Android is a complete Linux-based operating system for mobile phones - complete with applications - to rival Symbian, Windows Mobile and of course OSX thanks to the iPhone. A few years ago I would have added Palm OS to that list, but not anymore.
Google Phone - GPHONE
The big question is - is the so-called Google Phone still to come, or will Android just assimilate existing hardware manufacturers?
Look around and you can see there are three approaches to the mobile space - Palm & HTC make hardware, Microsoft & Symbian make software, Apple makes both. Google is smart enough to know that hardware becomes commoditised and someone can always undercut you, unless you refuse to license your OS to anyone else like Apple.
Rather than release the definitive "Google Phone" like the iPhone, Google is more likely to license its OS to manufacturers like HTC - which is set to release an Android-powered device in European market in the second half of 2008 - and slowly squeeze out the likes of Windows Mobile and Palm. Symbian is probably safe because it is joint owned by phone makers Nokia, Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, Panasonic, Siemens and Samsung.
Even the operating system is irrelevant, in reality content and services are king. The iPhone might have slick graphics and a touchy-feely interface, but if Android tightly integrates Google's services into a mobile device then it will lay waste to the competition.
Steve Jobs may have carried the iPhone down from the mount Moses-style, but is an army that marches behind Android invincible?
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