Google Announces Open Handset Alliance

Google has just broke cover on the long-awaited Gphone, but it's not what was rumored. Instead, the company has announced a new initiative called the Open Handset Alliance, which will be built around a new cell phone OS called Android. Google will offer this OS, but won't make the phones. Instead, hardware companies such as HTC will make the phones, and other companies will produce the software that runs on it. This software will be from a range of companies, with all of the programs co-operating to share data. Android is built on Linux, which means that it is open source, and that the companies who use it will be able to chop and change both the OS and applications as they wish. While most companies who use Windows Mobile have to use the entire OS, Android will be completely customizable. Renee Oberman, CEO of Deutche Telekom (parent company of T-Mobile said that they are “committed to innovation and fostering an open platform for wireless services to meet the rapidly evolving and emerging needs of wireless customers".

The Android SDK (Software Development Kit) will be released on November 12th 2007, but we won't see phones using Android for some time after that: Peter Chou of HTC said that they are looking to start releasing cell phones that use the Android OS in the second half of 2008.