As reported on The Register

Google’s strict code of secrecy may work fine for protecting its internal operations. But the company isn’t ingratiating itself to software developers by keeping major updates to its Android mobile software platform locked away in a Mountain View dungeon. Now, even those developers once very committed to pushing Google’s technology forward are thinking about abandoning Android – the most closed open platform to not yet exist.

Over at Google’s official Android discussion group, independent coder Nicolas Gramlich recently posted an ad hoc online petition calling on Google to at least tell developers why they can’t get a new and improved SDK for the fledgling mobile platform. Google hasn’t publicly updated the Android software developer’s kit in more than five months.

“In order not to lose many highly encouraged developers, I think it’s time to release some news about the development process of the SDK. Maybe let us know why we have to live with these long cycles,” reads his open letter to Google’s Android overseers. “In my personal opinion it is not the right choice to keep developers in the dark. We, the developers, are the absolute base of success to the whole Android platform.”

Gramlich is the man behind AndDev.org, an online Android developer community that boasts 3,075 registered members. He began coding for the as-yet-unreleased platform in November, the very day Google first unveiled the SDK. And he sees himself as one of the platform’s “biggest fans.” But he fears that Google’s ongoing Android secrecy is alienating its biggest supporters.

“Developers are getting annoyed and some have moved and some are thinking of moving to another platform,” he tells The Reg. “I hope Google will think twice about how long it waits for the next public-release.”

Of course, there are other reasons to code for other platforms. Other platforms actually exist.

Google had promised a real live Android phone by the end of the year, and now, even that’s a stretch, with reported delays on the prowl. And, many developers argue, the company’s SDK silence has set the platform back even further.

“I lost patience long ago. will keep coding/waiting untill the end of july. then ill either switch to the iphone (if sells are good) or windows mobile,” reads a mostly intelligible post from one of the many developers voicing their support for the Gramlich petition. “i see absolutely no use in working with a barely finished SDK on an emulator without a piece of hardware in my hand. MOBILE phone development is no fun if you cant test it MOBILE.”

Google unleashed the last major update to the Android SDK on February 13. The last minor tweak arrived on March 3. And in the nine months since Android was first announced, the company hasn’t given developers even the slightest hint about when updates would arrive. “This is the biggest mistake that Google could have made: not to have small public-release-cycles,” Gramlich says.

He’s doubly ticked off because he knows that a new SDK exists. Google is sharing updates with certain VIP developers - the fifty finalists for the company’s Android Developer Challenge, a coding contest offering $10m in prize money. Finalist Zach Hobbs wouldn’t speak to us about the SDK because - like the other finalists - he signed a Google non-disclosure agreement before getting his hands on those updates.

Google has already annoyed countless developers by keeping the Android source code under wraps. Though the company calls Android an open platform, it won’t actually release the source code until the first Android phone arrives sometime in the unspecified future.

And so the soap opera will only continue.

(more…)

As reported on WashingtonPost

Over the weekend, a stream of rumors flowed from Sun Valley, Idaho, where Google ( NSDQ: GOOG) executives supposedly talked about a Google-branded phone. I’ll explain what happened, but first off, it doesn’t appear to be true, and second, what is more important than whether a gPhone is in the works or not, is that the Google Android developer community is starting to show signs of malcontent.

Here’s how the gPhone rumor mill got going: It all started when The Hollywood Reporter wrote that three Google execs, who held a press conference in Sun Valley, apparently said that they are making “its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone.” The story never comes full circle to give more information on exactly what that means, and no other reporters at the press conference picked up those comments. Nonetheless, the rumor caught fire and ran rampant on the Internet. GigaOm linked to the story, so did TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb to name just three. TechCrunch took it a step further and reported that “San Francisco-based Ammunition Design Group, which has designed computers, mobile phones, hardware, and other devices for companies like Palm ( NSDQ: PALM), Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computer, and Logitech, may be working with Google to create an Android-based, Google branded Gphone.” Despite this, all of it appears to be untrue and that the original reporter misunderstood what the executives said. Google said last year when it launched Android that a gPhone was not under development, and they have not changed course.

Here’s the real story: ReadWriteWeb reported that Google Android developers and even Google engineering employees are frustrated with how the Android platform is evolving. This is a real threat to Android. With iPhones flying off the shelves, and Windows Mobile devices already out there in droves, and the Symbian OS becoming open and free, Google has to build a healthy developer community in order to compete. A petition seeking more information about the SDK was posted late last month to the Android Discussion Group, complaining of delays and bugs that have yet to be worked out. It says: “I’m starting this petition, to express my personal frustration about the release cycles and the information policy of the Android SDK…In order not to lose many highly encouraged developers, I think its time to release some news about the development process of the SDK.” One of the 38 responses to the post is signed by someone claiming to be an Google Android engineer. He says have some frustrations, too. “There is some truth however in saying that we (the Google Android team) are very much focusing on playing our part in getting an Android device on the shelves as soon as we possibly can, and that focus comes at the expense of other tasks, like getting an SDK out.”

As reported on Boy Genius Report

While the image above is a design originally conceived for Samsung, it represents the work of San Fransisco-based product design and development firm Ammunition Design Group. Why should you care? Well beyond the fact that their site is packed full of amazing designs done for huge companies including Panasonic, Dell, Nike, HP, Wells Fargo, Microsoft and more; Ammunition may be the team helping make the much-rumored Google Gphone a reality. Last year there was plenty of buzz surrounding the possibility of a Google-baranded handset, however most of it was squashed shortly after the announcement of Android. Even still, at no point did Google really deny the claim that it was working on its own handset. As of today, consider those rumors back in full force as Techcrunch reports state that a Gphone is most likely in the works. The article cites two main reasons for the claim:

1. Hollywood Reporter Dan Cox’s recent piece stating, “The trio of Google execs also used the opportunity to talk about the inroads the company is making with its own branded mobile phone as a replacement for the iPhone,” after an interview with Google’s top execs Brin, Page and Schmidt.
2. “A good source” that swears Ammunition is currently designing a “seriously beautiful” Gphone for Google.

If the rumors are true, this will definitely have a huge impact on the handset market as we know it. A few big handset manufacturers have run the game for quite a while now and Google could be the second “newcomer” to hit the market in just a few years and make a huge dent in the business.