Android

Google

Open Source Mobile OS / G-Phone

【解説】 †

• グーグル（Google）社は、2007年11月5日に同社のオープン・ソース携帯OS「Android」を発表した。同計画はリナックスをベースにしたプラットフォーム。グーグルはアンドロイド携帯の拡販に乗って、その上で利用できる携帯広告ビジネスの開拓をねらう。
• プロジェクトのメンバーはOpen Handset Alliance（34社）をベースにしている。Androidは、同仕様の携帯端末向けアプリケーション・プラットフォーム。
• Android Incは、2005年6月（設立22ヶ月で）にグーグルが買収した。Android社の設立者は、Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger)、Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire)、Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile)、Chris White (one of the first engineers at WebTV)

【関連URL】 †

• Wiki解説 Android
• Wiki解説、Open Handset Alliance OHA
• グーグルフォン・コム Googlephone

【関連記事】 †

• USA Today Andy Rubinのインタビュー
• Fortune Small Business、Andy RubinとDanger社の話
• G-phoneの噂と&linkプロトタイプ
• ウィズダムの分析記事
• ITpro Andy Rubin氏のインタビュー

【構想ノート】 †

• Androidとは
  • Mobile OS業界の構造とその位置づけ
  • 通信事業者との関係（なぜ、AT&TやVZWはOHAに入っていない？）
    • ディバイス開放はむずかしい
    • アプリケーション開放は議論が進むだろう。
  • 端末事業者との関係
    • iMODEとどこが違う
    • Mobile OSがひとつ増えただけ？、それとも革新的？
• Androidのエコシステム
  • AndroidをベースにしたOpen Source Appliでは、どのようなビジネスモデル、エコシステムが成立するのか。デベロッパーは儲かるのか？
  • オープンソース・テレフォニーへの影響
    • モバイル系（Ming、OpenMoko、Greenphone...）
    • IP-PBX系（参照：OpenSourceTelephonyListおよびOpenSourcePBX/Softswitch）
• AndroidでGoogleは何を狙っているのか
  • 端末開放、アプリケーション開放
  • 過去のグーグルによる買収（Grand Centralほか）
  • パテントの取得状況
  • muniWiFi?（パロアルト）と個人情報収集が進むとの批判
  • 700MHzによるモバイル・キャリアへの参入？
  • XohmでWiMAX用ポータルを提供→パートナー解消で不透明
  • Google Mobile：Java版Gmail／Google Maps
• Androidは日本の携帯文化を変えるか？

【資料ノート】 †

• Android, Google's open-sourced, ad-supported, Linux-based operating system for cell phones with Open Handset Alliance（&link(リンク,http://www.openhandsetalliance.com/)）
• Microsoft is expected to sell about 12 million Windows Mobile phones this year, accounting for about 10 percent of the smartphone market, according to IDC.
• Mr. Schmidt sits on the board of Apple, and while Google is not making or selling phones, it will be providing a phone operating system to Apple competitors.
• A brief demonstration of the Google software recently suggests that phones made using the technology will have features and design similar to the Apple iPhone. Mr. Rubin demonstrated a hand-held touch-screen device that gave an immersive view of Google Earth, the company's three-dimensional visualization software.（グーグル・アース）
• Google has designed is based on the Linux operating system and Sun Microsystems' Java language.
• Mr. Rubin said the company's &verb(StreetView?) feature of Google Maps could easily be coupled - mashed up, in technology speak - with another service listing the current geographical location of friends.
• But the group's core technology itself will not be made available under an open-source license until it is commercially ready sometime next year, Mr. Rubin said.
• Mr. Rubin also said that in the future, the Google technology could be used in other portable devices, including small hand-held computers and car navigation systems.（携帯だけでなくカーナビや携帯無線端末にも利用）
• But the openness of the platform - which Google and its partners consider a key to collaborative development - will make it difficult to achieve interoperability across phones, Dulaney says（互換性確保が難しい。ディファクト競争が活発化？）
• Location, and not standalone mobile search, could be the big battleground for the mobile Web in 2008.
• F-Secure asked this in their blog and came to the conclusion, most importantly, that malware for the phones will be a function of their popularity.（オープンソースになれば、ウィルス、malwareの感染は広がる）
• Such issues have helped to fuel interest in Mobile Linux in the last couple of years. Motorola has seen traction with its Linux-based Ming phones in China, and companies such as Trolltech and &verb(OpenMoko?) have gained traction among developers by offering Linux-enabled mobile phones that serve as little testing grounds for mobile applications.
• Android is good news for developers is debatable. While Android is designed as yet another attempt to create a "Write once, run anywhere" platform-the term was coined by Sun Microsystems Inc. for its Java offering-it will serve only as one more platform developers must write to in the short-term.
• And Google is licensing the software stack under the Apache 2.0 license, allowing any would-be developer to access the code, tweak it as he sees fit, and make the final product proprietary if he chooses.
• The Norwegian developer last year brought to market its Greenphone, Linux-based phone solely targeted at developers looking to build mobile applications. Trolltech moved more than 1,000 of the $700 devices before depleting its inventory and has no plans to offer the phones again, saying it will support new open source projects.
• "The fundamental problem with most of the phones people have today is they do not have full-power browsers," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said.
• The idea smacks of the talks Schmidt gave while at Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - message board), when the Java platform first emerged.（シュミットはJava普及期にサンマイクロのCTOだった）
• The market for mobile advertising is expected to hit 45 million in 2005, according to Ovum Ltd.（MARCH 07, 2007）