BBC NEWS | Technology | Google's Android mobile unveiled

[Peter Korsten]

Andrew Robinson schreef:

> Even more baffling to me than Google's decision to launch a 'me too'
> iPhone is Apple's stubborn insistance that I can't use my Apple
> bluetooth keyboard with my Apple bluetooth Phone.

A good friend of mine uses a Bluetooth keyboard with his Nokia N95 and 
N800. I don't know what he uses as a screen, but he doesn't use his 
computer very much these days, not even for instant messaging or voice 
and video calls.

> I agree with you though, I don't want to dock my phone to an  iFridge
> (I know we were joking about it earlier, but there actually is one on
> the way: http://devicedaily.com/gadgets/gorenje-the-ipod-fridge-launched-at-ifa-2008.html
> ) I want to plug it into a cheap dumb terminal with the form factor of
> a macbook air. Just a keyboard, a (multi)touchscreen and a big battery
> is all it needs, maybe an optional DVD drive too.

Why not Bluetooth? I find it great. If I walk from my computer and I 
come back, it says, hey, I found your phone. And then I can decide to 
sync it, or it happens automatically. In my ideal world, I would come 
home and my phone would automatically hook up, and rather than reading 
my e-mail on my computer itself, it would store it on the phone.

Hmm... I already have a Bluetooth dongle, so perhaps I should look into 
this.

>> Google's business model is based on advertising, and maximising their
>> search technology.
> 
> but their strategy is to launch probably the first phone that will get
> a usable port of firefox+adblock!

Not Chrome, their own browser? Not that I like it, by the way. At all.

>> But to not establish a foothold in the mobile market would be very
>> unwise indeed.
> 
> I'm not so sure. Have Microsoft really gained much from having a
> loss-making Xbox division?

But the mobile market is much, much bigger than the console market. You 
have your mobile on you 24/7, whereas a console is stuck to your TV.

>> In which case it's good to be working at a mobile phone company, because
>> whatever happens, I'll get it for free anyway. :)
> 
> Will you, though? I read that the Android G1 is tied to T-mobile, in
> the same way that the iPhone is tied to AT&T in the US. I'd be
> interested to know what you think the impact of such Balcanisation
> will be.

Well, in Malta there is Vodafone and Go Mobile. There will also be 
Melita, the cable company, but they're coming into the market at the 
same time as two virtual operators (using the Vodafone infrastructure), 
so they'll have trouble making an impact.

Vodafone has the Blackberry, and will get the iPhone if Apple would sign 
the bloody contract. (Or maybe they have already, I don't know.) But 
what I actually meant to say is that whatever will be the platform of 
choice - whether Nokia, Apple, RIM or Google - I will be getting it for 
free.

- Peter