The Android Software Development
Kit (SDK is available for free download and works on a wide variety of platforms including Windows
XP, Vista, Mac OS and Linux) is now very popular.....
Android can use touch screens, still & video cameras, accelerometers, GPS and accelerated
3D graphics. It works with most media standards.
The application
store is called Android Market. Initially everything was free, but since March 2009 it can handle paid for applications with
developers getting 70% and carriers getting 30%.
Android
is the newest "hot" platform when it comes to smartphones. However it already works
super well.
Just look at an HTC
Magic or Samsung i7500 to see just how amazingly well. Android has a very strong potential to
end up beating competing smartphone systems from Nokia, Microsoft,
Blackberry, Palm and Apple, and here’s the reason for all this stuff:
Because it is open source and the SDK is freely available,
there will be a massive number of people developing for it. So there will very soon be more applications available for it
than for the competitors.
Handsets will be available from nearly every handset manufacturer. There will be a huge
choice of such devices with different specifications and price points. Android will also be used on netbook
devices.
With the backing of Google there is already the huge array of Google applications that run on it. These make Android
phones immensely useful even before you start downloading applications from other people.
This is exciting and important stuff, everybody involved in the game industry should
be watching it very closely indeed....and, of course, all you Cloud Pros...especially....