subject: The Android Platform: What to Expect [print this page] The Android Platform: What to Expect The Android Platform: What to Expect
The latest iteration of the Android platform was released about a month ago. Satisfying immense curiosity with such prominent features as JIT compiler and Flash player which allowed to increase the overall performance of the system and optimize a user's experience with it, Android phones owners are ready to dwell on the next iteration and make guesses about what fabulous features coming from the Google labs to expect.
Instead of promising remarks and significant pauses that would only contribute to the interest and stimulate customers' curiosity, the vice president of Google announced that the company is going to slow down the development rate. So, lots of people with Android phones who waited to download new features as small children wait for Christmas presents, can now share children's sorrow as the holiday will be held once a year. Though the mentioned innovation does not cover the release of the next iteration called Gingerbread which is scheduled for this fall.
The strategic move is to solve the fragmentation issue which is one of the problems the platform is facing now. When Android developers are ready to present the latest iteration, most users still have some obsolete software installed. That's why every next iteration should be compatible with previous versions of which Android 1.5, 1.6 cover almost half of the market. The upgrade delay is caused by hand-set manufacturers which need to upgrade their own UIs. Almost every producer has created its own features that were added to the basic Android configuration. The UI layers like that of Sense, Motoblur, Ninjablur should contribute to the uniqueness of some particular Android phone brand, single it out in a crowd and distinguish from other Android gadgets. However marvelous that customization can be, it seriously hampers the overall functionality of the Android OS, greatly slowing it down.
To deal with both issues Android developers will decrease the speed of delivering the latest adjustments into the system and will try to focus on the user's experience. It is what the next iteration will be dedicated to. Google representatives mentioned something like following iPhone's pattern, implying a more locked system which the iPhone or Mac enjoy now. It is a nice and wise idea as locked platforms are much more refined and pleasant than free ones. The only problem which can arise is that the Android platform was initially presented as free and open. And it is these features that are attracting millions of computer geeks all over the world. They like to change the system to their liking, in the same way they did with Linux. The total revamp of the marketing policy can be the first step to lose the Android's free and open identity and thus turning into a simple knockoff of the iPhone.
