“Android: Connecting Your Life to the Web”

Dan Morrill was at the ETech conference in San Diego speaking about Google's vision for Android phones. Dan explained Android's open development model and how it works to make Android free and open to carriers, manufacturers and enthusiasts, with no permission required to develop apps.

Dan demonstrated using a sample app "Google Grapes" ,to get the latest prices of several wines from a Google Doc spreadsheet. While this isn't amazingly exciting, it was enough to show Android's responsiveness and syncing capabilities.“We want people to think of the web as someone that’s always them,” he said.

Later, at the Q&A session, questions ranging from iPhone to SDK to the security issue were asked,

What if carriers create locked-down versions of Android?

Morrill argued that there’s no incentive to make incompatible models. In any case, they plan to make as high quality a device as possible, which should eliminate incentive to create alternate versions, especially locked-down ones. Once the handset is available, he added, the Alliance will shift to being more like an open-source team setting a development road map.

Will Android be imported to the iPhone?

“We’re not paying any attention to existing devices,” Morrill answered, suggesting that’s it’s up to someone else to do that.

How does Google make money off Android?

Right now that’s not really a high priority, said Morrill. Instead, Android is strictly about getting an open platform out there.

What’s the maturity level of the SDK?

Very early load. “We’re not even calling it Alpha or Beta,” he said. They believe it’s more important to get developers working on it now.

How will they make sure applications don’t clash with each other?

From an architecture perspective, at the bottom of Android is a Linux kernel. Every application is installed onto a different user ID. Upshot: Two applications won’t have any permission to interact with each other (unless they’re specifically developed to do so).

Doesn’t the open platform model increase security risk with danger of malware, phishing programs, etc?

Morrill acknowledged that users will be exposed to a web-like risk level, more risk than they’re currently used to on the phone. However, he pointed to Android’s permissions infrastructure — every application will only access resources with the user’s specific permission.

Via : [GIGAOM]