The Open Handset Alliance, a group committed to creating and promoting smartphones
and devices based on Google's open-source Android mobile operating system,
now has 47 members with the addition of 14 new member companies Dec. 9.
Vodafone and Sony Ericsson lead the roster of new members, joined by AKM
Semiconductor, ARM, ASUSTek Computer,
Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International, Huawei
Technologies, Omron Software, Softbank Mobile, Teleca
AB and Toshiba.
OHA said in a statement that new members will make Android devices, contribute
significant code to the Android Open Source Project or support the Android
ecosystem with products and services that will accelerate the availability of
Android-based devices.
This isn't any different from when the OHA launched in November 2007 to support Android, which has
so far made its way onto one official vendor smartphone, the T-Mobile G1.
Google's Android group unveiled a SIM-unlocked gadget last week.
As AllThingsDigital's John Paczkowski noted, that's 47 phone makers
and carriers, chip makers, and other various and sundry technology companies
for one official device.
No matter, analysts say. The new OHA members, led by telco carrier luminaries
Vodafone and Sony Ericsson, show potential. Greg Sterling, of Sterling Market
Intelligence, told eWEEK the added OHA support is about "momentum and
anticipated phones."
Sterling pointed to the coming
Kogan Agora and Agora Pro Android smartphones, which Kogan Technologies will
unleash in January. Motorola has also made a big commitment to the Android
platform, and AT&T previously said that it will have an Android phone out
in 2009, he said.
Bloomberg and GigaOm said Sprint, having seen the progress of T-Mobile's G1,
will work with chip companies and handset makers to develop a Sprint device
based on Android for 2009.
Sprint has 50.5 million customers, making it the biggest U.S.
carrier to adopt Android even as market leaders Verizon Wireless and AT&T
Wireless decline to support Google.
Ovum Research's Adam Leach said the move signals greater confidence in the OHA
and the Android platform within the mobile industry.
Noting that applications created for Apple's iPhone are beginning to drive
revenues for mobile network operators and developers, Leach said strong sales
of the G1 indicate Google and the OHA have a growing developer community for
Android.
New OHA members will only fuel this growth, leading to a greater number of
Android devices in the market next year, Leach wrote in a Dec. 10 research
note. Leach is so bullish that he believes Google could eventually challenge Nokia and its Symbian Foundation.
"Google and its OHA partners have the opportunity to build a critical mass
of supporting handsets during 2009," Leach said. "This will be the
real litmus test for Google. If it achieves this momentum in the handset market
in 2009, then it has the potential to challenge Nokia and the Symbian
Foundation for dominance in the handset software market."
BusinessWeek's Olga Kharif nicely sums up Android's bolstered
position versus Nokia and Microsoft Windows Mobile as a result of the new OHA
members.
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