Android: a story about the phone, Java, Linux and other wars

Google released the API for Android and several first impressions of its impact and contribution to the mobile phone platform are now available.

There are good and not-so-good news.

Various blogs describe well the positive points of Android such as defining a common and relatively 'open' platform for volume development of related applications and services, bringing down the barriers of entry, offering competition on a common infrastructure. A good article describing Android is found here.

These are all good points, timely introduction and needed development to standardize what otherwise is a set of exclusionary and stove-piped technologies vertically aligned across the usual suspects, aka communications cartels.

I installed the SDK first on my Ububtu.x86.64 environment. It did not work. I found that the initial distribution is for 32-bit only; the site should point this out on the download entry.

Under Vista, x86.32, it worked well using Eclipse and standalone via the Ant script generated by the included application generation utility, activityCreator.py.

As I work with the SDK, I like what I see, namely

• Java. The SDK is Java-based including an Eclipse plug-in.
  

What concerns me includes:

• Java. Same language supporting a subset of the JDK. The run-time VM is a custom one, Dalvik, perhaps needed to gain performance on target platforms. Java faces fragmentation and Android is a good example of it. Google's GWT uses a similar architecture and supports also a subset of Java's JDK, a different subset than Android. There is fragmentation for Java even within Google. Perhaps this is the cost of rapid development but certainly they can do better than this. A good article describing Android's Java gambit is found here.
  

Sun's Jonathan Schwartz noted in a blog entry his dinner invitation, at his place, to Linus Torvalds. It appears now that Jonathan may need to include Sergey and Larry on such invitation, have a good supply of java to digest the vast amount of material accumulated since the initial invite, leave egos at the door and collectively endorse, support and join the OpenJDK community.

A fragmented Java is not in the interest of developers and of the software industry. Unix offers a good example of the perils of fragmentation; it is a good idea avoiding same fate for Java.

Android: an open platform for mobile communications

The announcement by Google of an open platform for mobile communications marks a milestone in the evolution of the Internet.

The conventional cell-phone is a wireless unit with some data processing capabilities, a phone plus a PDA, as exemplified by Palm's Treo, Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry.

In contrast, Google defines a Linux-based computing platform that can make phone calls.

The difference is significant an offers wide range of options and possible technology combinations by defining a device stack for mobile communications that includes a Linux-based OS, a defined API and associated development tools.

Not much is known since the API will be available on November 12th. What is known can be summarized as follows:

• Platform. Open source software communications platform named Android. The definition is a software-based API that allows any hardware technology to be able to develop and deploy mobile applications and services.
  
• Alliance. Open Handset Alliance, OHA, which includes 34 registered participants. Participants include T-Mobile, Sprint, China Mobile, Telefonica of Spain, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Intel and Texas Instruments.

Not surprising is the absence from the alliance of names such as Microsoft, Verizon, AT&T and Apple.

This move by Google offers also an alternative to proprietary development by proposing instead a common infrastructure for all to participate, use, enhance and compete by delivering value above a common foundation.

The enthusiasm of seen an alliance for an open source communications platform is tempered by the fact that the API and associated development tools are unavailable now. Unclear also is the language, or languages, supported for development.

However, first impressions are that Google has once more outfoxed the usual suspects and proposed an approach for the evolution of mobile communications in a manner and culture earlier responsible for the volume adoption of the Web, Apache, Linux and Firefox.

References

• Google. Here is an entry in Google's blog re subject announcement.
• BBC. Q&A article re proposed mobile platform at BBC.
• API. Android's software development kit, SDK, is available here.
• Nokia. Nokia does not rule out participating in the OHA alliance.