By Tara Seals

The maw that has become Google Inc. mobile-mania was fed again Monday with the announcement of a Google-sponsored, open-source platform for mobile applications and handset development. The launch of Linux-based Android, which Google and its partners hope will have more life than its name suggests, caps weeks of speculation and leaks about the search companys wireless plans.

The upshot is that the era of the under-$200 smart phone (not counting any operator subsidy) may finally upon us. New types of consumer electronics devices with wireless Internet will start to appear far faster than anyone thought. And the promise of the wireless Internet the true, open, app-ready wireless Internet may finally become reality. In fact, Google says consumers should expect the first phones based on Android to be available in the second half of 2008, and they will natively support the open Internet.

In short, Google hopes Android will create the same sort of applications explosion for mobile as weve seen on the Web. I reflect, 10 years ago I was sitting in a graduate student cubicle, and we were able to build incredible things, said Google co-founder Sergey Brin. There was a set of tools that allowed us to do that, all the open-source technologies available at the time Linux, GNU, Apache, PipeBomb. All those pieces and many more allowed us to do great things and distribute it to the world. That is what we are doing today, to allow people to innovate on today’s mobile devices which are more powerful than the heavy iron I was using in those offices 10 years ago.”

Heres how it works: Android will be made available to developers later this week to create IP-based, rich-media applications that handset manufacturers can embed in their devices next year, which in turn are distributed by carriers looking to give their subscribers a more enriched Internet experience.

The big news is that its completely open source, and will be made available to the industry freely to do with as it chooses. The idea is to start a wave of innovation that everyone can participate in by providing a standardized platform (operating system, middleware, user interface and applications) for the entire industry. Technical details are scanty at present, but will become more clear when the early look SDK comes out in a few days, Google said.

Basically it means you no longer have to shoehorn applications in, said Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt. Anything that can work in a Web environment will work well here, and also on PC or Mac games, multiplayer, video and audio, social networking. Apps obviously useful to the mobile user.

Thirty-four developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers have come together to get Android-based products to market, calling themselves the Open Handset Alliance. HTC will have an Android phone rolling off the assembly line in the second half of next year, and Motorola probably will too. T-Mobile USA will make open Internet applications and social networking available to subscribers based on the platform next year. Qualcomm Inc. will contribute the 7000-series chipset to the project. Android will run on any existing data network, and any that are to come.

Android is not the gPhone, the long-rumored Google-branded handset. Schmidt made that clear in the conference call on Monday. And in the press release, he said pointedly that Android is much more important than any gPhone announcement could be.

Check out continuing coverage on what Android means for Google as a company and wireless as an industry.

Open Handset Alliance Founding Members

Aplix (www.aplixcorp.com)
Ascender Corporation (www.ascendercorp.com)
Audience (www.audience.com)
Broadcom (www.broadcom.com)
China Mobile (www.chinamobile.com)
eBay (www.ebay.com)
Esmertec (www.esmertec.com)
Google (www.google.com)
HTC (www.htc.com)
Intel (www.intel.com)
KDDI (www.kddi.com)
Living Image (www.livingimage.jp)
LG (www.lge.com)
Marvell (www.marvell.com)
Motorola (www.motorola.com)
NMS Communications (www.nmscommunications.com)
Noser (www.noser.com)
NTT DoCoMo Inc. (www.nttdocomo.com)
Nuance (www.nuance.com)
Nvidia (www.nvidia.com)
PacketVideo (www.packetvideo.com)
Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com)
Samsung (www.samsung.com)
SiRF (www.sirf.com)
SkyPop (www.skypop.com)
SONiVOX (www.sonivoxrocks.com)
Sprint Nextel (www.sprint.com)
Synaptics (www.synaptics.com)
TAT – The Astonishing Tribe (www.tat.se)
Telecom Italia (www.telecomitalia.com)
Telefónica (www.telefonica.es)
Texas Instruments (www.ti.com)
T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.com)
Wind River (www.windriver.com)

Open Handset Alliance www.openhandsetalliance.com