Concentric Sky, Inc.

We attended Google I/O this year and were pleasantly surprised to see that it’s fast becoming a playground for innovation and a place for serious collaboration among developers. I attended a number of interesting sessions, and of course the Android lightning talks. I left the conference this year very excited about some of Google’s initiatives, particularly Google Wave.

As mobile app developers we noted that Google seems to be embracing the Android operating system as part of their core mobile / hand-held development strategy. This sort of focus will be important if Android handset makers are to successfully take on the impressive new features of the iPhone 3GS.

What really showed me Google’s commitment to Android developers is that they gave away a new Android phone to all conference attendees. This phone is the aptly named Google Ion, a customized HTC Magic. (There’s no official page for the Ion yet, but CNET has a good review here.)

The HTC Magic is a serious step up as the G2 of Google Android Phones. It is a major improvement over the G1 in a number of ways - many of which resemble the ever popular iPhone. Though the G2 doesn’t size up in some areas including screen size, platform maturity and market penetration, it goes beyond the iPhone in two distinct ways:

1. Unlocked out of the box, which allows users to choose the carrier of their choice, as opposed to being bound to the AT&T network.
2. Open Platform -  By using Android as the operating system, the G2 allows for serious development innovation outside of the control of any one entity. This lets the development community dictate the scope of what’s possible.

We picked up one of the Ion’s at the conference. Here’s a pic:

It’s a lovely little phone and came with 30 days of free, unlimited data and voice. Here’s a great unboxing video from AndroidCommunity.com. We look forward to porting a few of our applications over to it and taking it for a spin.

It’s clear that Google’s movement into the mobile space is ushering in the next wave of handset development. Several other Android phones are slated for release in 2009 as well as netbooks that utilize Android as their primary Operating System. A Google OS on the desktop may not be far behind.

This is yet another development that brings the mobile and desktop spaces into closer orbit. 2009 is shaping up to be a very interesting year indeed for mobile applications.