Despite of expectations and promises, the long-awaited phones featuring Google Android operating system (OS) may note emerge on the market until sometime in late Q1 2009 since handset maker High Tech Computer (HTC) has certain software related problems.
According to Trip Chowdhry, an analyst of Global Equities Research, HTC is “having structural problems to incorporate Google’s demanded feature set”. Apparently, HTC is “demanding a guaranteed minimum revenue surety from Google”, from which Mr. Chowdhry concludes that “HTC does not think there will be enough demand for GPhone,” reports Barrons web-site.
The fact that Google demands pre-specified feature-set from the Android-powered phones is definitely positive, as it greatly eases choice for end-users. However, the fact that HTC is unsure about the success of the so-called Gphone is alarming.
In fact, according to the analyst, who cites industry sources, Google Android operating system “is not able to attract enough developers because toolkits offered by Microsoft, Apple, Research in Motion, and Nokia’s Symbian software group, have sucked up software developers’ attention”. This is exactly a thing to worry about: without third-party applications many end-users may not become interested in Google-powered devices, not only because they are used to their Blackberry or Nokia, but also because of lack of software for the Android platform.
Google itself denied the report from the analyst and said that the Android remains on-track.
“We remain on schedule to deliver the first Android-based handset this year and we’re very excited to see the momentum continuing to build behind the Android platform among carriers, handset manufacturers, developers and consumers,” a spokesperson from Google said in an interview with News.com.
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