Google Mobile Platform: Android

It's official: there's no Gphone coming out of Google's stables. Instead, Google announced Andriod and the Open Handset Alliance. Calling Android an open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices, Andy Rubin, the Director of Mobile Platforms at Google claimed that it provides all the software to run a mobile phone - the operating system, user interface and applications.

Developers need to wait for about a week before they can get their hands on on SDK that will enable them to get started on cool apps, but you will have to wait until the middle of 2008 before you can buy a phone that will run them. Partners for the OHA include Motorola, Qualcomm, HTC and T-Mobile.

When it comes to smartphones, Symbian is right there at the top. Of course, Symbian is a closed-source open platform, while Android is based on the Linux kernel and will be available as open source under an Apache v2 license. The advantage of this license is that mobile operators and handset manufacturers can innovate on the platform but need not contribute them back to the open source community.

Watch out for an SDK on November 12, 2007.