Android to dominate
Google’s mobile phone operating system, Android, is very good. So good in fact that it’s not hard to imagine a time when Android will have smashed all opposition in its rapid ascent to smartphone dominance. Except for Apple’s iPhone, of course, which is the only mobile OS likely to hold onto its market in the face of the Android attack.
It’s worth looking at what Android has in its favour, and what makes it such a compelling mobile operating system.
Open source
Being entirely open source software Android is perfectly positioned to take advantage of a growing developer community. While mobile phone users don’t actually care about this, developers do. The chance to develop applications for a full open source platform is already getting developers excited. As Android grows and appears on more and more devices, the market for applications will grow, giving developers much more opportunity than Apple’s iPhone. And although Symbian is also open source software, Nokia has been unable to build enough momentum around its development and it is starting to lose ground.
Google backing
Google has the muscle to turn just about anything into a success, even a mobile phone operating system. Already millions of PC users around the world have GMail accounts or use Google’s online calendaring or office applications. Android, naturally, hooks directly into these, giving users a compelling reason to pick an Android phone over any other.
GPS killer
Traditional GPS makers such as Garmin and TomTom must be quaking in their boots about now.
Google’s recently-announced Google Maps Navigation beta, which is available for Android 2.0 phones, is potentially the death-knell for standalone GPS devices. Voice directions, detailed maps and multiple views (satellite/map/traffic etc) replicate all of the features of standalone GPS units, potentially destroying the market for these. It’s something that GPS makers are aware of and earlier this month Garmin announced plans for an Android-powered phone of its own. Clearly Garmin doesn’t really want to be in the phone business as much as it wants to be in the game when phones become the only GPS device users need.
Games platform
This may be a little further off than the GPS capabilities of Android but picture this. Android has multi-touch support, is an open platform, has accelerometer support and is growing quickly in the market. At some point traditional games makers are going to start eyeing this out as a potential new market for their games. It’s not hard to imagine how a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP could easily be replaced by an Android phone. An open platform that is in the hands of most mobile phone users could be a killer market for games makers and developers keen to get in on the enormous games market.
iPhone holds steady
Already Android is making inroads into the smartphone market and analysts are predicting that by 2012 it will be the number 2 operating system behind Symbian. Along the way Microsoft’s Windows Mobile will lose huge ground as will RIM’s Blackberry and Palm’s Pre. The only OS likely to stay steady during this time will be Apple’s iPhone.
In part that is because of the almost religious devotion Apple users have for their operating system. Much like the PC market, where Windows runs on all manner of hardware, the iPhone will stand out for its single device support. It will be better than Android at many things and it will certainly run better on its single platform than Android will on all phones and it will retain its loyal following. For all those other users not fixated on owning an iPhone, however, Android will be every bit as appealing and will give them exactly what they want.
Google Android – comments and views
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