Google and Cellphones: Let Freedom Ring

For Android to succeed, though, it can't just please programmers. It must be at least as simple and stable as any other phone's software.

Google's past success at making simple but powerful interfaces for things like e-mail and maps bodes well. But it may be as important that this company has brought firms into the Android project with long experience in the phone business -- including such manufacturers as Intel, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Qualcomm and wireless carriers T-Mobile, Sprint, China Mobile and Japan's NTT DoCoMo.

Google and its partners have also shown a promising willingness to adopt outside software when appropriate. Android's Web browser, for example, runs on the open-source software inside the iPhone's browser.

The look of Android remains a mystery, but Google and its partners say they will release a preview version Monday. Phones running the software won't show up until the second half of 2008.

But open-source carries the risk of this project's own undoing. Companies that build and sell Android phones could always choose to revise it to lock out any tinkering by their customers. We could be stuck with software that's little more than a slicker replacement for our old smartphones, but with better shortcuts to Google's services.

Google thinks no one company would risk alienating customers who could turn to a competitor selling open, unlocked Android phones. But many of the corporations that have signed up as Android partners have been happy to sell locked-down phones that treat customers more like servants.

Those firms need to see Android as more than just a free operating system. They need to realize this could help them make powerful, flexible phones that people will enjoy using -- and which, in turn, will lead them to spend more time on the air and online, to the benefit of both the carrier and Google.

Can these often-stubborn companies find their way to that realization? Maybe a good Web search engine can help.

Living with technology, or trying to? E-mail Rob Pegoraro atrobp@washpost.com. Read more athttp://blog.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/