14 DAY TRIAL // With Android already a highly popular smartphone operating system, Google is considering expanding its reach to more devices on the market, even to some that do not pack telephony capabilities.
Since the release of the first device powered by Android, the mobile OS has been growing at impressive rates, and is expected to become the second platform on the mobile market, but its reach would expand further than that, it seems.
According to a recent post on the Android Developers blog, it shouldn't be too long before the first results in this direction emerge.
Mobile Internet Devices or Personal Media Players - MIDs or PMPs – powered by Android are to land on the market in a matter of months, it seems, following the launch of the second tablet PC that packs Google's OS.
“For starters, the first Android-based non-phone handheld devices will be shipping over the next few months,” the aforementioned blog post reads.
“Except for the phone part, PMP/MID devices look and work just like smartphones, but if your app really does require phone hardware to work correctly, you can follow some simple steps to make sure your app only appears on phones.”
Tablet PCs are other non-phone devices that run under Android, though some with phone capabilities, but the first of them already started to emerge into the wild, including the Dell Streak, launched a few months ago, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab, formally introduced on Thursday.
Starting with the Android 1.6 OS version, Google made sure that the mobile platform comes with support for screens of all sizes, but it seems that these slates are the first devices beside smartphones to come with support for the Android Market.
As previously reported, more such tablet PCs are expected to become available for purchase in the not too far future, including one from LG Electronics, supposedly called the Optimus Pad.
Application developers are encouraged to taps into the capabilities of larger screens too, so as to make sure that their applications can fit newer devices, and that they are compatible with larger screen tablets that are to come.
“Android started on phones, but we’re growing to fit new kinds of devices. Now your Android app can run on almost anything, and the potential size of your audience is growing fast,” the blog post concludes.