T-Mobile this week made headlines with the debut its HTC-built G1, the first mobile phone that will run on the Google's new Android mobile operating system (OS) based on the Linux operating system, developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance.
"Today's unveiling of the T-Mobile G1, the first mobile phone based on the Android platform from the Google-spawned Open Handset Alliance (OHA), may be the beginning of a significant movement towards a situation in which a majority of mobile phones will run a high-level operating system, rather than the variety of real-time operating systems currently powering more than 85% of the world's mobile phones," said Kevin Burden, ABI Research Director.
The Google-friendly device comes with a built-in button on the keyboard as a shortcut for online searches. The phone does not connect with Apple's iTunes service, but it comes with software for buying and downloading music from Amazon.com's music store.
Like Apple's music-playing handset, the G1 features a full Web browser and connects to the Internet with Wi-Fi technology. But it also packs a trackball, a slide-out keyboard and easy access to Google's e-mail and mapping programs.
Whilst many applaud Google for taking the route of openness and supporting industry standards, critics are skeptical on how well the G1 will fair in the smartphone market especially with the recent entrance of Apple’s second generation iPhone.
“We seem to have this misconception that every time a major vendor jumps into the market, we will see smartphone sales surging. However this is not reflecting the reality,” said Carsten Brinkschulte, CEO of mobile email and synchronization vendor Synchronica.
According to reports, last year smartphones represented just 11 % of all mobile handsets shipped.
Brinkschutle, predicts that although Android may represent a threat to other smartphone vendors, it will have little impact on the market share of smartphones versus mass-market feature phones, which will continue to dominate the mass market.
“…Google Android will be addressing a very similar market to Apple with its iPhone: i.e. early adopter, wealthy, high tech users. Therefore, it's unlikely that we will see Android in the booming emerging or mass markets any time soon. But it is interesting for end-users in US, Europe and perhaps Japan,” said Brinkschulte,.
“To be truly "open" as Google claims, we expect Android phones to incorporate an Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) client for mobile email and a SyncML DS client for synchronisation of calendar and contacts. This is all that Synchronica's Mobile Gateway middleware needs to deliver push Email and synchronization to Android phones out of the box, just as we were able to synchronize email with the Apple iPhone as soon as it shipped - without requiring any additional software to be installed on the handset.” |
