Google's Android: News and rumor roundup

On the eve (literally) of the Apple iPhone's second coming, why not take a break from looking at fake photo after fake photo of what is surely not the next iPhone and cuddle up with the latest news and conjecture about what's going on with the Google's Android operating system? After all, if anything's going to put a dent in Apple's hype, it's Google's entry into the market, right?

Here's the latest dirt on the next "it" phone, culled from sources near and far.

Over 1,700 submissions to the mega-hyped Android Developer Challenge, which Google is using to recruit outside developers to build software for its mobile OS, were received (the deadline was in May). 50 finalists were chosen, each receiving $25,000 for their trouble. You can check out descriptions and screenshots of the winners here (PDF link). Prepare yourself for lots of map-oriented apps on your Android phone.

While showing off the latest version of Android last week, Google is taking some heat for not making Android as open as it has previously indicated it would. The code base remains locked and won't be made truly open source until a handset using Android actually becomes available to the public. Google has said that would be later this year.

Over at TheStreet.com, one writer says there won't be anything running Android on the market until 2009. (Silicon Valley Insider finds a lot of confusion with TheStreet's use of the term "Gphone," but I don't think TheStreet is talking about an actual device from Google with the name of Gphone, just using shorthand to refer to any phone running Android.) While Android has come a long way this year, getting from demoware to shipping handset from a third party is a big jump. If Google does get Android out before the end of the year, I wouldn't think it'll arrive before November at the earliest. (Remember how long it took Apple to get the iPhone out even after it had publicly shown off the hardware?)

In a Q&A session, some more interesting tidbits about Android emerged. Highlights include: Since Android is open source, carriers can "turn off" apps they don't like, much like many have done with current-generation phones (see Bluetooth support); in other words, not all Androids will be created equally. There may be an integrated applications/content purchasing system built into Android. No Google Talk IM in Android 1.0. VOIP is likely on tap for the first version of the OS. The next Developer Challenge will occur after Android devices are on the market (and another $5 million will be up for grabs.) No real sales goals (a la iPhone's "10 million before 2009" goal) for Android, at least none that Google is willing to share.

Want to see Android in action? Here's a video of how the most recent version looks. Pretty sexy.

iPhone killer? Still hard to say (even a simple game like Pac-Man looks like it runs awfully slow), but if you're at all interested in mapping/GPS technology, which is clearly Android's forte, Android's looks like it's going to be a hard OS to pass by.