Could control be the key to Google's Android?
Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, reveals a great deal about Google's mobile strategy in a recent Reuters interview. One thing, in particular, caught my eye and suggests that Google's Android may succeed, and yet fail at the same time:
Rather than launch the new operating system with a range of devices from several handset makers and phone carriers, Rubin said Google chose to "put our blinders on" and make sure the first phones impress consumers....
Google has worked almost exclusively with Taiwan's High Tech Computer Corp and T-Mobile for the first Android phone, he said. "Google wanted to make sure that we had enough control over the hardware to make sure the software worked."...
This control - so important to Apple's iPhone in ensuring a seamless hardware-plus-software experience, may well mean that Android will work as advertised.
It does, however, also mean that Android's would-be open-source developers have far less flexibility than they might otherwise wish to exercise.
Presumably, Google's tight hardware control will be relaxed once the initial launch proves successful. At that point, however, Google will face a dizzying array of hardware devices, each with its own screen size, resolution, keyboard layout, etc.
Open-source projects like Ubik aim to resolve this hardware complexity, and perhaps Google will re-examine adoption of such a project. (I was involved in conversations back in 2004/05 when Google looked at the Ubik technology.)
Regardless, Google is going to have difficulty walking the line between control of the hardware/software experience and freedom of development. If the latter hurts the former, the open-source promise of Android may ring hollow.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
iPhone: at&t in the U.S., T-Mobile in Europe
- by Jonathan September 15, 2008 12:58 PM PDT
- Hmmm the author seems to be missing something. while Google has a huge stake in the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). They are dictator over it. Sometime after the first handset is released google is releasing everything to the masses. As in the OS will be available to anyone. Unless there is something hidden in the lic for using Android, Google can't really say word one with what a company does with their handset.
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- by Jonathan September 15, 2008 1:17 PM PDT
- Umm I need to work on my contractions. They AREN'T a dictator over it. AREN'T Gah.
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- by celticbrewer September 16, 2008 6:47 AM PDT
- I don't follow carrier stuff much. I rarely use my phone, and then it's for quick calls and texts. But wouldn't carriers want bandwidth heavy apps? I imagine most people/plans have a small limit on data transfer, and only a few may have absurdly expensive plans with "unlimited" (ya, right) data. I agree with you on the ringtone issue- I personally will never pay for something so worthless, but I'm sure others are.
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(8 Comments)No where the concern lies isn't with Google. Its the carriers. I laugh every time I hear the explination as to why a carrier won't lock down Android to limit its features. Their reasoning basicly boils down to "Well because why would anyone want to limit their customers." Yah because that has never stopped carriers in the past from locking down Win Mobile, PoS, or Symbian. But they will forego locking things down because its GOOGLE!!!111|||oneone Sorry but I fully expect some lockdown especially if bandwidth heavy apps start showing up. Or then there is built in MP3 ringtone support in Android. I bet that is going to go over really well with ATT/Verizon who both have lucrative ringtone stores.
Nope, not worried about Google. Its the bloodsucking carriers that scare me. If anyone is going to kill innovation its going to be them.
"Why would anyone want to limit their customers?" - Maybe they want to be more like Apple