Google and the Open Handset Alliance have announced the availability of the Android platform source code which can be used by developers to create applications for Linux-based mobile phones.
The battle lines are being drawn in a contest that will almost certainly define the design of mobile phones over the next five years.
Many in the industry will be pleased to see the emergence of Linux and other open source software as the basis of most mobile phone developments.
All the major software companies are lining up behind a set of different so-called “standard” approaches to what will be the first open source mobile phone platform.
Microsoft, Symbian – soon to be owned by Nokia – and Google are in the contest, and Intel made its intentions clear when it acquired a small but significant London-based Linux open source software development company called OpenedHand.
The move by Google and the Open Handset Alliance effectively launches the Android Open Source Project which is intended to promote the Google mobile phone platform in the market for next generation Linux-based smartphones and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).
The hope is that this will facilitate the development of new mobile phone applications. These are likely to include location-based travel tools, games and social networking.
“Handset manufactures can access a complete, full featured mobile stack without any barriers and get a head-start on creating as contemporary a device that they want to build,” said the Open Handset Alliance.
“Developers for the first time can contribute code, with a full set of APIs that allows the platform to host applications written by third-party developers,” said the Alliance.
The first mobile phone based on the Android platform was unveiled in the US in September.
Next up is the UK, with availability promised for "early November", with the rest of Europe following in Q1 of 2009.
For more information visit the Android Open Source Project