[Mobile] There is a Google Phone

Google has not ruled out Google Phone. There somewhere in Googleplex is a reference device made by HTC, code-named Dream (appropriate name, if you ask me). Forbes has the following details on the reference device:

It is thin, about 3 inches wide and 5 inches long, and features a touch-sensitive, rectangular screen. Unlike the iPhone, the screen is also time-sensitive: Hold down your finger longer, and the area you're controlling expands. The bottom end of the handset, near the navigational controls, is slightly beveled so it nestles in the palm. The screen also swivels to one side, revealing a full keyboard beneath. (The screen display changes from a vertical portrait mode to a horizontal display when someone uses the keyboard.)

The Dream design makes the core functions--e-mail, text documents and YouTube--readily available by putting icons that open those applications along the top of the screen. In its guts, the phone runs a virtual machine so that applications, like the browser, can launch once during a session, then reside in the background. That way, if someone sends you, say, a YouTube video link, you can run it immediately, without restarting the browser. The browser also downloads large files in stages to cut the time it seems to take to bring them onto the phone.

And if things work correctly, HTC is ready to mass-produce the device by 2nd half of 2008. I just hope it is cheap.

[World Domination] Open Handset Alliance takes on everyone else

And that includes the giants: Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, and Apple.

After much speculation, Google, together with other technology partners, made two major announcements today.

First, the Open Handset Alliance was introduced. The group was formed to "accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience." No, there is no gPhone, but there will be "gPhones". What the OHA wants is an open ecosystem for mobile development through an open platform.

The OHA also introduced Android^TM. Android is an open mobile software stack, which includes an operating system, a user interface, middleware, and applications. The ecosystem that the OHA envisions centers on Android as the platform for development. That means all partners comprising OHA are committed to develop hardware and software based on Android.

The opportunities are vast for all stakeholders, including end users:

1. For developers, it will be easier to develop and push applications for mobile phones, at a lesser cost and learning curve. The Alliance will also provide mechanisms for commercialization and distribution of applications.
2. For mobile operators, they will be able to offer cheaper phones and differentiated products. They can customize an Android-enabled device to their own specifications.
3. For device manufacturers, it is much tougher, since all of them will produce devices based on a single platform. This should spur manufacturers to innovate in order to differentiate their products. Using a single and open platform allows them the flexibility in developing devices.
4. In the end, this gives consumers a wider array of choices. And who knows, if someone from the Alliance releases a user-friendly toolkit, consumers can make their own applications even without programming knowledge.

Will the Alliance succeed? That remains to be seen, couple that with the way non-members react.

Google press release
Official Google Blog entry on OHA and Android