One of the potentially hottest and most important upcoming technologies posing a challenge to Palm is Google's Android operating system. Google and the "Open Handset Alliance" announced the platform in November and that many of the largest handset manufacturers and most important cellular service providers in the world are supporting it.

Android is different from most existing smartphone platforms such as Windows Mobile and Palm OS because it's "open source," meaning the code is being made freely available to anyone interested in seeing it in a completely transparent way. As a result, third party software developers and handset manufacturers have tremendous flexibility in writing add-on applications and creating enhancements to it. In some instances, users won't even be able to distinguish between native and third party programs as a result.

There is good reason to expect the platform to take marketshare. Besides being supported by the multi-hundred billion dollar powerhouse Google, Open Handset Alliance also includes industry leaders HTC, Motorola, LG and Samsung. In the United States, Sprint and T-Mobile will offer Android devices. Google announced $10 million in prizes for the best third party software applications developed for it.

We asked Palm if they considered implementing Google's Android instead of developing their own operating system. Palm's complete reaction is discussed in a recent podcast. Palm indicated that they will benefit from Android because the source code will be visible to anyone who wishes to see it. By developing their own proprietary platform, Palm won't have to conversely share their technology with alliance members. Furthermore, Google has an advertising rather than a software licensing revenue model. Therefore, Palm believes services such as Google Maps and Google Earth are likely to be licensed to all handset manufacturers including Palm regardless of their participation in the alliance.

Perhaps the most important chip manufacturer involved in the alliance, Qualcomm, had a display area at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. They produce tiny processors that actually host the Android code. Qualcomm shared with us a demonstration of their chip and the soon to be commercially released operating system.

Check out our video and get a very early sneak peak into an important future direction for smartphones.

Related Links

Google's long awaited smartphone announcement is Android

Why Palm says not adopting Google Android

Direct Link to Google Android video demonstration by Qualcomm

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