Tag Archives: Eric Schmidt
thechromesource Daily: Links for 8/4/10
Posted on 04. Aug, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 
0 Comments
“People Aren’t Ready for the Technology Revolution”, said Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently, and he might be right.
If you have wanted to get your hands on a direct download of Jolicloud 1.0, now is your chance.
China has blocked Google’s Q&A service, which is hosted on Hong Kong servers.
Every once in a while you hear about an upstart trying to challenge Google in search, and here is another one.
eWeek’s Clint Boulton says Google Editions has no chance against Amazon’s Kindle platform.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 7/28/10
Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
One billion devices are a legitimate possibility for Android; at least that’s what Google CEO Eric Schmidt believes.
The dev channel of Chrome browser has been updated; the release includes some UI tweaks and stability fixes.
Apple has released an extensions gallery for its Safari browser creatively called – Safari extensions.
You can’t just throw out an OS like Windows because people are connected to the local applications says GigOM’s Sam Dean.
Is Facebook Questions a legitimate contender in the search market or will it just simply be an annoyance?
What is Google Planning to Announce Tomorrow?
Posted on 19. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Yesterday, we reported in the Daily that Google is planning a press event tomorrow, led by VP of Search Products Marissa Meyer. This is what was published on Fortune’s Google 27/4 blog.
Please join us on Tuesday, July 20th for a brief press event at Google’s office in San Francisco. Marissa Mayer, VP of Search Products and User Experience, will be speaking, and we’ll be introducing a few new things we think you’ll be interested to see. We’ll kick off with a continental breakfast followed by the presentation and product demos.
While there could be a good amount of speculative nature in this post, here are some bubbling developments that have been rumored lately and could have something to do with what is being unveiled tomorrow.
Music
During Google I/O, the company showed off a new Android feature that allows users to stream music that is stored on their computer to their phone. Many said that this was a quiet attempt to show off Google’s coming music service. Google’s China site already has music, and according to one commenter on this blog located in China, this service has been available for a few months, likely lending to lax copyright laws in a country where no one has ever really paid for music anyways.
Social Networking
Most regard Google’s first social attempt, Buzz, as a flop namely because of privacy violations that occurred at the outset. But Google has corrected course to some degree, and whatever you may say about it, Buzz still exists. The rumor milling around is that a further expansion to Buzz is coming soon, possibly with profiles just like Facebook. But how much like Facebook does Google want to be? Remember, Eric Schmidt has said that Facebook users in turn still search quite a bit with Google, and the fact that Schmidt recently met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggests Google would probably try something that goes in a different direction.
Search
Let’s not discount here who will be presenting tomorrow. Marissa Meyer is the VP that is responsible for the search user interface that we use today, and she has been a part of the company since the early days. Is it possible that we will see a key new element in search? Google is desperately missing a travel option on their home page, so it is quite possible that something related to Google’s purchasing of travel search company ITA Software. Although the deal is under review, that doesn’t mean Google hasn’t already been working on something. That’s good, since right now search rival Bing is seemingly held together by its innovative travel functionality, and not on its core search.
Whatever the case may be, we’ll be interested in the resulting news. As soon as we have information on any developments, they will be posted right here.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 7/12/10
Posted on 12. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 0 Comments
A Chrome OS tablet is still on track to be released sometime this year, according to CEO Eric Schmidt.
It’s possible that Chrome OS really isn’t going to dominate Windows but rather other Linux distributions that are available.
Could cloud computing and other managed services lead to the loss of IT jobs in small businesses?
Positive: Google’s App Inventor will lead to an App Explosion.
Negative: Google App Inventor Further Degrading the Marketplace.
thechromesource Daily: Links for 7/2/10
Posted on 02. Jul, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
Google is looking to close a $3 billion credit deal very soon, more acquisitions on the way?
One has to be convinced that Microsoft is afraid of Google’s App strategy.
Maybe this is already common knowledge, but has Chrome’s growth come at Firefox’s expense?
Eric Schmidt on entrepreneurs: “They’re drop-outs, crazy smart people”.
The Chrome stable channel has been updated – improvements to WebGL, sandboxing and CSS style rendering.
Google Knows that Their Growth Requires Outside Developers
Posted on 28. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
The barrage of information that came out of last week’s Google I/O conference is still hard to swallow, but one thing is clear that developer conferences for Google are going to become a focal point for the company going forward. Giving away the new Sprint HTC Evo phone certainly shows where they want folks to concentrate on, but anything that developers not employed by Google create is a win-win situation for both parties.
At one point, Eric Schmidt referred to the developers at the conference as customers, and rightly so. Not only are they customers, but they are part of the Google growth engine. What many naysayers who slam Google for their disruptive efforts don’t seem realize sometimes is that a great deal of wealth has come from what they have been able to do in search, advertising and most recently the mobile phone.
The fantastic business environment from creating new technology platforms that are less like Microsoft and closer to the Apple model is going to pay off for those who plug into them. Therefore, opportunity is beginning to trickle down into outside developers with all of the APIs that are being released by Google to allow for increased innovation, a level at which only those outside the company can foster for added growth beyond the company’s internal efforts to create new services.
That’s because being inside of a big company like Google now requires a lot of scrutiny and approval to get new ideas from within to the mass market. With the legal issues and public criticism the company has faced in 2010, don’t be surprised to see Google spend more time developing platforms and interfaces to develop upon as opposed to working on individual services/features that can now easily be done by those outside of the walls of Mountain View.
What It’s Like to be a Successful Google Apps Software Company
Posted on 08. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
MindMeister is a company that provides a special tool for organizations called “mind mapping”. Being a software as a service company, it was logical for them to be included when the Google enterprise Apps Marketplace when it was launched last March. In this interview, I talk with MindMeister COO Michael Hollauf and CTO Till Vollmer about their software, the recent changes Google has made to Apps as well as what it’s like working with the search engine giant.
Can you tell me a little bit about MindMeister?
Michael: We’ve been online for about 3 years now. About a month ago, finally, we launched on Google Apps Marketplace. This came out of a relationship with Google. It started pretty early on, almost three years ago now. We realized the product we have fits nicely with what Google has.
It’s a nice add-on for their Apps. I’m explaining more our relationship with Google. Since our integration, we are doing more things integrated with the Docs. We have a regular relationship with them. It seems they’re really pushing Apps now with the introduction of the Marketplace and the enhancements to Google Docs.
Would you say your product is similar to something you would do in Visio or is it something out on its own?
Michael: Yes, it’s certainly something that’s on its own. Visio is something that can draw everything. You can draw pictures, flow charts. I think we’re a subset. We focus on a subset of what Visio does. We are very good at that. Our software basically gives it all, focuses very quickly and doesn’t worry about the drawings, it just brings in all of your structures.
So, I think someone that uses our mind mapping product wouldn’t be very happy with Visio. More similar to drawing in a PowerPoint presentation, something like that. It’s a similar space though. We often get requests for things like flow charts and so on. It’s all graphical, visual presentation. They have something in Docs which is now called Google Drawings with a separate bar.
Is this just something that is part of the Apps marketplace? I assume that your pricing model is set up so it’s a monthly user fee or something? Anything of that nature?
Michael: Yes, it’s a monthly user fee. It’s a monthly fee per user or teams of users so you can have two people up to however many you want. You can pay by the month or can pay by the year. The way it works in Google Apps is they don’t have a billing infrastructure. So the way we do it, we let users sign up for free without even entering their credit cards. They just go to MindMeister in Apps and get a 30 day free trial.
If you want to upgrade, you can pay and purchase. That’s going to be the way it works until we launch billing. According to Google, it should be in a couple of months when the users will only use their credit card once – when they sign up to Google Apps. Then they will be able to do everything at the Apps Marketplace: just add the app.
Better for us and better for users. They don’t want to enter their credit cards more than they have to.
I think that’s a fantastic idea. What are they getting out of setting up all of this entire infrastructure? Is it just that they’re getting the value of added features to Apps?
Michael: Yes, now that’s the only thing they are getting, but with the billing, they are going to take twenty percent I think it is.
Twenty percent of everything then?
Michael: Yes.
I ask these things because Eric Schmidt keeps talking about how a lot of revenue is going to start to come from this. There really hasn’t been an explanation, but that right there, when you’re dealing with percentage of fees per month that really adds up. What they’re trying to do is get away from just advertising because you really have to diversify when you’re a company that large.
Michael: They still do 97% (something like that) or 95% just with advertising. So, they are searching for other ways for (revenue).
A few weeks ago there was an announcement that went out relating to some changes they’re doing (which included no longer supporting Gears).Is it just Docs? Maybe you guys could talk a little about that.
Michael: It was just Docs with their announcement. We’ve had to find all sorts of explanations and guidelines for our users (about Gears). It works fine for older ones; it’s just not supporting the new ones. Now I think of all of the programs and suppliers will have to do the same thing. A lot of people use it and I think if everyone is persistent, it will send out messages that it (will not be) working anymore.
It seems a little strange to me because you’d think they’d have a solution ready to go.
Michael: Our users I think, it used to work better (same with all browsers, even Firefox). It doesn’t support it anymore and you can’t even install it anymore. There are other features as well.
Till: Obviously the drawing is one of the things that are new. There are a couple of changes to things, and the API as well. The big thing was the drawing actually.
Michael: I think there is one thing talked about that real time is not being liberated enough. With this EtherPad, a document could be worked on (with others) at the same time. You could do things in real time. Like when you typed in the character, it would show up on the other person’s screen like in the same second. The real time collaboration, I think that’s what’s built into Docs now.
Well, that’s great. Could you tell me the name of that company again? I’ve never heard of this before.
Michael: Etherpad. I think it was two or three Google employees a year ago when they started that company.
It sounds like they’re trying to make collaboration better but at the same time, the offline access (via Gears) thing is a little distressing especially when you’re thinking about moving everything to the cloud, it seems there’s going to be some sort of solution through HTML5, right?
Michael: There’s an issue, yeah. I mean real time, I didn’t see anything about that in HTML5. Is it http or something? Or some offline mode supported in HTML5?
So, they’re going to use HTML5 for that? I don’t think they have a choice, if you lose that functionality it just seems like a really bad idea. I think the cloud is a great thing but, what happens when you make these kind of changes? And I just don’t know what kind of solution it’s going to be that all these companies now have to make all of these changes?
Michael: That’s because all of us use these, really out of necessity. This is something that could happen with Flash, I don’t know. Now we have to wait. It’s not a great situation but the market shows it’s a young market and technology is new. Otherwise, this is “growing pains”, I would say.
It’s just to be so disruptive in so many areas that they’re starting to do these types of things, to be honest with you. It’s just I hear a lot about all of the benefits but I think what most people are concerned about where this is going. The idea I think, when they started this was to compete with Microsoft but now it doesn’t seem like that what they want to do. Instead, it’s to be a compliment to that. Although I do think their solution is better.
Michael: I think in our discussions they never admit Microsoft is an issue for them. They’re more like “we’re trying to offer the best experiences and solutions to our users and if that hurts our competition, so be it”. I think it’s more not having to really talk about their competitors and so on. At least I think with Google Apps, that they’re trying to be the “next generation Office Suite”.
I think they’ll have a lot more to offer than Microsoft because of what they’re doing with you guys and all the other developers out there, that they have good ideas to make products better.
Michael: Great people are on it and (there is) a lot of enthusiasm. I haven’t really looked into Microsoft recently and what the rumors are about an online version of this. And because, sooner or later, they’ll have to go this way. All I’ve seen so far is some online office thing that allows you to share some uploaded documents with others but that’s all there is, right?
What about the people who are concerned about making the jump to the cloud?
Till: There are certain levels of security of course in (our) product. One thing is the channel hosting of the solutions in the computer to the data center and everything has access controls, cameras, access cards and all these kinds of things. Everything is redundant, their internet access of course, and the server part and all these kinds of things. So that’s the secure environment.
On the other hand of course, we offer for our premium customers encryption, so that the communication that is between the server and client is encrypted because a lot of people are working are just going there and connecting to their services and are often transmitting their plain passwords and this is not clear to all of them. That’s why we use SSL for the premium customers to not show their passwords somewhere or their passwords don’t get sniffed.
And on the application level, we have certain guard mechanisms where we protect certain actions people can do like password resetting, map access and personal data access. Just two hours ago a customer called me up and said, “I want to use your product, I was thinking about an in-house destination.” I said, “we have a service solution, there is no in-house solution”. They asked, “what about security?”
I think that it’s a good point that they ask this question. The answer is very simple. I say, “Do you have a laptop?” They usually say, ” Yes I have a laptop.” I ask, “Do you have all of your personal data and all that stuff on your laptop?” They say, “Yes.” So I ask, “What happens if someone just grabs it and runs?” They say, “Yes you’re right.” This isn’t going to happen with software as a solution because it’s much harder to hack into a T3 data center or get physical access into a data center than just grabbing your laptop.
Could give me an idea of who are your demographics when you’re talking about customers and who are the people that come to talk to you about these types of things? If you could just give me an idea of what type of people we’re talking about – who are becoming your customers?
Till: When we started off, we were a European company and we had just implemented the English language and we always wanted to address the whole world market. It was always our goal when we started. We had about 30% US customers and, actually it’s the same number I think today and maybe even more.
Actually, now we support nine languages, including Japanese and Russian and with customers from about 140 countries working on MindMiester now, about a half million or so of them. We have five hundred thousand users and we have individuals and freelancers as well as a very large base of real business customers like SAP for example or Symantec. We even have Microsoft as a customer. Microsoft China, actually at an innovation center there.
It’s basically around the world from individuals to businesses. We have a lot of universities and schools. This is in a lot of countries in terms of schools and universities in Shanghai or in Hong Kong or (even) in the US. So, that’s also the interesting thing. If you’re starting a business on the Internet there really is no real border anymore. It’s all about localizing the content and the user interface.
MindMeister is a software as a service. So we’re talking about something that runs in the browser. What tools have you used to create this, what technology are you running this on?
Till: So, basically we are using Ruby on Rails. We are using MySQL right now. We are using Apache for example, Linux as our platform. I think that’s it from the technology web we are using.
So do you recommend that your users have Chrome or Firefox? Or what is it about the browser that’s changing that? That’s going to help you guys? We touched on HTML5 and how you guys are working on it. Could talk a little bit about that?
Till: We made recommendations, we put out these for our users only. If they have to, we’ll continue to support IE6 for a little longer. Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, these are all great and open really fast.
How many people are you in total?
Michael: Ten to twelve right now, with a couple of freelancers, not a huge company.
Is the plan then to just focus on this is another thing. Other companies I’ve talked with are working on several different apps. Are you just going to focus on this?
Michael: For the time being, yes. We have discussions all the time. To the extent that they could go further? No concrete plans as of yet. The market is good for that. We’re in a really good position. I have so many ideas for this. I do want to start something else with that small group of people.
I have just one more question. Since the Marketplace has gone live, has it been a good tool in getting new customers? Has it been a marketing vehicle for you guys? Have you seen a good influx of customers who’ve come through Google to connect with you guys?
Michael: Definitely, yes. So, I think it’s worth the effort to integrate to get a lot of exposure. Of course, you get new customers out of it, for us I think it’s a good thing. And, so, Google hasn’t really started to promote the whole thing. I had a call yesterday with them and they told us they would start promoting apps more aggressively.
Even so, they haven’t really started marketing. We already see the results. We’ll see what happens if they really start pushing (Apps) through their distribution channels and through the marketing, etc.
Thanks to Michael and Till for taking the time to talk to me. You can sign up for a free basic membership of MindMeister to check out their mind mapping product.
Google Invests in Recorded Future
Posted on 04. May, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
The Google Ventures subsidiary has made an investment in a company called Recorded Future, and if the name of the company is not interesting enough, it’s what the company’s focus is that really makes you think. They are an analytics company that uses metrics to try to predict future events, whether they are stock market trends or terrorist attacks.
I’d like to include the generic weatherman joke to what Recorded Future does, since most meteorologists don’t get fired for being wrong on their predictions. But one thing that keeps popping up in my head is the fact that Google has certainly toyed with the idea of using their search data to leverage what is going on in the stock market. Eric Schmidt, while speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi in March:
This coupled with the fact that Google has been approved to trade in the U.S.’s regulated energy markets has to say something. Sure, the goal with that is to keep Google’s power costs down. But in the effort to “organize the world’s information”, does Google perhaps know too much? They likely do, but what needs to be focused on is how they utilize that information.
Until further notice, I believe in Google’s mission. They really have done something so different with their business it always stops and makes me think about how much better they have done in certain facets of the things that they do, and sometimes I wonder if anyone can really compete with them just because the bar is set so high.
I believe in free markets and if they can continue to do what their doing in an honorable way I’m all for it. Just don’t be surprised to hear the FTC is constantly investigating them because they feel the playing field is unfair.
With that being said, take a look at a rundown on what Google Ventures has invested in so far.
Is Google’s Battle Against Apple Turning Towards Hardware?
Posted on 25. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 1 Comments
I don’t think that many people expected a battle pitting Google versus Apple a year ago, much less a rivalry that is based on hardware.
In that span of time, many things have changed. No longer is Eric Schmidt on Apple’s board and it is anyone’s guess how much longer Google branded services will be promoted on Apple devices. Acquisitions have been heating up between the two companies, with both of them sporting no debt and having large cash reserves.
This past week has seen Google purchase Agnilux, which is a start-up semiconductor company that was founded by some people who once worked for P.A. Semi, bought by Apple in 2008 and reportedly featuring some of the technology that is inside the iPad. You following this? I know, perplexing. There seems to be a rush for semiconductors in the hardware market to push the market past what we’ve been using for years: netbooks and laptops.
Case in point: the rumor that is going around whereby Apple plans on purchasing ultra-mobile chip developer ARM. While I’m sure Apple covets ARM’s technology (since it is used in the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch) it doesn’t sound as if ARM wants to become a part of Apple. That’s probably because even though they are ARM’s biggest customer, ARM would likely lose most of their other competing customers such as Samsung, Qualcomm and Google (now via Android and soon Chrome OS).
“Nobody has to buy the company”, is the quote from ARM CEO Warren East when asked about Apple buyout rumors. That may be true, but when you see that Chromium’s newest releases are showing that the hardware is being steered toward using ARM solutions for processing, this probably makes Apple a bit nervous because they already have hold of a nice niche with great margins.
It makes sense in that light why when they recently purchased chip designer Intrinsity, they decided to keep it quiet. Also kept silent is the fact that Intrinsity likely had more to do with Apple’s A4 processor than anyone inside the company wants to be known.
While we’re on the subject of hardware, expect to see a different platform model as Chrome OS progresses, one that blends Apple’s model with an open source software environment. In order to offer the best user experience the hardware requirements for Chrome OS are going to be dictated by Google. At the same time, they will allow developers to continue to work on Chromium in an effort to make it the best cloud platform out there.
Expect to also see an integrated store for apps that cost money with Chrome OS, with Google acting as the intermediary for billing and marketing of the marketplace. All other apps will be readily available on the web if they are free, allowing developers to focus on their craft and tipping their hats to Google for paid offerings and the platform that allows interoperability with other developers’ apps.
It’s a somewhat reverse model from Microsoft, which has in the past allowed for hardware manufacturers to develop for their platform, but keeping the operating system and tools to create applications under lock and key. Many times I have heard from developers how the methods by which Microsoft dictates its architecture causes problems in terms of software development; however these gripes seem to be declining.
Hopefully, Google will take caution to make sure that they do not end up with the same problems, but in opposite order. Hardware manufacturers may become exasperated by strong technical requirements needed for Chrome OS hardware, causing material costs to rise and thus margins to be much lower than is accustomed. Of course, one can also put into account the fact that the licensing costs that are associated with Microsoft’s operating systems will not come into play since Chrome OS is free.
At the same time, a hodgepodge of applications that run on Chrome OS are going to need to have a strong, unifying Google-like theme that will save the operating system from looking like a MySpace-oriented user interface. Apple has done this successfully, but of course at the expense of allowing an open environment and allowing some web functionality (Flash) to work properly on their devices.
Bottom line: Google bought a secretive hardware company, which has to mean something worthwhile for either the cloud or for mobile devices. Clearly this is a strategic move to compete with Apple, albeit in a different way than the iDevices. We shall soon see which way that is.
Understanding Agnilux, Google’s Latest Purchase
Posted on 21. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 5 Comments
Who, or what, is Agnilux?
This is a serious question seeing as how Google has decided to purchase the company. Everyone knows that Google doesn’t just buy companies for sheer fun. There is very little known about Agnilux, but according to some sources they employ people previously in the server business, although they also have employees who were in TV. That’s interesting since Google has traditionally built their own servers using stock parts. As any network engineer would know, this is a bit surprising as most Fortune 500 companies buy their servers from companies like HP or Dell.
But not Google. They have been known for setting up their own hardware architecture, and many times CEO Eric Schmidt has talked about the fact that Google uses servers that are based on common PC hardware. Imagine the fact that they are able to do this, since they own and operate one of the largest network-capable services in the world. In essence they own the most proprietary network configuration out there today, but I’m sure they would prefer if you didn’t know that.
Mark Hayter, the chief operating officer at Agnilux, came from P.A. Semi (Palo Alto Semiconductor Company), which is a company that was purchased by Apple in 2008. This most likely indicates that P.A. Semi had some technology that was used in the iPad.
Ah yes, the iPad. Now can you see where I am going with this. Interestingly, Google has proclaimed that they only want to be the “pipes” for content, but at the same time, their actions here are speaking louder than words. Maybe it is a strategic move to thwart a purchase from Apple. But an acquisition like this has to make one think that Google knows in order to stay competitive that they will have to engage those who pursue innovative hardware solutions, much like they have been doing for quite some time.
Eric Schmidt: Chrome OS is About Breaking Down Walls
Posted on 17. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 2 Comments
We’ve heard a lot lately about Apple and its “walled garden” approach to its computer platforms. When you think about this approach, however, this is the same thing that Microsoft has been doing for years. While they do not have hardware specifications set in stone like Apple, the ability to run applications is based on some set rules in a closed source platform. While Linux and its many open source variations have been around for years attempting to change this ideal, they have not been successful in terms of wide spread adoption.
Enter Google. During a talk at Google Atmosphere , the idea of the “walled garden” approach comes into play because before search became so ubiquitous, we didn’t worry so much about whether something was closed- or open-sourced. Now that we use the internet for a wider variety of things that are integral to our lives, taking a different approach to this is clearly Google’s strategy:
By the way, Google Atmosphere was a cloud computing event held earlier this week.
So with that in mind, there is still this fact that Google wants to open up all these data sources to make infrastructure easier for us, they are going to need to effectively control hardware in order to get the right amount of performance. Schmidt details the fact that they don’t want to build Chrome OS or Android machines themselves, they simply want to have the correct software platform the can enable better collaboration.
Instead of it just being Google creating these collaboration tools, they will open up the market to create them as well. Two examples of that right now are the Android Market and Google Apps Store for enterprise. Interestingly, with thin clients that are connected to the cloud it’s possible that the distinction between these two could begin to blur since you could theoretically have different profiles for separate purposes.
If you’ve got a spare forty minutes, check out the clip above. Schmidt talks about trying to create a new platform, about creating a new industry model. It’s been pretty exciting to monitor all of this because we just don’t know what’s going to happen quite yet. Information keeps coming out bit by bit and the overall potential of where we are going is simply immense.
Why Put Android on a Tablet? Convenience
Posted on 12. Apr, 2010 by Daniel Cawrey. 8 Comments
I’m a tad concerned here about the speculation that Google is going to release a tablet to compete with Apple that is loaded with Android. The understanding has been that Android would be the operating system for devices that have a maximum screen size of around five inches, but since the New York Times has put out a story saying Eric Schmidt is boasting that there is a Google tablet in the works running Android, there isn’t much I can say to refute that claim.
Android, much like the iPhone OS, already has a built-in applications store called Android Market. Having an inventory of applications ready-made for a tablet would be a great idea to compete with Apple, but something more compelling than that needs to be done to try to go up against the iPad. Perhaps maybe this device will be an innovative e-reader that is specifically for media – perhaps not as big as Apple’s tablet so that it is a bit easier to tote around.
This could also be an indication that Chrome OS is going to take longer than expected to reach a mature development cycle. Remember, Android was first announced back in 2007, and didn’t reach a stage where manufacturers started producing a slew of smartphones until late last year.
Also interesting to note is the fact that Google only supports the Android Market for smartphones right now, so any Google-branded tablet would get first dibs on a profit-rich application market for tablets. This information can be found from the “Available Devices” section of the Android Developers Guide.
It’s really anyone’s guess what may happen. Google wants to have a device out as soon as possible in order to fully compete with what will be a wide array of tablets that are expected to arrive in the very near future.
