Public Policy 3 rd Group Assignment GoogleGroup Members:- Berna Tosun - Yuchen Chen - Hamid- Nayma Tasnim Islam Googles

s Android: WILL IT SHAKE UP THE WIRELESS INDUSTRY IN2009 AND BEYOND? 1.What is Android, and how does it compare/differ f r o m o t h e r o p e r a t i n g s y s t e m s ( O S ) f o r smartphones? Android is a Linux-basedoperating system for mobile devices such assmartphonesand tablet computers.It is developed by theOpen Handset Alliance led by Google. Open Handset Alliance On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which includeB r o a d c o m C o r p o r a t i o n , G o o g l e , H T C , I n t e l , L G , M a r v e l l T e c h n o l o g y G r o u p , M o t o r o l a , N v i d i a , Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Texas Instruments unveiled itself. The goalof the Open Handset Alliance is to develop open standards for mobile devices. On the same day, the OpenHandset Alliance also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linuxkernel version 2.6.On December 9, 2008, 14 new members joined, including ARM Holdings, Atheros Communications,Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, Huawei Technologies, PacketVideo, Softbank, Sony Ericsson, ToshibaCorp, and Vodafone Group Plc. Android Open Source Project The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is led by Google, and is tasked with the maintenance anddevelopment of Android. According to the project "The goal of the Android Open Source Project is tocreate a successful real-world product that improves the mobile experience for end users." AOSP alsomaintains the Android Compatibility Program, defining an "Android compatible" device "as one that canrun any application written by third-party developers using the Android SDK and NDK", to preventincompatible Android implementations. The compatibility program is also optional and free of charge, withthe Compatibility Test Suite also free and opensource.O S O p e n o r N o t H a s A p p S t o r e L i c e n c e F e e A n d r o i d Y Y N / A W i n d o w s M o b i l e N Y $ 2 5 S y m b i

a n N , t h e n Y ( a f t e r 2 0 0 8 / 6 ) Y $ 4 R I M N N / A N / A L i n u x Y N N / A A p p l e N Y N / A 2.Why is Google investing so heavily in Android? Googles most majority of revenue comes from the companys advertising products, whicha p p e a r s o n G o g g l e s s e a r c h p a g e s . T h e y s a w a n e x t r a o r d i n a r y g r o w t h o p p o r t u n i t y i n facilitating new types of advertising on smartphones. There is explosive growth in mobilesubscribers, and the development of mobile technology to enable a wide range of new mobileapplication. People can carry mobile phone everywhere; Google thought that over time, they Group Members:- Berna Tosun - Yuchen Chen - Hamid- Nayma Tasnim Islam will make more money from mobile advertising. So they thought that mobile sector is thefuture of the new environment to make more money.G o o g l e w a n t s t o see Android adopted by a very large percentage of mobile h a n d s e t s , especially ones that are more feature rich handsets. Their goal is that there are billion plusmobile phones sold every year and they would like to see the majority of those being a very powerful and great phone, connected data experience and be very open. Because of this theymake this investment .3.How and when will Google be able to determine if Android is a success? Android OS is doing very well for Google, on phones at least, but a c c o r d i n g t o s o m e surveys 1 ,i t s e e m s t h a t a l o t o f p e o p l e h a v e o n l y j o i n e d t h e A n d r o i d r a n k s b e c a u s e i t w a s available on their network and the iPhone wasnt. This could be a problem for Android sinceall three of largest mobile phone providers may be offering the iPhone soon since AT&T andVerizon have it already andSprint may soon join the party.When it comes to tablets, Android tablet sales are still lagging a little compared to the iPad.There are several possible reasons, some say that iPads are better, perhaps its due to the largenumber of apps Apple has to offer compare to their competition. No matter what the reason,however, Google has a great OS and it should be doing better than it is.So what can Google do with a stagnant tablet market and a phone market that may not beso successful in the future? If

Android phones and tablets where significantly lower pricedthan their iOS devices that could win over the masses. Of course, Google is subject to them a n u f a c t u r e r s c h o i c e s o f h a r d w a r e a n d p r i c e s , a n d t h e y d o n t control the pricing of t h e products that hit the market. There are possibly several ways for Google to make their platform more successful. One of them is Subsidizing. What if Google started payingm a n u f a c t u r e r s t o p r o d u c e t h e h a r d w a r e o f s ys t e m s r u n n i n g a c e r t i f i e d v e r s i o n o f G o o g l e Android? This would have some big advantages. First, it would limit the customization that OEMs can do to the system and provide am o r e s e a m l e s s e x p e r i e n c e f o r u s e r s m o v i n g f r o m o n e d e v i c e t o a n o t h e r w h i c h i s something that Google may want. Second, the price savings would go to the customers, meaning that more Androidswill be running around than ever before because people love inexpensive devices.Google is certainly one of the big mobile OS powers, but the game is still new enough thatthings can change quickly. Google better start acting with some strategy before, for exampleMicrosoft, gets a hold of these ideas and makes their platform more enticing for the users. 4.How likely will Google be a Cross Boundary Disruptor (XBD) in the wireless industry? Cross Boundary Disruptor can explained as a powerful entrepreneurial change agent whose strategicactions materially affect the equilibrium in an adjacent or neighboring industry. That is the convergence of a company to other fields as a leading competitor in the market. This concept first came to industry whenApple played their role as a XBD in the music industry with its current 5 efforts to become also one in the Group Members:- Berna Tosun Yuchen Chen - Hamid- Nayma Tasnim Islamcellular industry. (Ref: 1)Google has always been one of the leading search engines companies and by 2007 they were stated asthe largest search engine on the internet. Google's interest in mobile was triggered by the explosive growthof mobile industry. This has offered the field of mobile application development to a high extended height.Google's main source of revenue was Adwords which allowed companies to post their advertisement of Google website. As mobile phone industry included innumerous customers with diversity of just not classand wealth but also geography, so they saw an extraordinary growth of opportunity in this field.It was in late 2007 that Google was planning to introduce advanced software that would allow handsetmanufacturers to bring Google-powered phones to market by mid-2008 that would make it easier for customers to get a variety of additional services on their phones. Google wants to make it easier for cell phone customers to get a variety of extra services on their phones; from maps to social-networking featuresto video-sharing. The Google-powered phones are expected to wrap together several Google applications,among them, its search engine, Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail email that have already made their wayonto some mobile devices. The most radical element of the plan, though, is Google's push to make

the phones' software "open" right down to the operating system, the layer that controls appl ications andinteracts with the hardware. That means independent software developers would get access to the toolsthey need to build additional phone features. (Ref: 2)To get its way, however, the search giant will have to overcome resistance from wireless carriers anddeal with potentially thorny security and privacy issues.(Ref: 2) Because in USA the carriers are the mainrole player in deciding which handset to run towards consumers, not the handset manufacturers unlike therest of the world. And USA is biggest market where consumers can afford smartphones in a vast majority.They also run the potential risks for consumers as, if Google isn't careful, sensitive user informationcould end up in the wrong hands, leading to spamming, stalking or other invasions of privacy. (Ref: 2)Inter-industry competitive dynamics are becoming increasingly important. As a mission statement,Google's CEO Schimdt declared for their launching of Android that,"Our vision is that the powerful platform we're unveiling will power thousand of different phonemodels".As it states clearly that they are not just spreading out from the software service point of view but alsokeeping their reach to all phones. In today's market Google Android is considered to be the in the redcarpet side by side with Apple app as it being researched 79% interest of developers still lying for GoogleAndroid. (Ref: 3)So from the above analysis it is obvious that Google has already built their way steadfast as a CrossBoundary Disruptor (XBD) in the wireless industry.Ref: (1)http://gsbapps.stanford.edu/researchpapers/library/RP1978.pdf (2)http://online.wsj.com/ article/SB119369951717475558.html(3)http://www.firstpost.com/tech/windows-phonesstruggle-to-keep-app-makers-on-board-255520.html 5.If you had to purchase an Android smartphone tomorrow, which model would you choose andwhy? Samsung Galaxy S2 OverviewThe Galaxy S2 (sometimes known as the Galaxy S II) is the follow up to Samsung's widely successfulGalaxy S lineup. This time, the Galaxy S2 raises all the stakes and Samsung has found a way to doublealmost every spec in a true, one of a kind sequel. With a 4.3-inch SAMOLED Plus screen (no more Pentile Matrix display), 1.2GHz dualcore Exynos processor, 8MP rear camera/ 2MP frontfacing camera, both 1080p recording and playback, NFCcapabilities, great battery life and one of the thinnest phones on the globe, the Galaxy S2 is a welcomeupdate to the Galaxy family. Superphones don't get much better than this.Many have heralded the S II as being the best smartphone to come out yet, with some reviewers sayingthat even the iPhone 4 can't beat it. It has Samsung's overlay, TouchWiz 4.0, which is said to be leaps and bounds better than 3.0.Samsung Galaxy S2 Specs