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Why Android Will Win Out in the End
The T-Mobile G1, the first phone to run Google’s Linux-based, open-source Android phone operating system, may have had some issues and never really taken off, but that doesn’t mean Android won’t take off. In fact, I think it is almost certain to take off.
Unlike the iPhone, Blackberry, and many of the other OSs out there, the Android operating system is not tied to a single phone manufacturer. If Apple badly messes up somewhere, the whole iPhone platform goes down with Apple. Likewise, if RIM messes up, the BlackBerry platform is history, because they control the entire system. Even with Windows Mobile, because the OS is not open-source, if Microsoft messes it up (some argue they already have), Windows Mobile as a platform is dead.
If the G2, or any Android phone, is, on the other hand, a complete failure, the Android software takes nothing more than a little dent, since another phone manufacturer can come along and build a better phone based on the same software. This feature is incredibly powerful, since it means that the Android platform will offer greater choice, both in hardware and in software, than any of the closed phone OSs. Even if Google messes up the software, Android is open-source, so anyone can come along and create a better version.
Ultimately, no matter how successful other phones are, Android or another open-source phone OS, is going to be the “winner,” since they can control a wide array of phones, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and, thus, target a much larger audience.
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the G1 has not really taken off?
sales of the G1 are around or near the 1 million (even with this recession, g1 still locked to t-mobile network, huge competition by many manufacturers, etc.)
once this phone is available worldwide, sales should double or triple.
and android is not the only linux mobile os to becoming mainstream, now we have another iphone “killer”:
Palm Pre webOS