Subscribe by EmailGoogle Android phone launch delayed
June 24, 2008 by Mark O'Neill | 2 commentsBy Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]
Google has indicated that plans to bring out a new Android powered phone will probably be delayed until the end of this year, possibly even the beginning of next year in some parts of the world.
The company had hoped to bring out Android this summer but that now looks increasingly unlikely.
The delays are being blamed on the multitude of mobile phone companies across the world trying to work out how to adapt their devices to Google’s newly invented Android platform – the operating system they invented to allow phone users to access the web and play media files. This process is apparently taking longer than Google had thought.
Meanwhile, as these delays continue, Apple has brought out their new 3G iPhone and Skype has their phones out. So when Google finally brings Android out, they will be entering a very crowded and competitive marketplace. Will the Google name be enough to prevail over their rivals?
- Google Confirms Mobile Phone “in Development”
- T-Mobile: Buy a shiny new Android G1… just don’t use it much.
- Google Calendar on your mobile phone with GCalSync
- Google GrandCentral: One (Phone) Ring to Rule Them All
It’s open source, there’s an SDK for Linux, I’m sure it’ll be popular among us Linux users. You can’t sync an iPhone’s calendar and contacts with Evolution or Thunderbird & Sunbird or KDE-PIM. Android should probably be able to do all that, probably with plugins for the respective PIMs. I would love a CDMA one.
While I’m personally very dissapointed in the delay, I think they’ll make out fine. People are just now starting to get used to having a usable web browser on their phone. The iPhone opened that door (I think Jobs said 85% use web on the iPhone as opposed to other phones which run less than 20%), and only a few have jumped on it. Samsung just released their Instinct. HTC and LG have phones on the production block that won’t come out until around Android time as well. We’re just at the beginning of the ramp-up in the US for phones with decent multi-functional ability. They’ll be plenty of room for Google’s platform to gain some traction with the mainstream public.