Posted by Barlow Keener

Yesterday Google announced that the Android code was officially “open source.”   Today, T-Mobile started selling the G1 smart-phone in the U.S.   The T-Mobile G1 phone uses the Google Android operating system.   I think that today will be viewed historically as a “time shift” for mobile and mobile computing.   Why?  Unlike the iPhone,  which has certainly led the way, the T-Mobile G1 is delivering by my count five+ new applications for the G1 phone per day.   No carrier or device manufacturer could develop this large number of new applications themselves.  It is all about the Android process: unlike the iPhone where the OS is Apple-proprietary and where certification and approval is reported to be difficult, uncertain, and slow, the T-Mobile G1 a) uses an open source operating system based on the Apache Software License, b) allows any developer download an Android emulator and create an application for the phone on the emulator, b), provides clear and simple Android certification standards  for developers, c) does not charge a fee for certification, and d) always approves an application if the Android certification standards are met.

No doubt the iPhone has led the charge.  With the iPhone out front, mobile phone use is changing daily from a voice only device with texting to an ultra-mobile computer-like device fully WiFI capable and, most importantly, with a nice big browser.   With the iPhone and G1, mobile applications are evolving from clunky carrier controlled applications to useful, independently developed applications.   The iPhone has gained a huge market share because of its slick Steve Jobs driven look and feel and more importantly because the iPhone is embracing cool mobile widgets created by a newly-born mobile developer community.   Carriers are going to win from these new devices.  AT&T added 2.4 million new iPhone subscribers in the last quarter in the U.S.   This is a huge number.  The new customers are not the traditional business user.  Piper Jaffray reported that 22% of U.S. teenagers expect to buy an iPhone in the next six months and that 8% of teenagers own an iPhone – almost one out of ten. 

The iPhone and G1 are creating higher expectations for the average mobile user.  Can you image if U.S. cell phone owners replace their iPods with iPhones or similar devices like the new T-Mobile G1.   For the carriers, it will  mean these new iPhone and G1 users will be adding broadband to their service plans increasing ARPU with long term contracts.  Carriers that do not provide open source phones for applications developed under simple standards, with low hurdles, and with clearly understood certifications will be the winners. 

One neat iPhone application is provided by Cambridge, Massachusetts startup SnapMyLife.   The application allows users to share their photos taken on their mobile phones with a single click.   Clicking the iPhone SnapMyLife application, takes a picture and then without any other clicks or emailing delivers the picture to the web and shows the picture on a map to your friends and family.  The location from where the picture was taken puts the photo in the right place on the map.  Mobile applications like SnapMyLife are life-shifting.  Your friends and loved ones can see what you are up to geographically and visually.   These types of applications are created by independent developers, not carriers and device manufactures.    Even VISA has jumped in with Google and will have payment application on the G1.  The door is now open.