Google G1 mobile phone launches.
Piece by the Guardian’s Richard Wray gives the background. Open Handset Alliance vs Apple iPhone and Nokia’s newly-free Symbian.
And
“For many people in the developing world, the only way they are likely to get on the web, for the foreseeable future, is through a mobile device.
A quarter of a century on from the arrival of the personal computer there are roughly 1bn in use worldwide but that many mobile phones are sold every year. And growth in mobile usage is increasingly in the developing world, where fixed-line infrastructure is often patchy at best.”
Financial Times article based on preview of G1. Reports developers distinctly underwhelmed by the first showing.
“When the first of Google’s long-anticipated Android mobile phones hit the stores in a matter of weeks, they will land with a fizzle rather than a bang.
That is the overwhelming verdict of internet developers and mobile industry executives who have closely followed Google’s progress and, in some cases, worked with early versions.”
Jean-Louis Gassée at Monday Note speculates thus:
“ … imagine this: Google makes a deal with Amazon and all the Kindle content becomes available on Android phones. Or, not at first but in a future iteration, the video downloads Amazon sells become available on Android. And why not start sooner with the music (MP3) files Amazon sells.”