When I look at the iPhone, I think of the statement attributed to Henry Ford – “You can have it (Model-T Ford) any color you like, as long as it’s black.” Apple has created its own little (well, not so little anymore) controlled environment for applications; but outside of that world, the top application providers are addressing a constantly changing list of the top 200 phone types.

On the other hand, I have been quite impressed with Android as a phone and see the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) as having a chance to get some market share among smart mobile terminals. However … Google’s senior director of mobile platforms Andy Rubin announced on May 27, that in 2009 the Android platform will appear on at least 18 handset models, designed by eight to nine OEMs. That restarted the debate that has been ongoing since 2007 – weather Android leads to fragmentation.

In a June 2009 article in online tech magazine, cellular-news, IMS Research Analyst Chris Schreck says: “One of Android’s features that appeals to OEMs and MNOs is that its license agreement from the OHA does not require changes made to the code to be contributed back to the open source community. This allows companies to incorporate valuable intellectual property into their Android handset designs, without forcing them to share that intellectual property with other OHA members.”

Differentiation can lead to platform fragmentation (incompatible Android variants), something that Google has already been accused of (by Qualcomm’s COO, no surprise).

I suppose you can see some evidence of this starting with the coming HTC Lancaster, with “a unique HTC Social Messaging interface”. “Unique” says to me “not anywhere else” – maybe not even downloadable on a G1, which has practically the same form factor.

I hope that the future of Android isn’t eight versions of enriched-call APIs with the only winners being those outside of the OHA.

By Mark Jefford-Baker

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