Google finally got around to releasing the Android SDK today and having watched the videos (but not yet looked at the SDK itself) I was pleasantly surprised.  What struck me most was that the low end prototype seemed capable of doing everything an iPhone can do right now. 

As one might expect a few people in the blogosphere are taking that comparison too far though and comparing a platform on a prototype to an actual phone such as the iPhone.  This, to my eye, is pretty foolish.    The bottom line is that Google is demonstrating a platform for developers AND phone manufacturers to build on.  There’s nothing that says the UI, form factor, price or anything else will be the same on an actual phone.   So if the low end version sells for $99 and does everything that the iPhone does won’t that change things significantly?  Or what if HTC creates a phone which has a really refined interface, won’t that also change things significantly?     

THAT is the point.  This is a platform, not a phone.  This is meant for developers, not consumers. 

That said what I’m not so sure about is the fact that Google is offering various cash prizes to encourage developers ($10 million in all with prizes from $25,000 up).  Cash prizes are great but I can’t help but think they’re better suited for when there’s at least one phone to develop for.  At this point no one’s even announced a phone much less a carrier deal (though HTC announced support so I’d assume they’ll have one eventually).  With all the target platforms (Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm and coming soon the iPhone) why would any serious developer put a lot of effort into writing an app for a platform with no support?   

I don’t know…I’ve learned never to underestimate the hobbyist and there will certainly be a lot of hobbyists’ after the cash prize so who knows.  Clearly this is a stunt by Google to make the platform more attractive to phone developers and carriers but I’m not sure its going to yield any ground breaking applications. 

Who makes this stuff up?  A site called TMCNET.com (a site with a confusing url and a logo that looks like it was made in MS Paint) claims to have heard rumors that Google is thinking about acquiring Sprint/Nextel.    The author (who is the President and Publisher of TMCNET.com) seems to base this on his largely inaccurate philosophical assessment of Google.  According to him, Google is a company that "likes to have complete control".   I quote from the article… 

Let's look at Google from a philosophical level. The company has built almost everything from scratch in its past and present. Computers, operating system, web server software and more. Google likes to have complete control. In a way this is not unlike Apple.  

What?!??   Google created its own computer?  Did I miss that press release?  It had to be part of a batch because I also missed the one where Google stopped using MySQL.   But I did learn some history from this article in that I had no idea Google invented Linux.  That Torvalds guy, such a poser.   

As much as I hate to suggest someone use Wikipedia for accurate info the author should probably take a trip over to the Google platform article nonetheless.  

 (btw, before anyone comments, I think the author is referring to this when he mentions Google having created their own OS but that makes him no less of a fool)  

Moving on the author then goes on to say that mobile search is so important to Google that they can't risk going with just Open Handheld Alliance alone.   This, while not as foolish as the above statements, is still pretty naïve.  The importance of mobile search is exactly why Google can't risk taking sides in the mobile phone market.   If Google were to buy the beleaguered Sprint/Nextel they would be alienating every other provider and in doing so they'd be anchoring themselves to what is for all intents and purposes a sinking ship.   They would effectively be sinking the initiative they just announced.    

I won't go any further into this ridiculous post except to say that articles like this are my biggest problem with the blogosphere.  This guy is the “President and Publisher” of a website that specializes in telecommunications and he gets away with making a post that shows complete ignorance of the topic he’s posing on.  It makes it hard to defend the blogsphere against attacks of “amateurish content” when stuff like this is popping up on Techmeme.