David George-Cosh
Sun
A concept model of what the Google phone may look like when it’s released next week.
TORONTO — When Google unveils the first phone to be powered by its Android software system next week, the online giant is hoping the mobile phone will mimic its website by being easy, accessible and — more importantly — used by everyone.
On Tuesday, U.S. wireless operator T-Mobile is expected to show off the first Google phone, otherwise known as the HTC Dream. Equipped with a touchscreen smartphone with a slide-out keyboard, the device will run on the company’s open source Android platform, a key feature Google hopes will change the mobile world in the same way Apple’s iPhone has done in the past year.
It is inevitable that the devices ultimately will be compared with each other. Both are touchscreen phones geared to the consumer market that come with a $199 US price tag and are supported by an online application store — but the similarities will end there.
While the iPhone holds some prestige as a niche device, Google is leveraging its skills as an online giant to ensure that its Android-powered phones will become as ubiquitous as its search engine, which transformed the Internet.
The main goal, industry watchers say, is to reshape the smartphone market while enabling a better way of accessing the Internet in one swoop.
Kevin Branden, a director of mobile devices with ABI Research, said people expect their online experience on the phone should rival, if not match, what they can do on their PCs.
“People will think a Google-branded phone must mean a superior web experience than you get with the current crop of smartphones.”
The unveiling of the Android-powered phones will also serve as the first major test for open-source technology on mobile devices. This policy is a major strategic shift from Apple and other competitors such as BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion, which allow developers to create programs for their phones but control distribution and licensing.
Critics say this lack of open-source technology has hampered innovation.
At a technology conference on Thursday, Android co-founder and Google mobile platform manager Rich Miner said the key thing people should take from Google’s new technology is that no one party will control the platform.
“While Google has had a heavy hand in this, there’s no technology that we control ultimately here. It’s all open source,” he said. “If Yahoo wants to take Android and build a phone on top of that platform, all the more power to them.”
Although its revenue model is unknown, Google is widely expected to incorporate its online advertising platform within Android’s applications.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
