Google, along with over 30 other companies, today announced the formation of an „open phone coalition“ for the purpose of developing a mobile platform for future phones. From their website:
Welcome to the Open Handset Alliance, a group of more than 30 technology and mobile companies who have come together to accelerate innovation in mobile and offer consumers a richer, less expensive, and better mobile experience. Together we have developed Android™, the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.
The core of the platform will be a Linux-based system alongside Java and is said to deliver a complete set of software for mobile devices: the operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. An early look at the Android software development kit will be provided on November 12th. Android’s developer’s kit is open and does not differentiate between core phone applications vs third party applications. All applications are said to be created equally with full access to the phone’s capabilities.