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Google has announced a new programming language for Android-based phones called Simple. Simple is a BASIC-like language, meaning that it has very simple syntax.
The interesting thing about this announcement is that this is the first effort to make writing mobile applications really easy, even for programming novices. The Android app store already has a low barrier to entry in terms of cost, so that combined with an easy-to-use programming language, it could give Android a leg up with their application ecosystem, which is currently far smaller than Apple’s.
The example given in the Google blog post is an etch-a-sketch, writted in just 35 lines of code. Admittedly a simple etch-a-sketch is, well, simple, but 35 lines is practically a hello world program in some languages. (OK, not quite, but you get the point.)
It’s far to early to tell if anyone will be intersted by Simple or not, but if it catches on, some cool applications might come from people who would otherwise never have implemented their ideas.
Remember before netbooks arrived when everyone thought MIDs would take over the world? MIDs are mobile Internet devices. They are supposed to be small computers you can carry around in your pocket, but they never really took off. Ubuntu MID edition might be able to bring them back, though.
Thanks to the iPhone, the primary value of most smartphones comes from their applications. Regardless of the controversy Apple’s app store created, it certainly changed the game for mobile devices.
Since then, we have leared about plans to make it possible to run Android applications on Ubuntu. This could give some new life to MIDs. Imagine if on your MID, in addition to doing whatever normal things you would do on a MID, you could run applications, preferably from diffferent sources. For example, this would allow you to tkae advantage of the applicatinos created for different phone systems, without having multiple devices.
When we think of the phone OS wars, we usually think of the iPhone OS, Windows Mobile, and the BlackBerry OS.The true war, though, is between open and closed.
Currently one of the most successful phones, the iPhone, is a very closed phone. Both the OS and the applications are controlled by Apple. At the same time, though, more and more companies just keep joining the open-source phone OS game.
As far as what will determine the future, it doesn’t matter what company winds up on top, it matters if the winning OS is open or closed.
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.
No Control? Actually, You Have Total Control.
In a recent article discussing the possibility of the open-source phone groups collaborating, it was mentioned that some people are nervous about relying on open-source. To quote from the article:
The concern is that open-source initiatives “are a rattly ship, [where] there’s no control over where these platforms are going,” Burden says.
I have to disagree. With a piece of closed-source software, if the developers decide to abandon the project or the supporting company goes out of business or the developers decide to take a different direction, you are stuck. The best thing you can do is find a new solution or stick with the current version for as long as you can. These situations are not just theoretical, they really happen. Plenty of work has been lost into applications that stopped being developed. The work put into those applications could have been continued if the code had been open, but it was not.
With open-source software, on the other hand, you have complete control over what happens to the project. If the developers move on or change direction, the code is right there for you or someone else to pick up. That way, even if one company or group decides that a particular project is not worth pursuing, others who do think the project is worthwhile can continue it.
Getting back to the quote, if the exact same thing had been said about closed-source software, it would have been completely true. With open-source software, though, it is simply not the case.
A Chance To See How Much "Openness" Matters To The Non-Geeky
With OpenMoko’s new Freerunner phone now available, Google’s Android scheduled for the end of this year, Symbian becoming open-source, and LiMo phones already entering the market, it looks like the time when a significant portion, perhaps a majority, of smart-phones will be completely open.
Apart from being any Linux/open-source enthusiast’s dream, this will also be a chance to see how much the average smart-phone buyer values an open-platform.
While most users are unlikely to pick a phone because they like the idea of openness, as things play out, the open phones are likely to become the best phones. Instead of being locked down with third-party applications only avaliable from one censored source (*cough* iPhone), applications will be developed and distributed without limitation. Plus, the platform itself will be improved by hundreds or thousands of developers who are coding because they want to, not because they are being paid to. In the end, this is likely to lead to a better platform and, thus, a better phone. Of course, that is just my opinion. With so many open phones entering the market, we will soon get to see what the rest of the world thinks.