Google wants an equal chance to get into your mobile phone

Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have collaborated on the development of Android, which is open source software for mobile devices, including an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications.

As reported in various newspapers and in this blog, the Google Phone is not a device introduced by Google, but a software stack for mobile phones.

The companies have teamed under an alliance called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders.

The key objective of Android is summed in this paragraph on the web site of the alliance: “Android does not differentiate between the phone's core applications and third-party applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone's capabilities providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services.”

Google’s bid to proliferate a standard platform, even an open-source platform, will likely be resisted by many mobile phone vendors including Nokia. An open source platform would deprive Nokia of its differentiation. Open source tends to drive commoditization, because every new software feature is available to anyone else to include in their phones.

In its bid to expand its presence beyond the desktop, Google has been pushing for mobile phone vendors and service providers to open up their platforms and services to third-party applications. That would enable users to download Google applications and services on to their phones without having to worry about software compatibility issues, or whether their network operator supports the application.

Currently Google, as also other application and services vendors have to negotiate with mobile phone vendors and network operators to support their applications or services. In such a deal Google would probably have to share its key revenue stream – advertising – with service providers.

The adoption of an open platform would help Google as also users who would have the freedom to choose applications for their device. These days if you buy a phone from Nokia Corp. or Sony Ericsson, or any other vendor, before you download an application, you have to verify that the software is compatible with and supported by your specific mobile phone model. You may also have to check with mobile phone service providers to find out if they support the application.

Google’s move to promote a standard platform is however likely to be resisted by mobile phone makers and network operators, as it will be seen by many as a move by Google to extend its dominance to beyond the desktop, and beyond search. The question foremost on vendors’ minds will be: what is Google doing with operating system and middleware for the mobile phone ? Isn’t that the same thing that Microsoft has been trying with its own software ?

As an user, I too would be a little worried, if my favorite search provider, news aggregator, online productivity applications provider, and blog hosting provider were to also try to get into operating system software. Google is beyond doubt the key player in the Open Handset Alliance. To assuage the doubts of handset vendors and those of users, the company has to make a clear statement of its own objectives.

Apart from winning over big handset vendors like Nokia, Google and Open Handset Alliance will also have to win over large service providers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless. These two companies together control over 50 percent of the US market, and have long been used to deciding what goes into phones on their network. Control has provided them rich content and services revenue streams. They may not take too kindly to having Google and the Open Handset Alliance telling them what to do on their networks.

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In emerging markets, pirated Windows wins over Linux

Mandriva’s CEO François Bancilhon is livid that the Nigerian government has decided to replace Mandriva Linux with Windows from Microsoft Corp. on Classmate PCs. See his open letter to Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, where he blames the Redmond, Washington software giant for queering the pitch for Mandriva.

Emerging markets, because they are poor and are just beginning to adopt computers, are seen by many Linux advocates as a natural market for open source software. After all it gives developing countries cheaper software, and yes the freedom to play around with the source code.

However neither the governments nor the people in emerging markets can afford to be dogmatic on these issues. If Microsoft offers to donate software to a country, and promises to train teachers on Microsoft’s technologies, as they did in India, who are the governments to argue. Their priority is to take computing to as many people as possible.

Taking a position on the open source versus proprietary debate is a luxury emerging markets cannot afford.

For students, knowledge of Microsoft products is considered important as familiarity with Office and Windows is required for most clerical jobs. Most corporations still use Windows and related applications on the desktop. Until that changes dramatically, students too are likely to be keen on using and being trained on Microsoft’s products rather than on open-source technologies.

Governments in emerging markets cannot afford to interfere with this decision by forcing students to work on Linux and open source.

In many emerging markets, Linux is in fact being pushed by PC hardware vendors, as it helps them keep their prices low. In private, some of these vendors will tell you that they are offering Linux just because they have to be seen to be offering an operating system on their computers. Except for some die-hard Linux users, most of the others remove Linux from the hardware, and load a cheap, pirated version of Windows. The vendors’ resellers often oblige by doing it for the user before he takes delivery of the computer.

Why do folks use the pirated Windows instead of the legal Linux ? Because everyone else does it. This illustrates how deeply Windows is entrenched in the users’ psyche in emerging markets. It also illustrates the ecosystem of mentoring and sharing that has over the years got built in emerging countries around Windows. If Windows doesn’t work too well on your computer, go across to a friend or a dealer who will help you find your way out. If you need some other software to run on your computer, the reseller will give you a CD-ROM with a pirated version of the software.

That kind of ecosystem is as yet not available for Linux and other open source software. Open source in emerging markets is a preserve of the geeks. Some of them are with open source primarily because they think it is chic to be seen to support open source.

Purchase decisions in emerging markets are based on purely utilitarian considerations rather than ideology. Users violate copyright laws – and I don’t think they are doing that to spite Bill Gates. They are doing it because it is convenient, and Linux does not as yet qualify as a convenient choice.

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A little more tolerance Mr. Stallman !

A Google phone. So why the fuss ?

Tracking tech companies these days is like tracking movie stars and other celebrity. Will she marry that handsome dude she has been seeing of late ? Does that mean she has fallen out with that gorgeous hunk she was seen with last week at the Ritz ? And by the way, any truth to reports that she had had a silicone implant ?

There is abundant speculation in the mainline newspapers, trade publications and blogs that Google may be bringing out a mobile phone. Surely Google Inc. is loving it, as did Apple Inc. when all that speculative frenzy built up around the iPhone. Folks save them a lot of advertising bucks by doing their work for them. We had pre-announced the iPhone based on crumbs Apple fed us, and we are now trying to pre-announce the Google phone – whether it is a real phone or only software.

If Google brings to market a phone, that is nice. It is also nice every time Nokia Corp. or Motorola Inc. bring out a phone with some new feature. But it is nothing to get into a paroxysm about.

Yes, the PC changed the world in many ways, but another mobile phone will not.

In fact the mobile service providers will ensure that the phone does not go very far. Mobile service providers want control, and they will want control over everything that goes into that phone. Apple wrested control from AT&T by offering it exclusivity, but, despite the popularity of the product, remember it runs on only one network in the US.

The only way Google can play this game to its advantage is to buy wireless spectrum, and allocate it to buddies who will invest in mobile communications companies. There are reports they are going to do just that. But getting into the service provider business to make sure its content and applications is on the phone, is akin to starting up a PC company that ships only Google apps. Google does not seem to know what to do with its cash just now.

I am more inclined to take the view that Google like Microsoft Corp. may emerge as a provider of software and reference design to mobile phone makers like Nokia and Motorola. Miguel Helft at the New York Times is one of a number who are coming around to this view.

Microsoft hasn’t been very successful in this market because cell phone makers have always been wary of large companies invading their turf. That is the reason Nokia has invested in Symbian, a developer of software for phones. Google too will be seen as an upstart by entrenched phone makers.

Besides, if folks like Nokia use the Google software, they will still be required to tweak it for the operator, who may decide he wants Yahoo’s application, rather than Google’s.

But all this hasn’t answered my question. Why is everyone going ga-ga over Google’s new phone/phone software ? Are we so starved for excitement ?

New Zune players to compete with iPod

Microsoft Corp. unveiled three new models of its Zune player, including two versions with flash, which will ship November for the holiday season.

The company has also launched an online music community called Zune Social. Taking a leaf from Apple Inc.’s iTunes and Amazon.com’s new digital music store, it is also offering more than 1 million songs on its Zune Marketplace that are not protected by DRM (digital rights management).

Microsoft however has an uphill task battling against the iPod. The company has reported sales of 1.2 million Zune devices since November last year. That is a lot less than a total of 100 million iPods sold from 2001 to April this year.

The company announced three new models of the Zune portable digital media players: a black Zune 80GB hard-drive model with an estimated retail price of US$249.99; an ultraportable Zune 4GB which is expected to retail at $149.99; and a Zune 8GB, costing $199.99. The last two models are flash models.

The new Zune devices feature the Zune Pad navigation button, with its touch-sensitive surface, Microsoft said in a statement late Tuesday.

Consumers can flick their thumbs over the pad to fly through lists of songs or albums or to fast-forward through picture slide shows or videos, it said. For those who need to pause, advance or adjust the volume on the device without looking, they can also navigate the Zune Pad using physical cues by pressing on the four sides or the center of the button to adjust the volume or choose the next track, according to Microsoft.

The new devices also offer wireless synchronization over the home wireless network, and new software that automatically imports broadcast content recorded on Microsoft Windows Media Center for Windows Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, so consumers can sync them onto their Zune media player and watch them on the bus, in their car or wherever they want when they’re out and about, Microsoft said.

Existing Zune owners will automatically receive new software features, the redesigned PC and device software and access to the new Zune Marketplace when the products and software are released to the public in mid-November.

The new Zune players have some nice new additions, but is not a dramatic makeover from the earlier Zune devices, according to analysts. Zune also does not have as strong a brand as the iPod.

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Office productivity moving online, market suddenly hot

Microsoft Corp. announced Monday its Microsoft Office Live Workspace, a web based extension of Microsoft Office that that allows users to access their documents online and share their work with others including those who do not run Microsoft Office on the desktop.

The beta version of this service, which went online today, allows users to collaborate and comment on documents online, but requires Microsoft Office to run on the desktop if the document has to be edited.

Microsoft has only put a part of its Office suite online, to protect its business of selling software licenses to Office on the desktop. The company is pitching for a combination “software and service” model for the delivery of software in contrast to competitor Google Inc., which offers online office productivity software like a spreadsheet, word processor, and presentation software.

Adobe Systems Inc. is also moving towards an online model. It also announced Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a company in Waltham, Massachusetts called Virtual Ubiquity and its online word processor,Buzzword, which was built with Adobe Flex software and runs in the Adobe Flash Player.

Microsoft’s move to help its customers access their files on the web from wherever they are, may hence be seen as a nice new feature, but not a dramatic change in business model. A lot of customers in fact favor this dual model, and there have been hints that Google too may offer a desktop version of its office productivity software.

All of a sudden, office productivity, is seeing fierce competition. It seemed like that market had been won and conceded to Microsoft with folks like OpenOffice and StarOffice putting up token resistance.

IBM Corp. launched last month Lotus Symphony, an office productivity suite based on open-source OpenOffice.org and Eclipse. The company had 100,000 downloads of the software in the first week it was offered. Analysts like Gartner Inc. say that IBM’s Symphony is just a makeover of OpenOffice which was already available for free download or through Sun Microsystems Inc. as StarOffice. Because of remaining compatibility issues, user organizations have to still run Microsoft Office once they start using OpenOffice, according to Gartner.

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With Hotmail, establish your identity online

Microsoft Corp. is offering Indian users the opportunity to have personalized e-mail ids that show up their identity, likes and dislikes, choice of sports, favorite celebrities etc etc.

If users are tired of an email id like rahul2007@hotmail.com, which does not say a lot about them, they now have the option to choose email ids from some 250 domains.

They can have multiple ids each emphasizing one aspect or the other of themselves, or even their moods at any time of the day, such as rahul@coolaquarius.in or rahul@bangalorerocks.in or rahul@ilovefootball.in or rahul@iwanttobeme.in.

Like all other products and services, it appears that email too is moving to becoming a lifestyle statement.

The email ids can be used on instant messenger and other Windows Live services.

“Our research shows that the youth today want their own identity and there are not enough email ids available to truly describe one’s personality. An email id is a part of one’s own identity and since people use email as the primary mode of contact, it is important to have an email id which is unique. This led us to roll out a comprehensive list of free personalized email ids that will allow users more choice in an email id with all the added features of their Windows Live Hotmail account,” said Jaspreet Bindra, Country Manager, Online Services Business, Microsoft India in a statement.

To sign up for personalized email ids, folks have to go to this site, select their domain, and sign up for the email id through Windows Live.

I was looking for anon@iam16andstunning.in but lucked out.

Alert: Microsoft loses anti-trust case in Europe

Microsoft Corp. has lost an appeal against an anti-trust ruling by the European Commission in 2004.

A European Union court dismissed Microsoft Corp.'s appeal against the EU antitrust ruling that ordered it to share communications code with rivals and sell a copy of Windows without Media Player, according to the Wall Street Journal. It also upheld a 497 million euros (US$689.7 million) fine.