14 DAY TRIAL // Google seems determined to come to the market with even more updates for its mobile operating system, Android. While announcing the release of yet another platform, this time one aimed at other devices than smartphones, the Chrome OS, Google also makes it clear that Android remains the choice of platform for mobile phones, and that the development of the OS will continue.
Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google, stated recently at a joint T-Mobile and Google media event that the Cupcake update for the Android would be followed by a series of other firmware versions in the near future, all of which are named like desserts, in an alphabetical order. Thus, Android users will see a Donut coming their way, followed by an Eclair and a Flan.
As one can easily imagine, no exact roadmap, release dates and so on have been unveiled, yet some more details on what the upcoming Android flavors will include still came up. One of the directions that Google plans on choosing when it comes to its Android OS is aiming at the social-related features of the upcoming handsets powered by its platform.
Social networking sites are gaining more and more popularity these days, and this is what Google plans to bet on with future Android iterations. For example, it will be possible for upcoming mobile phones to display the photo, name and last post on Facebook of a caller. In addition, it seems that the company also plans on making some changes in the way developers charge for the applications submitted to the Android Market.
Cole Brodman, T-Mobile’s chief technology officer, stated that customers would also be able at a certain point to purchase apps from the storefront and pay for them on their carrier bill. While, at the moment, the portal only supports Google’s payment service Google Checkout, having users charged through the operator bill is only one of the payment options the company is thinking about.
When it comes to the number of Android-based mobile phones that will come to the market during the ongoing year, it seems that things are also escalating. A number of 15 to 20 handsets are expected to come to the market in 2009, following the already available HTC Dream, Magic, Hero and Samsung's Galaxy.