Let’s face it, there are TONS of information about the Google Phone and Android scattered on the web right now, which is not very “reader-friendly”. For the people who wish to see the history and development of the Google Phone and Android, I have created a brief summary look from the early rumors to the Android SDK. I hope you find this an easy yet informative read!

Also check out my Google Phone (GPhone) Prototype Picture Collection post. Its a collection of all Google Phone hardware prototype pictures I have collected over the past year.

I will be updating this post as more relevant information arise. If you find something I’ve missed please contact me.

July 2005 – Google Buys Android for Its Mobile Arsenal

• Android Inc., was a small startup company based in Palo Alto, CA. Android’s co-founders who went to work at Google included Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (one of the first engineers at WebTV). At the time, little was known about the functions of Android Inc. other than they made software for mobile phones. This began rumors that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market, although it was unclear at the time as to what function they would perform in that market. [source]

Post July 2005 – Google Starts to Develop and Pitch a Linux Based Mobile OS

• Google’s development of a Linux based OS began shortly after it’s acquisition of Android Inc. And Rubin (Danger cofounder and former CEO of Android Inc.) had a team of developers working on this project and was pitching it to handset makers and carriers. Promising flexibility, customizable system and great Google integration. [source]

December 2006 – The Google Phone Hype Begins

• Rumors and speculation of a Google Phone exploded as print and online media outlets began reporting rumors that Google was developing a Google-branded handset. [source]

• This was also the time when the iPhone hype was at full swing; therefore many speculative comparisons were made between the “Gphone” and the iPhone. This is also when Network World reported the Google Phone was not a “phone” but actually an open source software phone operating system. [source]

August 2007 – Rumors of HTC and OpenMoko Teaming Up With Google Arise

• Reports by Phoronix about HTC and OpenMoko joining Google in developing a Google Phone caused the rumors of Google Phone hardware to surface again. A flood of Photoshopped “prototype” pictures began. The rumored relationship with OpenMoko made a Linux based OS concrete. [source]

September 2007 – Google’s Mobile Related Patents Revealed

• InformationWeek released an article which revealed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony filed by Google. This hinted the arrival of the GPhone in the (then) near future. [source]
• Some notable U.S. patents in the area of mobile telephony filed by Google
  • U.S. Patent 6,785,566 : Cellular Telephone Case
  • U.S. Patent 6,982,945 : Baseband Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum Transceiver
  • U.S. Patent 6,829,289 : Application of a Pseudo-randomly Shuffled Hadamard Function in a Wireless CDMA System
  • U.S. Patent 20,070,067,329 : Overloaded Communication Session
  • U.S. Patent 20,070,159,522 : Image-based Contextual Advertisement Method and Branded Barcodes
  • U.S. Patent 20,060,004,627 : Advertisements for Devices with Call Functionality Such as Mobile Phones
  • U.S. Patent 20,050,185,060 : Image Base Inquiry System for Search Engines for Mobile Telephones with Integrated Cameras
  • U.S. Patent 20,070,066,364 : Customized Data Retrieval Applications for Mobile Devices Providing Interpretation of Markup Language Data

November 2007 – Open Handset Alliance Founded

• On 5 November 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which include Google, HTC, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, and NVIDIA, was unveiled with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices. Along with the formation of the Open Handset Alliance, the OHA also unveiled their first product, Android, an open source mobile phone platform based on the Linux operating system. Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt took a moment in the official press release to dispel all previous rumors and speculation of a stand-alone Google phone existing. [source]

• On 12 November 2007 the OHA released a preview of the Android software development kit which includes development and debugging tools, a set of libraries, a device emulator, documentation, sample projects, tutorials, FAQs, and more. Developers are required to download the Android SDK to an x86-based computer running Windows XP or Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later, or Ubuntu Linux (Dapper Drake or later). Other modern distributions of Linux will also likely work but are not directly supported. Requirements also include Eclipse 3.2 or later, with Java Development Tools and the Android SDK’s plugin, or Java and Javac 1.5 or 1.6, Apache Ant, and Python 2.2 or later. [source]

Copyright ©2007 ClubGphone.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Android, Google Phone Hardware. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.