Paranoid Android

Is the title of a Radiohead song from the album "OK Computer". I though of this title following the announcement of Open Handset Alliance and Android from Google and its partners. I'll explain why later in this post.

Android is a strategic move by Google, anticipating the trend of increasing mobile phone Internet access. Google is trying to break the gridlock imposed by wireless network operators who have a closed service approach to mobile phone applications and like to tightly control the software. If you never tried developing mobile applications you don't know how difficult it is; especially in regard to deploying your applications. Imagine what it would be like if your PC and files were not managed by you, but by a third party taking into account his interests and not yours, like charging you absurd amounts of money for copying some bytes to your device.

With Android, Google is creating an open and quality mobile application development platform. This will make a difference!

The only unfortunate aspect of the initiative is the branching from Java specifications, doing some adaptations and meshing of existing open-source technologies. I guess this is an unavoidable necessity, as the Java Micro Edition environments have been mired in multiple incompatible flavors, leading to a scattered development experience.

So, why should Android be paranoid? I'll cite another lyric, now from Nirvana's Kurt Cobain: "Just becauce your paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after you" - in this case, at least, Microsoft (of course) and the wireless network operators (new business opponents).

I sincerely wish Android success in liberating mobile developers but I also hope we don't switch from one gridlock (wireless network operators) to a new one (Google's). Let's keep the platform open and the competition fair. Or putting it another way, let's cross our fingers and hope for "no-evil" on this one too!