Open Handset Alliance launches Android development platform (USA)Google, T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have announced a new industry association, the Open Handset Alliance, for building a common development platform for mobile phones. The association of 34 mobile service and equipment companies has given its backing to Android, a software stack consisting of an operating system, middleware, user interface and applications. The first phones based on the software are expected to hit the market in the second half of 2008. The Android platform will be made available under open-source licences, and the alliance members will issue already next week an early access software development kit for developers designing applications. The announcement follows months of speculation over Google’s plans for mobile phones. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a statement that Android is “more ambitious than any single ‘Google Phone’”, and the company expects Android to eventually power “thousands of different phone models”.
The founding members of the Open Handset Alliance are Aplix, Ascender, Audience, Broadcom, China Mobile, eBay, Esmertec, Google, HTC, Intel, KDDI, LivingImage, LG, Marvell, Motorola, NMS Communications, Noser, NTT DoCoMo, Nuance, Nvidia, PacketVideo, Qualcomm, Samsung, SiRF, SkyPop, SoniVox, Sprint Nextel, Synaptics, TAT - The Astonishing Tribe, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile and Wind River.
The rival LiMo association, which is also working on a Linux mobile handset development platform, said it welcomes Google’s initiative and expects the two groups will be able to work together. LiMo has 22 members, including NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone, Motorola, Samsung and NEC.
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