转载自《Wireless Week》
A Mobile Robot for the Wireless Internet
By Brad Smith
WirelessWeek - April 01, 2008
Morethan two and a half years ago, Internet giant Google purchased a smallcompany that few people had heard of and even fewer knew what it did.That company was Android, whose co-founders included a number ofSilicon Valley veterans whose dream came to light last year in a verybig way.
Everyone in the wireless telecommunications industryknows about Android now, after Google brought it out into the open lastNovember along with a global list of nearly three dozen companies thatwould like to see Android change the way the mobile Internet has beendone on handsets. The companies aligned under the Open Handset Alliance(OHA) to back the emergence and use of the Android platform on mobiledevices.
Android’s potential promises openness and innovation,perhaps changing not only the mobile Internet but the Internet itself.Because of that, Wireless Week selected the OHA and Android for specialrecognition in the Emerging Technologies category in its annualExcellence Awards program.
Some analysts think Android and theOHA could be a “game changer” in the wireless industry because theLinux-based platform will be open to any developer for any application.Handset manufacturers also can use Android without paying license fees.The OHA members also promise to optimize their latest technicalcapabilities for handsets running the platform.
Today’ssmartphones run on several different operating systems, most of whichare based on proprietary technology even though they may be open to acertain extent to developers. On the opposite side of Android’s worldhas been Apple’s iPhone, which was completely closed until its recentintroduction of a software developer’s kit (SDK).
Throw Open the Gates
TheOHA and Android are throwing the gates open with the philosophicalstance that openness is what created the modern Internet and it can dothe same for the wireless Internet, according to Rich Miner, one ofAndroid’s co-founders and now group manager of Google Mobile Platforms.
“We believe there is pent-up interest in a truly open platform in mobile,” Miner says.
Hesays carriers are free to lock-down Android phones so they can’t beused on any other network (except by hackers), but that the initialsource code for the handsets will be open. He thinks there is enoughimpetus in the wireless industry now behind openness that there will beunlocked Android handsets at some time.
“They don’t have to lock down a device to have a business case,” Miner says.
Thefirst Android handsets are expected to be available commercially in thesecond half of 2008, but Miner says it will be late 2009 or 2010 beforethere are a large number of models. “I see no reason why in 2010 therewon’t be hundreds of models of phones sold in every corner of theworld,” he says.
One of the handset manufacturers making Androidphones will be HTC, which already has a prototype device somedevelopers are using to develop applications. The prototype’sappearance is similar to the T-Mobile Dash, which HTC makes, but thatdoesn’t mean that’s what the commercial Android devices will look like,says Jason MacKenzie, HTC’s North American vice president.
TheAndroid phone will be the first handset HTC has made that doesn’t useMicrosoft Windows Mobile, a platform the OEM will continue to support.MacKenzie says HTC wanted to expand it portfolio and that Android willallow the company to reach a whole new set of users. Android’s audiencewill be primarily the consumer, while Windows devices skew toward themobile professional.
A Game Changer
Eventhough the Android phones will be open, they still will be certified atseveral levels, including an OHA process and the standard carriercertification, MacKenzie says.
“We’re not going to put out ahalf-baked product,” he insists, adding that HTC is committed to havingat least one device in the market by the end of the year.
WillAndroid be a game-changer? MacKenzie thinks it can because of itsopenness, its support from Google and what that can mean forapplications, and because the developer community will have a bigopportunity to innovate.
“Ultimately, the consumer will vote,” he says, “but the platform is truly open so anything is possible.”
Operatormembers of the OHA include T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, China Mobile, NTTDoCoMo, KDDI, Telecom Italia and Telefónica. Cole Brodman, T-MobileUSA’s chief development officer, says the operator joined the coalitionbecause it wanted to help spur innovation in the development ofapplications and services and saw Android as the most open platformavailable.
Direct to Consumer
Androidwill mean T-Mobile can develop its own ideas and take them directly tothe consumer without having to go through any approval by a handset OEMor handset operating system owner, Brodman says. He says T-Mobile USAhas had difficulty in the past deploying its MyFaves applications onhandsets using different operating systems.
The open platformalso will benefit everyone in the industry because of the developmentopportunities and the ability to gain economies of scale.
Also,he says, Google has gained considerable insight into consumer behavioron the Internet which can be used to improve the mobile Internet.
T-MobileUSA has no problem with consumers using unlocked phones on its networkas long as they have passed certification, although most consumers liketo buy a phone at the lower, subsidized price. Handsets bought throughthe carrier also have been optimized for use with T-Mobile’s services.Brodman says the carrier hasn’t decided how Android phones will be soldbut they likely will be sold on a subsidized and optimized basis.
T-MobileUSA is preparing to commercially launch its 3G network, starting in theNew York City area, and Android phones will be able to take advantageof the improved data rates. But Brodman says Android isn’t necessarilytied to 3G because its services can run over an GSM/EDGE network.
Brodmanbelieves Android phones will provide a “great” mobile Internetexperience and that they could spawn a new wave of Internet communityapplications. He thinks the devices could lead to more user-generatedcontent being shared across the network.
The ability to useInternet applications and services on a mobile device in an unfilteredway could change the way the Internet is used, Brodman thinks.
Defragmenting
Leadingchip manufacturers joined the OHA so they could make sure their chipsare optimized to run the Android platform, says Sy Choudhury, productmanager for Qualcomm’s open operating system activities. Qualcomm,which did the same thing for Windows Mobile, integrates with the OS atthe systems level.
Android will bring the connected desktopexperience to the mobile handset in a seamless way, Choudhury says. Oneof the applications Qualcomm sees as compelling will be the ability touse location tagging on the handset for photos or to communicate tofriends where you are. Another will be the easy ability to sharephotos, video and other content among users across platforms. Most ofthese applications will be most useful over a 3G network.
Choudhuryalso thinks Android will enable the vision of mobile Linux, which hesays has been so fragmented that it isn’t useful. Android willdefragment mobile Linux and encourage the developer community to use itto get into mobile applications, he says.
“It’s alreadydefragmenting Linux,” he says. “We’re seeing tremendous interest, evenfor non-connected uses. There are a large number of companies investingin it.”
Google’s Miner also thinks Android will bring about acoalescing of handset OEMs around one or two versions of mobile Linux.It also will bring new applications to consumers more quickly thanother smartphone operating systems, he says. He relates the difficultyhe had when he was a vice president for the carrier Orange. He saysOrange wanted to launch a push-to-talk service but it took 18 months toenable the handset platform. That kind of delay shouldn’t be a factorwith Android handsets.
There has been some skepticism thatAndroid can’t fulfill its promise of cheaper smartphones, but Miner isconfident it will. The initial handsets may cost more than a typicalfeature phone, but the advantage that Android brings is that the OSwill be free to handset OEMs. “That’s easily $20 worth of software,which can mean $60 for the end user,” he says.
He expects Android phones to reach feature phone prices sometime in 2009, meaning less than $100.
WillAndroid phones be tied to Google’s applications, making them the Gphoneeveryone talked about last year? Miner says there is no requirementthat OEMs and carriers use Google applications on the handsets,although the initial models likely will use them.
One of thethings that has Miner excited about Android’s future is what he sees atsome universities, where classes are being taught on how to develop onthe platform. Miner helped teach one of those classes recently at MIT.He thinks those students, like the ones who started learning the Web’sHTML code more than a decade ago, will bring the future of the mobileInternet.
Or, as its name implies, Android will become a mobile robot doing jobs for its human users. |
发表于 2008-4-28 03:15:47
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