Android

iPhone Dev-Team member David Wong (aka planetbeing) has successfully installed the Android operating system on a first-generation iPhone. In fact, when booting the iPhone you can choose between iPhone OS and Android. The frankenphone makes phone calls, receives messages, plays music, and connects to Wi-Fi networks among other things.

The camera doesn't work and it may be a little bit buggy, but the fact that it works is impressive. That is, if you're impressed by that sort of thing. Many users looking to run unauthorized software on their iPhones simply resort to jailbreaking the iPhone OS, not installing an entirely different operating system!

Maybe the conflict between two giants was brewing in the background the whole time. The partnership between Apple and Google looks to be on edge ever since Google decided to get into the mobile phone business, launching the open source platform Android.

Apple, as we know from countless reports of application bans, rescinded approvals, and the rejection of Google Voice, keeps strict and inconsistent control of their iPhone OS. In fact, previous Google apps appearing in the App Store have had the privilege of using tools hidden from the average developer.

Incredibly, the Apple iPhone has blown away the competition in mobile web requests coming through the AdMob network. While the iPhone OS represents roughly eight percent of global smartphones, it drove a whopping 43 percent of worldwide mobile web traffic.

According to AdMob's latest Mobile Metrics Report, the iPhone OS share of US smartphone traffic in April was an incredible 59 percent. AdMob specializes in delivering advertisements to mobile websites and applications.

We've already reported in this forum about the patent awarded to Apple for a "Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics." Well it seems they've already flexed their muscle with Google during the development of Android.

Google Group Manager for Mobile Platforms, Rich Miner, jabbed at the Apple iPhone during promotion of Google's highly touted Linux-based Mobile OS, Android, at the Emerging Communications Conference in Silicon Valley this week. Despite the strong partnership between Apple and Google in the mobile arena, Miner evidently felt it necessary criticize the iPhone and the iPhone SDK in an attempt to highlight the strengths of the Android platform.

Miner offered up the following as an example of the inherent strength of the Android business model versus that of the iPhone, stating