Google creates open handset alliance for mobile users

Google, the world’s largest search engine, is introducing a new breed of software development designed to make it easier to surf the Internet from a cellphone.

It has announced the creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of 34 companies that will create a package of free software that are needed to run a cellphone - an open source, Linux-based operating system, web browser, a slew of applications, including maps, email and video sharing and viewing tools.

The alliance includes some of the biggest names in the technology industry including mobile handset maker Motorola, wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel, e-commerce provider eBay and chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm.

Google is calling the new device as Android and not the Gphone, as was being widely speculated. Android, which means a machine made to resemble a human, was a company acquired by Google in 2005. It is important to note that Google is not introducing its own phone as has been rumored, but launching a software suite that can be used on phones in the second half of 2008.

The Alliance will introduce a toolkit that will let independent programmers build mobile software and services for Android-based cellphones. (Courtesy Indiantelevison)