Why you should care about Google's Android launch

If you've been following the mobile market with even half an eye you'll know the first smart phone to be powered by Google's open source Android platform has arrived in the UK - aka the G1. It's a touchscreen plus full Qwerty keyboard device made by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC.

The phone - previously known as the Dream - launched in the US last week to plenty of hype. But the plan of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) coalition, which backs the platform, has always been for multiple Android phones to make it to market rather than one killer device.

As Eric Schmidt, Google's chairman and CEO, said at Android's launch: "Our vision is that the powerful platform we're unveiling will power thousands of different phone models."

Mobile makers signed up to the OHA so far are HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung but the Android platform can be freely used by any phone manufacturer, not just Alliance members, so getting hung up on the hardware is to miss Google's point: Android is an army not an iPhone.

Moreover, in some respects, the first fruit of Google's Android strategy is not even the G1 - rather it's the Symbian Foundation: Nokia's answering open source mobile OS strategy.

Of course, not everyone has reacted in the same way. Microsoft's Windows Mobile still demands royalties for one, and along with Apple and BlackBerry-maker RIM, continues to plough a closed-source OS furrow - though all three are using SDKs to drive developer interest via the creation of third-party apps.

But make no mistake: Android means these are interesting times in the mobile industry.

So what does the arrival of the 'Google Phone' mean for businesses and business users? After all the G1 is a consumer gadget - don't let the presence of HTC fool you into thinking the first Android phone has business users on its mind.

Historically HTC smart phones have been enterprise-friendly, having Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS inside, so the Dream is a new direction for the mobile maker - which must surely be hoping its Android adventure raises its profile in the iPhone-wielding consumer world.

The hardware of the G1 itself is arguably more business-friendly than many alternatives, with its generous touchscreen that pivots out to reveal a full Qwerty keyboard underneath. It also has a BlackBerry-Pearl-style nipple on the front which can be used to quickly scroll through menus or web pages giving users a variety of methods to navigate. And the software supports the holy grail of cut and paste.

But functional design aside, there are a few things missing for the business user - the lack of support for Microsoft Exchange Server; the inability to edit Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents; and questions over security (especially around downloading third-party apps) and device manageability.

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So don't throw away your BlackBerry just yet.

Plus Android certainly has ground to cover before it can be considered a stable platform and thus a way to go before it can make any kind of assault on the enterprise.

But Google's platform won't stand still either.

Think of Apple's consumer-focused iPhone launch and its iPhone 2.0 with added enterprise essentials such as Exchange support. And Google's habit of turning consumer software into business service (think Google Apps).

So again we come back to the platform's potential.

Android apps are thin on the ground at this early stage (notably games, a QR code reader and a few interesting Google Maps offerings) but development possibilities abound for productivity apps and enterprise mash-ups that could change the way you do business. In other words: keep on eye on what's cooking in the developers' kitchen.

And then there's the marketing hype about 'the phone that's built for the internet' - which of course is another way of saying the iPhone's 'internet in your pocket' line.

The mobile web experience of either device is good enough to smooth the way for more innovative business opportunities - from advertising to mobile banking to location-based services - especially as increasing numbers of consumers are wandering around armed 24/7 with such seriously powerful web-savvy hardware.

Apple sold 6.9 million 3G iPhones in the third quarter of this year alone. And HTC's CEO has been quoted saying the company will sell more than 600,000 G1's before the year's out - not bad for a couple of months' work.

But however many Android phones end up in people's hands, one thing's for sure: the smart phone in general is on the march. So better be prepared.