Written By Sepideh Saremi | November 13, 2007 | Share This |

Google yesterday announced the Android Developer Challenge, with $10 million going to developers of worthy mobile applications for the Android operating system, details of which were also released yesterday.

Robert Scoble thinks Android is boring, noting:

I didn’t see ONE feature that will get normal people to switch from the iPhone. This comes across like something developers developed for other developers without thought of how they were going to build a movement…

I’m willing to bet more “normal people” (outside of Silicon Valley) don’t own an iPhone than people that have one, but Scoble makes a good point when he notes in the same post that “This stuff is still vaporware. No phones are available with it.” Still, the potential is exciting and this is leaps and bounds ahead of the phones most people are carrying in their pockets. Duncan Riley at TechCrunch puts it well:

Sure, it’s not an iPhone, but how quickly we all forget life before Apple entered the cell phone market. The combination of touch screen and key stroke makes for an interesting experience, and the graphics and interface are a generation ahead of the ever reliable but archaic interface of the last 5 Nokia’s I have owned.

What do you think? Is Android lame or are we seeing a possible competitor to the iPhone. Remember that competition is always good, even if it’s still being worked on.

Meanwhile, rumors have been circulating that Google may buy Sprint to gain a stronger foothold in the mobile space; Rich Tehrani compares a potential Sprint buyout by the search engine to Google’s acquisition of YouTube despite its development of Google Video but one of his final thoughts is:

You see, Google doesn’t really need the messy wireless phone business. What they really need is platforms which will allow them to display ads embedded in their services such as maps, videos, etc.

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land is skeptical about a Sprint buyout. Since Android development would essentially give Google the ad display platform it’s after, we’ll have to wait and see how the Sprint rumors pan out.

Topics: Google, Technology, Wireless & Mobile |