Google's Android Open For Upgrade

New open source mobile phone OS

by Rupert Sharp
of http://www.oyster-web.co.uk

Last updated: 7 Nov 2007

Google's newest release is the Android mobile platform, Android was a company Google purchased way back when and now is the name and feel for it's new 'coder friendly' mobile OS. The call for the GPhone has ended in the creation of a multi-phone company compatible operating system that people can customise and edit to their hearts content.

Google has invited mobile companies to join in with this new initiative stating “The idea isn't to make it an elite club, everybody's welcome” but what are they really up to? There was enormous hype that has gradually died down about the GPhone as Google continued to be vague and unresponsive about it; they didn't seem sure about whether or not they going to make the jump but maybe that was because they had this in the works. The new OS is open source and invites people to develop their own gadgets and nick-nacks to truly customise it to make the 'mobile phone of their dreams'. Google are hoping that this new initiative will allow users to not only download a basic version of the system but also modules, upgrades and gadgets that will increase the phones usability to suit that particular user. The idea makes perfect marketing sense as an OS with constantly changing and improving features will be sure to put the burn on other mobile OS's that do not have such a easily adaptable system. Consider a new feature that a company wants to add to their phones; providing it does not require new hardware, the new feature can be directly installed on an existing phone instead of creating an new range of phones to incorporate it. This will save money and please customers so Google have made a nice little move there towards general popularity.

The general market trend with customisability is obviously the way forward; companies such as Facebook and Google’s I-Google page are just a couple of the mass of 'super-editable' things people seem to have going at the moment. It's no surprise that companies will continue in this vein as interactivity is attractive and people will come to a site if they can customise it to pieces to make it look just right. The idea of full customisability has been around for quite a while before the current craze, for example the site Vampirefreaks.com has been around for ages; it's an 'alternative' social media site whose profile system allows you to hide the regular profile layout and change the page into anything you want (providing you know HTML and Javascript). The only difference between sites like VF and Facebook is that the former is not necessarily user friendly; in order to change your profile around you have to do it manually and get into the nitty-gritty of the code, but for Joe Bloggs this can seem tedious and difficult to understand. The move to create sites and applications that incorporate both code-junkies and ye average user so that both can enjoy the experience of the final product in their own way is most definitely the way forward and Android is a sign that people are starting to realise and take advantage of this new way of thinking.