Cheat Sheet: Google Android

Run! The robots are here to take over!
Ha, ha. You can sit back down - this is about Android: Google's up-and-coming open operating system for mobile phones…

Mobiles you say? Alright, tell me more…
Well, as you already know - unless you really have been living on another planet - Google is the big cheese in internet search, merrily whupping the asses of Microsoft and Yahoo! But these days it's about a whole lot more than search - it's free email, an apps suite, calendar software, spreadsheet software, a chat client, mapping software…

I get the picture - finger in many pies, that sort of thing.
Indeed. But in recent years rumour had it the search behemoth was eyeing up the mobile space with a view to making a mobile phone - or 'Gphone' as journos dubbed it. Many people got very excited about the prospect of Google-branded mobile goodness. But the company apparently had bigger plans for mobile world domination. And this is where Android clanks onto the scene.

Mobile in pictures

Check out silicon.com's latest mobile photo stories here…

♦ Photos: Behind the scenes at Mobile World Congress 2008

♦ Photos: Bling up your BlackBerry

♦ Photos: When art meets tech - Nokia phone Morphs into view

♦ Photos: Lunar mobile phones preparing to soar

♦ Photos: Nokia Navigator maps out the route on foot

♦ Photos: Google Android comes out to play

Android was a mobile phone software company which Google acquired back in 2005. It was co-founded by a software developer called Andy Rubin. Before Android, Rubin had set up another mobile software company, Danger Inc, which was recently in the news being gobbled up by Microsoft. Rubin is also an ex-employee of Apple. So that's an awful lot of big name tech companies feasting off of one man's creative energies.

Since his company was acquired, Rubin has been Google's director of mobile platforms. The search behemoth also employs Android's other co-founder, Rich Miner. Meanwhile, the software known as Android is still in development - albeit now under Google's multicoloured umbrella.

So what exactly is Android when it's at home?
Good question. In Google's words, it's a "complete software stack" for mobile phones, built on an open Linux kernel (Linux version 2.6) - so that's an operating system plus all the middleware and key apps you need to drive a mobile phone. The whole kit and caboodle, so to speak.

Android is also an open invitation to apps developers everywhere - Google is touting it as "the first complete, open and free mobile platform". Because it's free, mobile manufacturers will be able to stick it on their hardware gratis. And any Tom, Dick or Harry developer can write whacky stuff for it.

Android will come with some basic apps as standard (such as a web browser) but the idea is devices will be personalised with apps specifically relevant to the user - so think of it as a modular system.

Google says third-party apps written for Android will be fully integrated with the OS - i.e. the user will notice no break between their operation and the hardware's operation. In Google's view, this sets Android apart from other mobile OSes that do also offer software development kits (SDKs). Downloads to other phones can stick out like a sore thumb, it reckons. Android will apparently be different.

However, Android is still in development - and it's an unproven tech - so there is an awful lot of 'waiting and seeing' to be done here.

An apps free-for-all eh? That sounds almost too good to be true. Is Google taking on the might of the mobile market by itself then?
Not exactly. To pave the way for Android in the mobile space, Google has established a coalition of OEMs, chip manufacturers, software companies and mobile operators called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). Ostensibly, the OHA will work together to foster greater openness in the mobile ecosystem - its mission statement makes sweeping claims about "accelerating innovation" and "offering consumers a richer, less expensive and better mobile experience". But, more immediately at least, it's aiming to get Android phones off the concept page and out into the world.

Ah-ha! So this is about world domination then…
Well, we'll see. Partnering with all sorts of mobile folk gives Google a chance to get its foot in the door of an industry where it does not (yet) dominate. An industry that is becoming increasingly important to the internet behemoth - considering all the hype around the mobile internet. (Not to mention the tantalising promise of mobile advertising.)

The Alliance has more than 30 members at present, including many familiar faces from mobile and beyond - from China Mobile, NTT DoCoMo and T-Mobile to eBay, LG and Motorola. Unsurprisingly it does not include big name mobile OS makers such as Symbian.

Continued on page 2...