Will the Walkman go Android?
The Sony X-Series Walkman is a solid competitor to the iPod Touch, but it was late to the game. Could Android help Sony get mobile products to market more quickly?
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)In an effort to streamline the development of their mobile products, Sony may adopt Google's Android OS for future versions of their Walkman audio players, mobile phones, and mobile Internet devices such as the Mylo. By using a shared platform between devices, Sony could be hoping to emulate the success Apple achieved with the iPhone and iPod Touch, and their common iPhone OS.
The move to Android may also help to hasten products to market, allowing Sony's developers to repurpose apps and interface designs between products. Sony's latest Walkman, the iPod Touch-rivaling X-Series, only recently began shipping, effectively allowing Apple a year-and-a-half lead.
As one of only a few mobile phone manufacturers who also produce portable media players (Samsung being another), Sony is in a unique position to enjoy the spoils of integrating its mobile products using a single platform with open standards. If they succeed, Sony may be one of the first to release an Android-based portable media player.
With the increasing sophistication of the iPod and its competitors, the Android OS may become an attractive option for manufacturers beyond Sony, as well. Companies such as Samsung, Archos, SanDisk, Philips, Creative, and Cowon, are all looking for an angle to compete against the iPod. Android may prove hard to resist as a shortcut toward an Internet-connected music platform with support for third-party applications.
(via The Open Road)
Donald Bell is CNET Reviews' senior editor for MP3 players and portable audio, and one half of the MP3 Insider blog and weekly podcast. He also likes getting his hands dirty with digital audio tools for musicians and DJs.
Donald Bell is an electronic musician, a veteran record store employee, and a fearless hardware hacker. He's also CNET's Senior Editor for MP3 and digital audio.
Jasmine France is CNET's resident digital audio doyenne, writing and editing product reviews, crave blogs, and feature stories on all things MP3. And if you need advice on headphones, she's your girl.
1. It is a small, fast, secure, portable, stable and license-free platform.
2. It can be scaled up, for very powerful devices (smartphones, MIDs, netbooks, ...) or scaled down, for very low cost devices (feature phones, photo frames, appliances, ...).
3. It is community developed, so there is no need to wait for a single company to decide if/when they will deliver something.
4. It provides an application delivery platform, for value-added applications/services (free or revenue generating).
5. It is open source, so it can be custom tailored by device vendors for their desired user experience, without losing app compatibility.
6. It allows vendors to focus on devices/applications/services (REAL revenue), rather than proprietary OS development & support.
I hope both put out Android-based Touch competitors. Android needs to get more devices to market. I worry about developers writing apps only for iPod, seeing the jail-broken iPhone OS as a viable platform. The lack of multitouch in Android so far will also prevent iPhone apps from going cross-platform.
Google = great software
Marriage made in heaven???
Now, if only Google didn't cower in the face of Apple's so-called "patent" (actually, it's still only an application) with multi-touch on mobile devices. Never mind that Apple didn't actually INVENT and DEVELOP multi-touch displays, only that they were purportedly THE FIRST to think to try to lock it up for themselves on portable devices. How they can take someone else's prior art, apply it to a different platform and think that it's worthy of a patent is beyond logic. If this patent is actually awarded, the system is indeed screwed beyond all reasonable hope.
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by quikboy2
June 13, 2009 8:02 PM PDT
- I hope not! I'd rather have Windows CE 6.0 instead.
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