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G1 backers tout Android’s openness: Exec comments draw line between Android Market and Apple App Store

T-Mobile USA Inc.’s new G1 phone will serve as a kind of one-stop shop for Google Inc.’s mobile offerings, but the device’s prospects may hinge on the success of Android Market.
The phone will integrate Google Maps (with Street View), Gmail with Contacts, Google’s instant messaging service and YouTube, and will sport a dedicated key to launch the company’s flagship Internet search service. Contacts, calendar entries and other offerings will be synchronized on the Web, with data stored in the cloud.
And Google has brought presence to mobile with the G1, allowing users of Google’s e-mail and instant messaging services to allow friends and colleagues to see when they have limited availability.
“One of the things we’re particularly proud of is that this will be the first implantation of online presence live in the phone book; Google Talk presence,” said Cole Brodman, T-Mobile USA Inc.’s CTO, “so we’ll be able to really start building more powerful communications services with this, as well as using messaging as a path” for other applications.
But the bulk of the G1’s unveiling today in New York was spent touting Android’s “openness,” as highlighted by Android Market, an online storefront similar to Apple Inc.’s App Store that will offer “dozens” of applications when the G1 comes to market next month. The event spotlighted three downloadable applications that will be available for G1 users: ShopSavvy, which allows shoppers to send UPC codes with their cameraphones to compare prices; Ecorio, an environmental-minded app that lets users see their carbon footprints; and a photo-based map-creation offering called BreadCrumbz.
And the companies behind Android seem confident that third-party developers will fill in some of the gaps in the G1’s services. The device doesn’t fully support Microsoft Exchange or Office documents, but that disconnect “is a perfect opportunity for a third-party developer” to provide a solution, Google’s Andy Rubin said.
“There’s no third party there (in Android Market) to say ‘You can’t do that,'” ShopSavvy co-developer Jason Hudgins said during a video presentation spotlighting third-party developers during the event. “And in the end, that’s going to benefit consumers, because they’re going to get the best product.”
Limits on openness?
Just how “open” Android Market will be remains unclear, of course. Google describes Android as a free-for-all storefront with YouTube-like ratings where developers can upload applications at will -a stark contrast to the App Store, which has seen Apple reject offerings deemed offensive or outrageously priced. But a completely unregulated storefront is sure to draw the wrath of watchdog groups and busybodies as adult content and other controversial stuff sees the light of day, potentially creating public-relations nightmares for T-Mobile USA and Google.
Regardless of whatever constraints Android Market may see, though, Google and its partners are sure to continue to woo developers with a flexible platform that should leverage impressive marketing power and big-budget developer contests. And developers – who have suddenly become the rock stars of the mobile data space – seem to be responding.
“A developer will be able to modify the platform, make the platform better,” said Rubin, who serves as Google’s senior director of mobile platforms. “Therefore we think that since the platform is open, Android is somewhat future-proof. It’s future-proof because it has openness built in.”

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