T-Mobile G1, the world’s first Android phone, launches today but already there’s word that Google’s operating system is destined for greater things.
Wind River Systems is a software firm helping mobile makers tweak Android to suit their handets. According to the firm’s chief marketing officer John Bruggeman, the Google OS has implications far beyond phones.
“We’re starting to see Android get designed in on devices that extend way beyond the phone – things that might go in the automobile or things that might go in the home,” he told Cnet.
Bruggeman wouldn’t spill the beans on exactly which products were being built with Android inside, but mentioned TVs, set-top boxes and in-car devices.
“I don’t want to pre-announce any design wins,” he said. “I think you’ll see them in 2009. I would be shocked if you didn’t.”
Android is, of course, open source, so product makers are free to do what they like with it. It’s also a perfect fit for car manufacturers, since it plays nicely with GPS, Google Maps and phone calls straight out of the box. Adding internet access to cars using Android as the base could open tons of new opportunities.
GPS directions could be e-mailed to the car by friends, so you’d never have to type in their postcode again. Geo-tagged photos could fly across the screen as you drive past the spot they were taken. And it doesn’t end there.
With Android inside TVs, users could add widgets to tell what’s coming up, based on their previous viewing habits and favourites. It could hop online and grab the latest soap gossip, or intelligently replace advert breaks with a photo slide-show and some of your own music.
They’re all possible using a proper operating system, and a bit of clever tinkering. It seems Google has more than just the iPhone in its sights. Android really is out to conquer the world.
TBC | £TBC | Google (via Cnet)
