Thomas Howe

Found this post from telecomtv today about Google’s taking the wraps off of the Google Android operating system. Here’s what caught my eye:

Rubin also said that
the days of the “traditionally’ high cost of software development for
mobiles are numbered and believes that once Android hits the market the
costs of such developments will fall dramatically. He said, “We think
about 20 per cent of a mobile’s cost is software, and because Android
is free and open, that means close to zero cost on the software side.”



Andy Rubin also expects Android to be extensively customised, with
operators, developers and even end-users tinkering with the OS to
create a myriad of iterations and applications.



He said, “Android has come into existence as a direct result of the
freedom conferred by web development. It’s taking a lot of the concepts
that were formed on the Internet and bringing them to mobile, and the
chief architectural concept is the notion of mash-ups.”

Ok - I’m very cool with mashups (obviously), but as I read this, there’s more than one worry in my head…

Because 20 percent of a mobile’s cost is software, and because Android is free and open, that means close to zero cost on the software side.

Really? Where do I start with this one…

• Open source might be free to acquire, but is hardly free to integrate and support.
• So, you mean to say that the developers of the software aren’t going to get any money? Actually, considering how busted the mobile application business models seem to be, that’s probably not too far from the truth. The developers of the software won’t get any money.
• Ummm… so the majority of the problem, the cost of the HARDWARE, is unaffected here? Well, great. I guess.

Andy Rubin also expects Android to be extensively customised, with
operators, developers and even end-users tinkering with the OS to
create a myriad of iterations and applications.

Perhaps this is where all the money that we are saving from the software is going… to the support departments of the carriers that have to support the heavily customized, tinkered devices. Well, great. I guess.

He said, “Android has come into existence as a direct result of the
freedom conferred by web development. It’s taking a lot of the concepts
that were formed on the Internet and bringing them to mobile, and the
chief architectural concept is the notion of mash-ups.”

Well, OK. He’s got me there. Let’s just hope that somehow, brilliantly, all the carriers who deploy Android applications actually support web approaches.

As for me, here’s my bet. If the mobile market is like how the PC industry was back in 1984, then Google Android is the PC, and the iPhone is the Mac. Let’s see if it takes another twenty years before we learn the lessons this time.