Google leads OS alliance, demurs on device

Google Inc. is the new E.F. Hutton-when the Internet search giant talks, everybody listens.
Many observers today expected to hear about a long-rumored Google phone-it didn’t happen. Nor were any specific handset models announced.
But listeners probably included likely competitors to the new Open Handset Alliance announced today, a few of whom were conspicuously absent from the OHA’s membership. The short list of competitors includes Nokia Corp., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.-all of whom have their own, proprietary operating systems.
Today’s news from the new OHA was “fundamentally a developer platform announcement,” according to Google’s CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt, who along with Google’s partners held a conference call on the topic. He demurred on whether Google plans a “gPhone,” despite one reporter badgering him with “What’s the deal?”
Schmidt said he “didn’t want to foreclose any options”-but that the OS had to come first.
Schmidt said that, instead, the Android OS would enable “thousands of phones,” a reference to Google’s announced model of promoting an open-source OS that would enable multiple handset-vendor partners to create devices. And that, not incidentally, will give Google a platform for advertising-based revenue that it said it will share with partners, presumably carriers, application developers and others.
Today’s announcement included participation from Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corp., and Ed Zander, CEO of Motorola Inc., as well as the news that Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and LG Electronics Co. Ltd. would be making devices to run Android. But details were nonexistent.
A reporter asked whether Android would run exclusively on smartphones, or be driven down into feature phones and entry-tier models. Advanced operating systems such as Nokia’s Symbian, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and, of course, Apple’s Mac-based OS for its iPhone typically run on higher-end devices.
Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, which exclusively makes smartphones, said on the conference call only that the Android OS would show up on “optimized Internet devices” from his company in the second half of next year.
Later, Jason Mackenzie, an HTC Americas VP, said that his company expected to be first to market in the United States and globally with a handset running Android. Mackenzie said it was too early to be more specific about the type of handset or its pricing, but that HTC’s business model of focusing on smartphones would not change. He also emphasized that HTC’s close relationship with Microsoft-HTC devices running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile account for 75% of Windows Mobile devices globally-would not change. Thus, HTC’s Android-enabled devices will “complement” its Windows Mobile offerings, he said.
Zander did not volunteer any information on how his company might position an Android-enabled handset, though Motorola has said it is working on one or more post-Razr platforms and recognizes the need to expand both its 3G and smartphone offerings.
Qualcomm Inc.’s CEO Paul Jacobs, also participating on today’s conference call, said his firm sought to make chipsets available that would allow handsets to sell at retail in the sub-$200 range.
Schmidt and others on the call did little to clarify the sort of “user experience”-the amorphous buzzword dangled by all industry participants-that one could expect from Android, nor in what form it will reach the market.
The only concrete details: Android is based on Linux and an early form of the new OS will be available in a software development kit, or SDK, to be released next week to seed the developer community crucial to Android-based application development.
Laurie Armstrong, a Nokia spokesperson, said that her company would not discuss whether it had been invited to join the OHA or whether it would. But she reiterated Nokia’s success with its S60 series variant of the Symbian OS, which powers Nokia’s smartphones, which hold more than 50% of the world’s smartphone market share.
“It’s great to see Google and others following that trail,” she said.
Armstrong also pointed out that the Open Mobile Alliance, of which Nokia was a founding member, was founded in 2002 and has more than 300 companies in its membership.
For now, Google and its partners essentially are saying: We’ll give you a call when we have more details to share.