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Fourteen new companies have joined the Google-backed OHA

The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has added 14 new partners wishing to create new mobile phones and devices using the Google Android mobile OS.

Asustek, Toshiba, Sony Ericsson and 11 other companies have joined the organization which still plans to recruit new members in the future.

Each new member of OHA is expected to help contribute code to the Android Open Source Project, make Android devices, and support the Android platform.  It's likely the joining companies patiently waited to see how the G1 phone available on T-Mobile would sell before making the commitment.

Analysts expect the G1 to sell around 500,000 units in 2008, after being released earlier in the fall.  Sony Ericsson plans to release an Android-based phone sometime in mid-2009, with Motorola also planning to make an Android phone in the future.

The phone manufacturers are looking to get away from Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Nokia's Symbian software, with developers preferring cheaper, more open platforms to work with.

Vodafone and Softbank Mobile are the latest wireless phone providers to join the ranks, which already include T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, NTT DoCoMo, and other major phone providers.  Sprint is actively talking with chip makers and handset manufacturers in a renewed interest to create a sprint Android-based product for release sometime in 2009.

Analysts were unsure what the future would hold for Android, as HTC, a small, relatively still unknown company was the first and only company to make an Android phone, and T-Mobile was the only one to support the new phone on its phone network.

The 14 new companies will help strengthen the OHA and help further legitimize Google's push in the mobile industry.  In addition, there could be a large network for applications for the G1, so Google and OHA will be keen to help keep the Android developer community happy.

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Move over I-Phone
By Reclaimer77 on 12/11/2008 8:27:48 AM , Rating: 5
14 established companies working together with Google to make an open platform ? I'll take that any day over Apples iron curtain of closed source.

Sign me up.




RE: Move over I-Phone
By Goty on 12/11/2008 8:33:22 AM , Rating: 1
I'm just going to wait until someone ports Android over to the iPhone =D


RE: Move over I-Phone
By FITCamaro on 12/11/2008 8:52:28 AM , Rating: 2
Now THAT would be funny.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By JabberWockey on 12/11/2008 3:25:02 PM , Rating: 2
That would be quite amazing, actually, considering the iPhone is an exceptional piece of hardware but has a severely lacking operating system. I think I might look more into this....


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Moishe on 12/12/2008 3:18:40 PM , Rating: 2
Keep waiting.
Apple is crappy enough to make it stop.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Chadder007 on 12/11/2008 9:15:48 AM , Rating: 2
Verizon regrets passing on the iPhone and has since been trying to make up for it with the Voyager, Dare, and now Blackberry Storm.....yet they have passed on Android phones so far since they can't lock it down like they usually do OS's.
$##*!#&#


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Screwballl on 12/11/2008 10:00:02 AM , Rating: 2
You can still buy unlocked phones that will work with Verizon... just no Verizon specific services available.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Ryanman on 12/11/2008 9:31:23 AM , Rating: 2
It's wierd because windows mobile 6.1 had such a good chance to be awesome. My Epix runs well... I love it a lot... but I really wish I could have found an andriod phone on AT&T.
My BIGGEST pet peeve is that mobile doesn't actually close applications. It's the same thing OSX does and it's infuriating, especially on a resource-limited platform. Having to put the task manager on my start bar shouldn't be neccessary. There should be a "close" and a "minimize" button for it - I don't need a toolbar, but I should have the capability to stop a process when I'm done with it. AIM and IE especially take up to 10mb of memory each, which bogs it down when I start running opera or a game or music.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By kelmon on 12/11/2008 9:40:28 AM , Rating: 2
In defense of OS X, whether closing the window of the application you are working in closes the application itself depends on whether you are working in a Document-based Application or not. Document-based Applications will not close automatically after you have closed the final window because the expectation is that you will open a new document. When you close the window of a non-Document-based Application then the application quits automatically because that window must be open for it to do something useful. Should you wish to quit an application, Document-based or otherwise, then selecting the Quit command is way to tell the application that you no longer want it to run. Presumably this is the option that should also appear in Windows Mobile.

In the past I used to have a Windows Mobile PDA and I know precisely what you mean.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By HighWing on 12/11/2008 12:02:38 PM , Rating: 2
since you are running 6.1 I am surprised you don't know this, but since even before 6.1, There has been option you can check where hitting the "X" button actually closes the application. You can find it under Settings -> System Tab -> Task Manger -> Button Tab


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Totally on 12/11/2008 3:32:59 PM , Rating: 2
Beat me to it, that post is definitely FUD, since you have to go into task manager to close a programs otherwise. The button tab isn't an easy miss.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By kelmon on 12/11/2008 9:33:11 AM , Rating: 2
In theory, yes, the open platform is a good idea. In practice it remains to be seen whether Android from one manufacturer will be exactly the same as Android from another. Put another way, the fear from developers is that Android will be much the same as the Java language that it is written in - you should be able to write once and run anywhere but that often is not the case. If differences do appear that are not addressed then software developers are going to lose interest in the platform very quickly.

It should also be noted that consumers very rarely care whether a platform is open or closed. As long as it does what they want (and both approaches are capable of both doing and hindering this) then that's all that matters. It certainly is not enough to be better by being open - you have to be better, full stop, and being open is no guarantee of that.

So, while I wish Google all the best with this, I have more confidence that Apple will ultimately succeed given the single product. Too many cooks spoil the broth, as the old saying goes...


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Reclaimer77 on 12/11/2008 2:38:34 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
So, while I wish Google all the best with this, I have more confidence that Apple will ultimately succeed given the single product. Too many cooks spoil the broth, as the old saying goes...


To put Google and Apple in the same sentence this way is insulting Google. Apple hasn't innovated SHIT in over ten years. Google has unified the entire freaking Internet ! What has Apple ever done EVER !?

Confidence in Apple. Based on what ?


RE: Move over I-Phone
By tempusername on 12/11/2008 4:18:24 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
Google has unified the entire freaking Internet ! What has Apple ever done EVER !?

created the MP3 player?


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Yawgm0th on 12/11/2008 5:42:56 PM , Rating: 2
quote>created the MP3 player?

No. Not even close. That would be like saying Henry Ford invented the internal combustion engine.

The first MP3 players were released in 1997 and 1998, well before the first-generation iPod in 2001.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By kelmon on 12/11/2008 5:49:15 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Confidence in Apple. Based on what ?


Sorry but this is based on rational thought. It doesn't matter that you personally don't like Apple - the sales of the iPod and iPhone speak volumes. Given this and the relative simplicity of a single platform, my bet is on Apple. I have relatively limited confidence that applications written for Android will work the same on every Android phone. It'd be nice to be proven wrong but given the way that Java itself turned out, I'm not holding my breath.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By Reclaimer77 on 12/11/2008 7:19:23 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
It doesn't matter that you personally don't like Apple - the sales of the iPod and iPhone speak volumes.


That only proves how hyped up a product can be. Big deal.

quote:
Sorry but this is based on rational thought.


No its not. If people were being " rational " Apple might not exist today, and they certainly wouldn't have the niche they have today. Buying Apple products is an emotional reaction based on the need to feel special and in social club.

The only, and I mean ONLY, product Apple makes that would come out on top if you made up a list of pros and cons compared to the competition, would be their MP3 players.

Even then, its close.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By kelmon on 12/12/2008 3:08:42 AM , Rating: 2
This really is most entertaining.

So, what you are saying is that Apple sells big because they generate an irrational, emotional, response from people such that they buy their products? And in the face of an apparent ability to do this you think Google is going to be more successful in the smartphone business, why? I mean, they aren't even putting the Google name to the phones that are being sold running Android.

Here's the thing. It has been shown countless times over the years that the best product does not necessarily do best. The iPod is perhaps a good example of this since every time a new one is released you'll get people saying that MP3 Player X is so much better than the iPod but that doesn't stop the iPod from selling gangbusters and MP3 Player X disappearing into obscurity. It's not a question of being best, it's a question of making people want to buy your product over something else. If Google was making the gPhone then I think their name and apparent abilities would make it a real competitor to Apple and the iPhone. But they're not. They are going to leave the design, production, distribution and marketing to the individual cellphone manufacturers. And for this reason I don't see Android winning out over what is already a household name.

The problem is that you're having a techie's reaction to all this and unfortunately that has very little to do with what really happens. Can I assume from this that you do not work in Business Administration?


RE: Move over I-Phone
By JabberWockey on 12/11/2008 3:19:14 PM , Rating: 2
I for one am a consumer who cares whether a platform is open or closed.

Too many cooks spoil the broth, as the old saying goes...

Funny you mention that. I would much rather have the choice of several cooks to make me a meal, than to be stuck constantly with Steve Jobs cooking.

As an owner of an Iphone, I can attest that his cooking is pretty much the equivalent of an Applebees. But we can go on with analogies all day - think of the iPhone as a shiny tricycle, pleasent to look at, safe, and easy to ride. Google Android is a motorcycle, geared for performance, a little harder to ride but much more fun when you learn how.


RE: Move over I-Phone
By kelmon on 12/11/2008 5:53:12 PM , Rating: 2
The problem that I am trying to highlight with the "too many cooks spoil the broth" is that each chef is supposed to be cooking the same menu but that each will no doubt put their own spin on things which is no good if you depend on them all being the same. Choice is great (no argument there) but anyone developing for the Android platform is going to depend on their application, once it works on one device, working the same on all others.


One day everything will be Google...
By Gorfy on 12/11/2008 8:59:09 AM , Rating: 3
10 years later...

You come home from work and use your open source Google garage door-opener. Then turn off your Google open source alarm system. Turn on your Google TV with your Google open source remote control. And then hop into bed and Google your wife.

>_<




RE: One day everything will be Google...
By xti on 12/11/2008 10:46:47 AM , Rating: 5
is there a 'im feeling lucky' button on the google wife too?


By Creig on 12/11/2008 10:58:29 AM , Rating: 5
There is. ;) But if you don't know where to find it, you probably won't be "feeling lucky" anytime soon.


RE: One day everything will be Google...
By kelmon on 12/11/2008 10:59:35 AM , Rating: 2
If she looks like the woman in the article's header, I think you already pushed that particular button.

I'm sure the content of this article is important but I am sure that DailyTech regulars have something more important to discuss, namely, who is hotter? The Firefox Girl or the Google Girl?

Personally, I'm voting for the Google Girl.

Please refer to here for the Firefox Girl: http://www.dailytech.com/Firefox+31+to+Get+Its+Own...

In the event of a tie the girls will wrestle in baby oil...


RE: One day everything will be Google...
By HavocX on 12/11/2008 11:14:10 AM , Rating: 2
I vote for the Firefox girl!


By PAPutzback on 12/11/2008 11:47:37 AM , Rating: 2
Tough call. The FF girl looks like a stripper making her way thru nursing school while the google girl graduated with an MBA by batting her eyes at the professor.

I'll take the Google girl FTW.


RE: One day everything will be Google...
By PAPutzback on 12/11/2008 11:49:39 AM , Rating: 2
Oh wait. I think we all can agree on this one.

http://www.linkingisgood.com/wp-content/uploads/th...


By kelmon on 12/12/2008 3:23:27 AM , Rating: 2
Hmm, she's definitely into 3rd place for me. A cleavage that you could ski down is all well and good but aside from that she's not that attractive, personally speaking.


HTC small and unknown?
By GaryJohnson on 12/11/2008 9:18:34 AM , Rating: 4
quote:
as HTC, a small, relatively still unknown company was the first and only company to make an Android phone

That's like saying nVidia is a small unknown company. They have a similar revenue and number of employees.




RE: HTC small and unknown?
By retrospooty on 12/11/2008 10:48:42 AM , Rating: 3
HTC small and unknown? They are the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world for years now. They make smartphones for everyone... Only recently they started using their own brand name, but they were already by far the worlds largest when they started that.


ASUS & Toshiba
By teko on 12/11/2008 7:03:13 PM , Rating: 2
Even ASUS and Toshiba are joining. Could they be planning something up? A mini netbook using Android? A sub sub notebook?




RE: ASUS & Toshiba
By Penti on 12/12/2008 10:56:49 AM , Rating: 2
An Asus Cellphone maybe? - http://asus.com/products.aspx?l1=11

Asus manufactures stuff for others too so why wouldn't they join.

Both Asus and Toshiba makes Cellphone/PDA stuff. Don't think they sell in the US but who cares, there's more in the world then the states. You can buy a Toshiba phone in Europe, or asia. Both are big players in consumer electronics.


By ghostradionet on 12/11/2008 11:23:31 AM , Rating: 3
I use a bunch of Googles "stuff"
deff. a on the cutting edge company..
thats what happens when you put a few
thousand geeks in one building together..
BTW, does the girl with the Google shirt on
come with the phone?
:-p

Cheers from New York..




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