The Guardian
topics

Google Hands Out Free Android Phones To Developers; 4,900 Apps Are Now Available

imageToday, at Google I/O, the company’s annual developer event in San Francisco, the conversation revolved a lot around the Internet giant’s PC services, but there were a few nuggets about the company’s Android, the company’s mobile operating system, according to TechCrunch, which was there to cover the news live. To boot, as a party favor, everyone at the event received a new Android phone with unlimited 3G data connectivity.

New information on Android:

—Android support: In the span of seven months, there’s now support for Android by 10 carriers in 12 countries.
—Applications: There’s now 4,900 apps available on the Android Market (far from Apple’s more than 35,000).
—Users: Android users have downloaded 40-plus apps each.
—Browsing: Android is a distant No. 2 in web browsing behind iPhone.
—Next software update: code-name Donut.
—Search: The next update should provide more powerful search capabilities.
—New API: A new feature will allow text-to-speech.
—New Contest: A second Android Developer Challenge has been been launched with submissions due through August. Winners will be announced at the end of the fall. User will have a say in judging.

Photo Credit: Flickr/lisatozzi

May 27, 2009 1:22 PM ET
Share

Posted In: Search, Technologies / Formats, Browsers, Operating Systems, Companies, Apple, Google, T-Mobile, Countries

  • Curious

    Which phone were they given?

  • Lei

    The release of Android is the much awaited event in mobile industry for the year.  Moreover, many techie people will surely avail this one.

Unhealthily Obsessed With Mobile Content | mocoNews Newsletter

Know something we don’t?

Send Us a News Tip

All tips are anonymous and untraced.

Sponsors

Contributors