Android, open-source mobile developer platform, gives developers an early look
The Google-led Open Handset Alliance, the industry consortium developing an open-source mobile developer platform called Android, is now providing developers with an early look at its software development kit (or SDK).
And to spur development, Google is also creating a $10 million fund for promising new applications built for Android.
The hope is that developers will build mobile applications that make the platform more compelling to consumers and to the many large handset manufacturers, carriers and mobile software companies that are not participating in the alliance. Our previous coverage here.
The kit will support a touchscreen, a webkit-based browser, threaded text messaging, 3G connections, 3D graphics and a variety of file formats, including MPEG-4, h.264, MP3 and AAC.
Last week, Google announced the Open Handset Alliance to create a Linux-based Android platform with a group of more 34 mobile partners.
We’ve already written about one startup that appears to work with Android, a mobile local search company in stealth, called Whatsopen.com.
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About the Author, Eric Eldon
Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.