this as a good opportunity to innovate, while our other commitments to other OS are the same.

What gives? No competition? The key difference, Rubin said, between Android and any other operating system is that it is open to third-party developers, and anyone can take it and modify it for his or her own needs, thanks to an embedded Apache V2 license. That makes it compatible and complementary to existing technologies.

Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm Inc., further tried to clarify. We are building handsets that are compatible with multiple networks, seamlessly integrated and transparent to the end user, he said. The wireless Internet is opening up a lot of opportunities for the entire industry, and its time to grow the pie instead of focusing on how we cut that up potentially for a wide number of operating systems and environments to be supported on handsets.

René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile, said he was committed to mass market open Internet service but had no comment on what DTs involvement with Android meant for T-Mobiles European launch of the iPhone.

And finally, the last great story attached to Google Mobile conspiracy theories is a familiar one: the upheaval of the existing carrier business model. But here too, a story failed to materialize. Despite the capabilities for creating an open-access device that a user can load and tweak as much as one would a PC, the business model will be left up to the carrier. If industry wanted to create a completely locked-down device on Android, it could do that, Rubin admitted. However, he said, total lockdown is also highly unlikely, since restrictions on Internet capabilities mean less value for the end user.

Nonetheless, we wont see Android-based mobile softphones anytime soon, according to Rubin. Handsets are embedded with applications and capabilities, a fact that makes it hard for end user to upgrade them, Rubin said. So Android as a softphone, were not there yet. He also later added, Contrary to a lot of speculation, we won’t see a completely ad-driven phone on this platform for some time.

This gives the industry and service providers additional opportunities and certainly more revenue streams, said Obermann. I don’t envision any major change to existing business model.

Then theres the idea of Google as a new entrant. Googles known mobile pieces the platform for development, the industry partnerships, the rumors of the gPhone, the spectrum (if won) in the 700MHz all conspire to create a picture of a company looking to become a wireless service provider. But Rubin said Googles 700MHz plan is a completely separate initiative, for instance. A network that will allow any device to connect is good public policy and has good end user benefits, he noted. Android will work on that network, but will run well on all existing data networks, too.

So then, what does Mondays announcement mean? It means we will have a thousand different choices, Rubin said. Android is basically a developer platform announcement, he added. Developers, please begin to build the new generation of applications and get ready for devices in 2008. You will be able to do amazing things on your mobile platform you never thought of before. The obvious applications will start with social networking and Web 2.0, but can evolve far, far beyond thatand Android, as a software stack and ecosystem, plans to make bringing those Internet applications to mobile be profitable and quick to do.