This time last year, the tech community was all abuzz with rumors that Google was ready to put out a phone of their own. Nicknamed the gPhone, many expected it to be their answer to Apple’s iPhone. How surprised were we once we saw Google had bigger ambitions. Rather than focusing on just one device, they were bringing out a platform that could run on an army of handsets.
A lot of people think that Google’s mobile agenda stops at Android. I think that’s where it begins. Android is just a tool to help further things at a faster rate. The team from Mountain View was already putting out applications for other platforms like iPhone and Windows Mobile. Android simply takes everything Google offers and bundles it into a convenient package. Why download all the individual apps and services when they come preloaded on a revolutionary handset?
It’s no secret that the cloud is where things are headed. No longer confined to a desktop or laptop, people are free to access their files from practically anywhere in the world, as long as an internet connection is available. Pull up spreadsheets, vacation photos, and favorite music all from the same device, regardless of operating system. Google had been moving steadily toward the cloud for years with things like Google Docs, Picasa, and Gmail. Android was the means to that end.
Even though the rollout hadn’t gone as planned, Apple’s MobileMe was a step in that same direction. Who wants to be stuck using Microsoft Outlook to pull up contacts and emails? Nearly everyone buying a cell phone at that point had at least one email address they’d like to check, but they didn’t have their entire address book memorized or copies of old conversations when they needed to refer back to something. Gmail addressed those problems directly. Google Docs made it easy to save, edit, or send documents on the go. Google Calendar handled scheduling and reminders. These were services Google had been making available across other platforms, and now it was time to deploy them on their own terms.
By taking each of those pieces and assembling them on a wireless device, Google was making it easier for users to get through their daily lives. There’s no need to get home to check email. There’s no need to carry a laptop or a thumb drive to present a slideshow. Pull up the internet from wherever you are and Android puts these things at your fingertips.
Chrome was the latest piece of the Google puzzle at that time. Built on the WebKit engine, it was fast, light, and showed a lot of promise. It wasn’t going to make Android 1.0, but it wouldn’t be far behind.
For years, Microsoft had conditioned us to go through them for software and internet access. The cloud turned out to be much bigger than they anticipated. Google saw this coming a long time back and had been bringing the cloud to us gradually, almost without us noticing. The days of buying MS Office every two years were numbered. Chrome and Android were two tools that would make that transition easier for everyone.
Google wasn’t concerned with creating an iPhone killer. They had bigger fish to fry.
