Google’s mythical “gPhone” is Android mobile platform

Seems like everybody wants to get into the phone business. With Apple’s iPhone out and about, eyes have recently turned to the question of whether frequent Apple ally and purported do-gooder Google would deliver their own handset. Today, the Goog announced its plans, not for a handset, but rather for a mobile platform, banding together with more than thirty technology companies to create the Open Handset Alliance.

The platform largely stems from an acquisition that Google made several years ago for a company called Android Inc, headed by ex-Apple employee Andy Rubin, who formerly founded Danger and WebTV. The platform, also called Android, is based on the Linux kernel and designed to be completely open from the ground up. Players in the alliance include handset heavyweights like Motorola, Samsung, HTC, and LG; carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile; hardware makers like Intel, Marvell, Broadcom, and nVidia; and software makers like eBay (owners, we may remind you, of Skype), and, well, Google.

It sounds promising, but in business alliances are cheap; it’s the product that will make or break the so-called “gPhone.” All of these vendors know their businesses, the question is whether or not the product will be greater than the sum of its parts. The approach of the Open Handset Alliance is diametrically opposed to Apple’s own methodology, which enforces a top-down view of the design of a device, and I wonder if the “gPhone” platform will essentially end up relegated to a particular type of enthusiast user. Will too many cooks spoil the gPhone, which is, after all, intended to be targeted at consumers, or will Google’s presence keep everything in line?

We’ll know sometime next year as partners begin delivering Android-powered handsets. A software development kit for the platform is due next week, on November 12th.

Category: News

Posted by Dan Moren on Nov 5 2007, 1:50 PM ET

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