Confirming its long-rumored foray into the mobile market, Google and the Open Handset Alliance said Monday it is developing a free cell phone software package so the Internet search leader can more easily peddle ads and services to people who aren't in front of a PC.While the announcement ended months of speculation about the Mountain View-based company's cellular ambitions, the first phones equipped with Google's so-called "software stack" still won't be available until the second half of 2008.
And Google won't be making the phones, nor does it plan to stamp its prized brand on the devices. Instead, it will work with four cell phone manufacturers who have agreed to use Google 's programs in their handsets. Consumers will have to buy a new phone to get the Google software because the bundle wasn't made for existing handsets.
Engineers have been working on the software for three years, dating back to a Silicon Valley startup called Android Inc. that Google acquired in 2005. The mobile software still bears the Android name in acknowledgment of its heritage.
"This is going to bring the Internet into cell phones in a very cool way," promised Andy Rubin, an Android co-founder who is now Google's director of mobile platforms.
Important notes of the meeting includes:
- Carriers currently in the alliance include China Mobile, KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel are the two national US carriers that are signed up; AT&T and Verizon are not.
- The first Android-powered devices are expected in the second half of 2008. Rumor has it that Google has been using an HTC-sourced device, the "Dream," to demonstrate Android to potential partners. HTC may launch a version of the Dream as one of its first handsets to use the platform.
So takeaways for this article: you can pick up your Google-powered phone in the latter half of 2008.
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