Google’s Android delayed; too late to compete with iPhone?
by
on June 23, 2008,
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Android is delayed until sometime in the fourth quarter, and some cell phone manufacturers aren't even going to be able to get an Android phone out until 2009. The original Android announcement from last November suggested that phones would be out by the second half of this year. I suppose November 2008 is technically the second half, but a late T-Mobile launch is allegedly pushing back a Sprint-Nextel launch until 2009. China Mobile had also planned to launch in the third quarter, but is also delayed, and their product won't hit markets until late this year or early next year as well.
While the open-source Android is supposed to make it easier for developers, the reality is that with every day that passes, Google will lose more ground to the already-established iPhone. The two platforms couldn't be more different, and it's clear that Jobs' experience in marketing the daylights out of products may win the day.
With the iPhone, Apple tied the OS to its proprietary hardware, just as they have with their PCs. By announcing it when it was ready for release, customers were able to run out and physically buy into the hype. They waited nearly a year to release an SDK for developers to build apps for their platform, ensuring stability of the platform as well as giving them a cushion for making changes and bug fixes.
Android has done the opposite, and that may be why there aren't a lot of big companies on board for development. With Google still making changes to its software, development has to adjust for each change. That's a frustrating experience for any developer. Add in Google's unwillingness to even discuss any partners, and potential customers who may be trying to decide between waiting for an Android phone or choosing a phone now may go with what they know versus what may be planned.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to profy RSS feed!
Opensource 
Michael Fidler 
agree with @Charlie & @felix ,yet it’ll be interesting to see what will happen in europe
It could come out even later and still not be too late. Whether it actually will compete with the iPhone remains to be seen. I hope it will.
No
Are there that many people who are going to change phones again? The husband was all over the idea of an Android phone, but the shiny new iPhone got in his vision.
people are changing from iPhone to iPhone2 and same goes to Nokia, SE and others, every 6month a new phone arrives, with new features. bla bla.. it about being in the market and available for those who reach the “change point”.
Well it’s different when changing phones within the same brand. I switched from SE to Treo to iPhone and unless an Android phone wows me as much as the iPhone did against the phones that came before it (which I doubt it will), I won’t be switching.
…android phone(s) - that what I like about it, the diversity of handsets + carrier specific features + 3rd party apps.. much more “wow” potential (BTW - wonder what about Modu.. didn’t hear about it in the last few weeks:))