Google's Android: Questions, but Few Answers

Not sure what to make of Google's announcement (or confirmation) that it's working on a mobile OS, and that it has the backing of a 34-member mobile "alliance" of tech companies? Join the club.

Indeed, anyone hoping that Google execs would demo a working Gphone—complete with dazzling graphics and integrated Google services—was sorely disappointed. And even details on the proposed OS were scarce; reporters and analysts learned that Android will be Linux based, and that the first phones (built by manufacturers such as LG, HTC, and Samsung) will arrive next year. Beyond that, there won't be much to go on until next week, when Google releases a software kit for potential Android developers.

Reactions to yesterday's hoopla were decidedly mixed. CNET News.com sees Android as Google's attempt to "conquer the mobile world" by baking its software into millions of cell phones, which would then hook into Google services—and of course, deliver targeted ads, a potential bonanza in revenue. While CNET's Marguerite Reardon acknowledges that Google may face an uphill battle getting its OS and services OK'd by wireless carriers, she argues that the openness of the free Android license could fuel its adoption by a wide array of manufacturers and developers.

Others are much more skeptical. InformationWeek columnist Mitch Wagner wrote that the Android announcement had "less substance than a fashion show at a nudist colony." Why? Because we got, as he puts it, "a phone announcement without a phone" and "a software announcement without software" (until next week, that is). Meanwhile, Wagner points out that some of the biggest players in the mobile biz are noticeably absent from Google's mobile alliance, including Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, Palm, RIM, and Symbian, plus U.S. carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless. (Sprint and T-Mobile say they're on board with Android, although a Sprint exec admitted to Wired News that the carrier "has just agreed to support the Android software"—which sounds a little guarded to me.)

So where does that leave us? Most of us will simply have to wait until next year, when the first Android phones hit the market—and if we're as dazzled as we were by the iPhone, then Google may indeed be on its way conquering the wireless world. But the bar's been set pretty high by the iPhone, and wireless carriers here in the United States still have the final say on what goes into their handsets. In short, it could be a long time before we get a solid feel for whether Android is the real thing, or just smoke and mirrors.