Open Mobile Space Growing
Finally, Google dropped what they have been working on with the Android project and Open Handset Alliance. I wonder how this will effect OpenMoko and the rest of the environment. The big “G” has been doing a lot of large scale standardization and industry build-up which is going to promote long term change in the industry.
In other news, OpenMoko is getting lots of developer love now with a well working phone dialer and more.
I wonder if OpenMoko was approached by the Google Androids, and how this is seen to shake out? I notice on the list that HTC is listed as a member of the Open Handset Alliance, and is a direct competitor to OpenMoko’s backer, FIC.
Similar to the OpenSocial announcement, I hope that there is room for open standardization between the large players so that users and developers don’t get crunched in the business warfare 
UPDATE: Also, its important to not be naive with either. Here is a nice quote from Tim O’Reilly about how Google’s OpenSocial initiative doesn’t go far enough:
While I like the direction of Google OpenSocial, not only may Google be too late, as Mark argues, I don’t think they go far enough. A framework and a set of Google Gadgets for building “social applications” misses the point. We don’t want to build more applications that look like Facebook applications. It isn’t about a social UI. It’s about deeper re-use of social data to enliven any application. Some of those applications may have a minimal UI, like Google’s breakthrough search app. OpenSocial doesn’t give us any of that. Ajax widgets are a halfway house, an attempt to sandbox the kinds of applications that can be created. And that will be the downfall of OpenSocial. If all you can build are Facebook-like applications, Facebook wins.
And a littler further on…
So, no, it isn’t too late for OpenSocial. But it is too late if Google frames the problem too narrowly. Imagine a desktop “operating system” where the only APIs were those that allowed you to build desktop UI components, and gave you no access to deeper levels of the system. No one would take such a platform seriously. You couldn’t develop real applications. Yet Google (and others) have been pushing the idea that APIs to Javascript widgets are sufficient. Google made a major wrong turn when they withdrew their SOAP APIs in favor of the gadget approach.
Don’t get me wrong: I love the lightweight accessibility of gadgets. But it’s clear that Google has fallen into the Microsoft trap once referred to as “the strategy tax.” Google wants to keep too much control over what their developers can do. And that’s the beginning of the end for them.
UPDDDDATE: And finally, check out Dare Obasanjo’s assessment of Google’s OpenSocial vs. Facebook.
ASIDE: In the end, I’m mega-happy that T-mobile has joined on. Hey Deutsche Telekom (with a K), when are you going to get 3G+ in the USA? Did you forget that everyone else has had it for 1+ years now!
Err … Broadcom, NVIDIA and Wind River as partners ? Don’t wait for an open platform then, it will be all closed and proprietary.
The most open-linux-hostile people Google could find (except for Microsoft).
Comment by Xav — November 5, 2007 @ 1:41 pm
For real…in reading about these last two google plays, seems like the consensus is right out of the Microsoft playback…please blog about these!
Comment by jon — November 5, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
I find the comments on the OpenSocial/FaceBook API’s more interesting than the cell phone stuff. My favorite bit is “It isn’t about a social UI. It’s about deeper re-use of social data to enliven any application.” Imagine a central repository of social data (profiles, friend relationships, photos, blog posts, videos, etc), all accessible via a SOAP interface.
Comment by Greg Bulmash — November 5, 2007 @ 4:11 pm
Yes, agree…But, I think longer term combining the two fields is going to be quite interesting.
Comment by jon — November 5, 2007 @ 4:34 pm
[...] Jon, T-Mo USA isn’t going to deploy HSPA in their 1900 MHz PCS spectrum because they are the most spectrum starved of all the national US carriers. They need their 1900 MHz blocks for regular voice calls. That’s why the spent $4 billion in the AWS auction last summer to buy up as much 1700MHz spectrum as they could. They are going to deploy HSPA in their 1700MHz spectrum. But first the government needs to move government agencies out of the 1700MHz spectrum, which is going slowly. So T-Mobile is between a rock (growing their subscriber base) and a hard place (government agencies that are slow to move out of the 1700MHz AWS band so that cellular companies can use the spectrum they bought). [...]
Pingback by Dan Williams’ blog » Blog Archive » T-Mo got no spec-trum — November 5, 2007 @ 9:59 pm
Well, the good one will survive. OpenMoko, Android, MOTOMAGX and so on. It’s much fun in mobile phone now.
Comment by akibo — November 6, 2007 @ 1:24 am
Google is evil! They look like they are friendly, but they only want to collect data and place advertisement. Nice at the front, ugly and bad at the backside. Goggle is even worse than Microsoft, cause MS doesn’t pretend to be a friendly OpenSource company. I won’t use Android, cause I don’t want to support such a company, but I will buy the Neo1973. I hope it is possible to erase every Google out of OpenMoko (Google Search, Gmail… what ever)
Comment by noname — November 6, 2007 @ 4:30 am
OpenMoko was the first thing I thought about when I read the news about Android. I’ve followed the OpenMoko-project from a distance and have a great interest in it. I plan to buy a Neo1973 as soon as it is available for the mass audience. I still believe the OpenMoko-project could make a difference. And my trust in OpenMoko is bigger than my trust in Google.
Comment by Karel — November 6, 2007 @ 3:08 pm
Whoa, that is impressive Karel, your faith in OpenMoko. At least getting involved in OpenMoko is good with a strong connection to the community. While google does good work, I fear that it is too large to have a 1:1 relationship with the community. This is important to keep in focus wrt to how openmok should scale and set itself apart from these other communities.
Comment by jon — November 6, 2007 @ 4:34 pm
I want an open-open company and not just a hybrid closed/open company!
Comment by jon — November 6, 2007 @ 4:54 pm
This strikes me as very bad news. Google’s pandering appeasement to companies with histories of strong opposition to real openness is not good news for people waiting for an open phone platform. I suspect that what they have done is to simply redefine the term “open” to include phones on which the end-users cannot actually modify the software. Their biggest selling point for vendors is this one (from openhandsetalliance.com/android_faq.html):
“If the Open Handset Alliance is giving it all away for free, how will the platform be differentiated?”
“Because the Apache license does not have a copyleft clause, industry players can add proprietary functionality to their products based on Android without needing to contribute anything back to the platform. As the entire platform is open, companies can remove functionality if they choose. Applications are not set in stone, and differentiation is always possible. For example, if you want to include Hotmail instead of Gmail, it will not be an issue.”
Of course, copyleft-licensed projects like OpenMoko have always allowed vendors to remove functionality too; the big difference here is that Android sounds like a platform where users can (and will) be prevented from re-adding the removed functionality, and from adding [unlimited] other functionality of their own. At least, that is how it appears to me based on the information available so far. The iPhone will soon be “open” too, by that definition.
I’m still looking forward to a truly free and open platform (like OpenMoko) which will allow USERS to modify their OS, and my existing distrust of Google skyrocketed after reading the news about Android.
Comment by Finite — November 6, 2007 @ 8:39 pm
Here, here Finite!
Comment by jon — November 7, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
Wow , the battle looking for mobile content continues and of course there is more to come. One stop mobile shop I found really fun is t9space.com offers video ,social sites , and info :
Comment by Jolie — March 10, 2008 @ 2:26 pm