The man behind the Google Phone: Andy Rubin
By Stefan Constantinescu on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 7:01 PM PST In Linux
The New York Times has a piece on the man who is building Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s Mobile OS behind closed doors, Andy Rubin. If I wasn’t drooling already over the concept of a Google Phone, this article just makes me want to run up to this guy and hug him. He is a 10 year old in the body of a 44 year old man. Does your house have a retnial scanner or little helicopters that fly around? Does your doorbell activate a giant robotic arm to pick up a stick and hit a gong? I don’t think so.
What just hit me like a ton of bricks is the new business model. The comparison of Windows Mobile to Netscape, the browser that used to dominate, and how a free Internet Explorer essentially took them out of the market overnight fascinates me. Can Google repeat the same story? Let us have a look at the services they offer and what competitors are doing:
S60, Windows Mobile, Black Berry, etc: They can all sync your calender to Outlook.
Google has Google Calender.
S60, Windows Mobile, Black Berry, etc: They all have programs on them that can view and edit your Office attachments.
Google has Google Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentation.
S60, Windows Mobile, Black Berry, etc: They all have the ability to push your email to your device.
Google has IMAP support built into GMail.
Theoretically Google can deliver the dream of cloud computing I’ve always had ticking in my mind. The question is will they?
Excited as I am, I reall hope this doesn’t blow away my iPhone just yet. I’m not looking forward to having to hock it on eBay just yet.
Google’s push/pull mobile email is just a sample of things to come. Hidden in their new code are hooks that direct alerts back to Google – Think linkpush. Receive a message on your phone based on your location and click for a google coupon offering discounts associated with your current location or even the weather at your location (15% off ice cold coke at 7-11, click for directions only 1/2 mile away).
Examples – Blackberry email attachments and iphone visual voicemail. It’s a simple idea – Push a little and pull a lot.