NEW YORK: Anyone expecting the Google mobile operating system to change the market as Apple's iPhone has over the past year will probably be disappointed, for now.
Industry insiders who have worked on Google's Android system say it will struggle in the near term to match the consumer enthusiasm generated by the iPhone, which redefined the touchscreen phone market and greatly improved mobile Web surfing.
Instead, Google sees Android as an open source platform for designing mobile devices and says it will encourage innovation by allowing outside software developers to tinker with the system and create better mobile programmes and services.
But these things take time, and the first phone using Android, code-named the Google "Dream" phone, is unlikely to wow consumers. The device is made by HTC of Taiwan. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit reportedly intends to introduce it in New York on September 23. The mobile phone to use Google Inc's Android mobile operating software will cost $199, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website
"I'm not sure the consumer experience is significantly better than that of the iPhone," said Rajeev Chand, a wireless analyst at the investment bank Rutberg, who has tried out an early version of Android. "When the iPhone came out, the experience was several orders of magnitude better than anything that was out there."
Google, its partner carriers and application developers hope the Android platform will drive even more mobile Web surfing than the iPhone, which has helped mobile Internet use rocket in comparison with other smartphones.
But unlike Apple, which keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and software, Google will have less control. Android will be open to developers to create componenttechnologies in almost any way they can imagine.
Google's engineering-led culture appears content to introduce the first Android phones as a kind of science project that will be rapidly improved afterward. But Google will not have the kind of leverage in mobile that it is used to in the PC world, where it dominates Web search. Phone carriers have a huge say over how devices are designed and what data services are accessible over their networks.
While Android could offer real promise in terms of technology and usability it is unlikely by itself to change the restrictive nature of the mobile industry, said John Poisson, founder of Tiny Pictures, a developer partner of Android.
Carriers in each market will still control how it gets implemented and on which devices and in which form," Poisson said. "Android lives and breathes at the pleasure of the operator."
Another problem for Android is how to explain what it is to consumers. Unlike the iPhone, which came on the back of Apple's hugely successful iPod music player, Android is an unknown brand, even though the Google name has plenty of cachet.
Industry insiders who have worked on Google's Android system say it will struggle in the near term to match the consumer enthusiasm generated by the iPhone, which redefined the touchscreen phone market and greatly improved mobile Web surfing.
Instead, Google sees Android as an open source platform for designing mobile devices and says it will encourage innovation by allowing outside software developers to tinker with the system and create better mobile programmes and services.
But these things take time, and the first phone using Android, code-named the Google "Dream" phone, is unlikely to wow consumers. The device is made by HTC of Taiwan. Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile unit reportedly intends to introduce it in New York on September 23. The mobile phone to use Google Inc's Android mobile operating software will cost $199, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website
"I'm not sure the consumer experience is significantly better than that of the iPhone," said Rajeev Chand, a wireless analyst at the investment bank Rutberg, who has tried out an early version of Android. "When the iPhone came out, the experience was several orders of magnitude better than anything that was out there."
Google, its partner carriers and application developers hope the Android platform will drive even more mobile Web surfing than the iPhone, which has helped mobile Internet use rocket in comparison with other smartphones.
But unlike Apple, which keeps a tight grip on the iPhone's hardware and software, Google will have less control. Android will be open to developers to create componenttechnologies in almost any way they can imagine.
Google's engineering-led culture appears content to introduce the first Android phones as a kind of science project that will be rapidly improved afterward. But Google will not have the kind of leverage in mobile that it is used to in the PC world, where it dominates Web search. Phone carriers have a huge say over how devices are designed and what data services are accessible over their networks.
While Android could offer real promise in terms of technology and usability it is unlikely by itself to change the restrictive nature of the mobile industry, said John Poisson, founder of Tiny Pictures, a developer partner of Android.
Carriers in each market will still control how it gets implemented and on which devices and in which form," Poisson said. "Android lives and breathes at the pleasure of the operator."
Another problem for Android is how to explain what it is to consumers. Unlike the iPhone, which came on the back of Apple's hugely successful iPod music player, Android is an unknown brand, even though the Google name has plenty of cachet.