Washington — Mobile developers have a new playground to tinker with the software to develop their own features. When Google first announced the Android operating system and formed the Open Handset Alliance to back it, the idea was always to release the mobile operating system as open-source code. Google on Tuesday, on the eve of the first Android phone coming to the market, it finally did that.
“Today, the Google-led Open Handset Alliance kept up on its promise to make its source code available for free as part of its Android Open Source Project.”
“Today is a big day for Android, the Open Handset Alliance, and the open-source community,” wrote Dave Bort, a Google software engineer, on source.android.com, the site where the code is available for downloading.
“All of the work that we have dispensed into the mobile platform is now officially available, for free, as the Android Open Source Project,” Bort said in a blog posting.
That includes the Linux kernel, the application platform, the system library, graphics and speech-recognition libraries, a media codex, and applications such as the browser, dialer, and contacts manager. Google’s Rich Miner, who helps head up the Android team there, said:
This is probably the largest repository of open source code that has been released at any one time. We have worked on the things we thought were important. But there is still a lot of work to do in all aspects of the platform, from tying it into different carrier networks, multimedia, speech recognition, and the graphic subsystems.
“It is a complete, end-to-end software platform that can be adapted to work on any number of hardware configurations,” Bort said, inviting outside computer programmers to download Android and begin developing their own applications.
“Have a great idea for a new feature? Add it! As an open-source project, the best part is that anyone can contribute to Android and influence its direction,” Bort said.
The announcement has been made a day before the release of the first Android phone. The source code is being issued under an Apache license, which means it is free to use but developers do not have to make the source code of new products available to all.
The 2.1GB code package is now available for download and developers will need 6GB to use the stack. Ubuntu is the recommended coding environment but Mac software can also be used.
Motorola is already reportedly developing an Android phone and Kyocera has also said it is planning to use the platform, but Google is not focusing on the mobile sphere alone.
“Even if you are not planning to ship a mobile device any time soon, Android has a lot to offer,” said Bort.
The expected release of the Android open-source code came on the eve of the arrival in stores of the Android-based T-Mobile G1 phone, Internet search king Google’s challenge to the hot-selling Apple iPhone.
Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms at Google, said the open source model allows greater access to ideas and innovations.
“An open sourced mobile platform that is constantly being improved upon by the community and is available for everyone to use speeds innovation, is an engine of economic opportunity and provides a better mobile experience for users,” Rubin said in a statement.
The Mountain View, California-based company unveiled its long-awaited smart phone last month, the first of what is expected to be a generation of devices built on the Android operating platform.
The phones, which cost 179 dollars, 20 dollars cheaper than the iPhone 3G, go on sale in the United States on Wednesday, in Britain in early November and in other European countries served by telecom carrier T-Mobile in early 2009.
Google anticipates to establish Android as the standard operating system for mobile phones and to improve the quality of web-browsing for handset users. This would drive traffic to the company’s websites.
Analyst Jack Gold said he expects the Android release to have a positive effect on the mobile marketplace. “It is going to enable a lot of creativity and that is a good thing,” Gold, principal analyst and founder of J. Gold Associates, said in a statement.
But Google software faces fierce competition from the world’s biggest mobile phone maker, Nokia, and its Symbian system. US software giant Microsoft also has a Windows system for mobiles and a separate consortium is working on an open-source Linux solution.
Google announced the Open Handset Alliance in November of last year to develop Android. It includes China Mobile, HTC, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Telefonica, LG and eBay.
The G1 offers many of the features of the iPhone and Research in Motion’s popular BlackBerry including a touch screen similar to that of the iPhone, a trackball for navigation, high-speed Internet browsing, Wi-Fi, email, instant messaging and SMS texting.
The Android-enabled “G Phone” can integrate applications from any number of developers while the iPhone, for example, runs on Apple software.
“In an open source environment, companies can do whatever they want to do, so imagine ten different companies going in ten different directions,” Gold said.
“There are pros and cons to any new platform,” he added. “With Android, we will just have to see how well the community controls itself, managing new contributions to the code base and keeping a level of consistency.”
“It is a challenging time to be a mobile developer with so many platforms to choose from, RIM, Android, Apple, Windows Mobile and Symbian,” analyst Maribel Lopez, said in a statement. “I think the reality is the industry has taken two steps forward and two steps back.”