January 2nd, 2009
Android will be more than a phone
The obvious can make anyone seem like a genius.
Back in October I suggested that the Android has to be more than an iPhone, has to be more than a phone actually:
What if someone built, say, a flash drive with the Android software that turned your PC into an Android device? Or turned your Linux-based Netbook into one?
It took an outfit called Mobile-Facts just four hours to get Android running on the Eee PC Netbook I reviewed last year. At the same time Google is rolling out a new version of the software, dubbed Cupcake, that is even more laptop-friendly.
This makes all sorts of sense. The key to Android’s success will be an innovative interface. Once you have that the platform is a matter of personal preference.
An Android Netbook would accomplish two things. It could give Linux market share inside the desktop market. And it would break Android from the death grip of the carrier business model.
As Jean Baptiste-Queru noted in a Google group discussion of Android, T-Mobile had HTC tweak its Android with proprietary components making it difficult if not impossible to upgrade.
This is standard operating procedure for both carriers and mobile phone makers. The more you can upgrade their kit the less kit you buy. Planned obsolescence is built into the business model.
But if Android is available in a Netbook form factor new worlds open up. Users can aid in development. WiFi becomes practical, indeed desireable. You can also have a continuing back-up of your Android data files.
You have a PC version of David Brin’s Kiln People, in that handhelds can now be made for specific tasks, then uploaded to the master and killed at will. In this case, of course, the clones live in the virtual carrier universe.
All these choices are up to you and available, when Android breaks free of a phone mindset.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 01/02/09
