Google set to launch Android for phones

The first mobile phones to use a new type of software developed by internet giant Google are set to be unveiled next week.

	Google has been keen to stress that the Android platform is more about software than hardware

The sophisticated handsets will make it easier to browse the web and bring some of the programs and features usually found on home computers to mobiles. Some of the world's leading phone manufacturers are expected to reveal prototypes of devices running Google's new operating system at next week's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona.

The operating system, known as Android, was announced last November, and is backed by an alliance of more than 30 mobile phone operators, handset makers, software firms and component manufacturers.

It allows third-party developers to write programs and applications that can be installed on Android-based phones to add new features and capabilities to mobile devices. Next week's event will be the first time that handsets running the Android software have been seen in public.

The anticipated unveiling of Android-based prototypes has increased speculation that Google itself may be about to launch a Google-branded phone, dubbed the GPhone.

However Google itself refuses to comment on the rumour, and most analysts dismiss it as unlikely. Google has always been keen to stress that the Android platform is more about software than hardware – programs and applications rather than mobile devices themselves.

Sources close to the search giant have hinted that Google may next week release a new version of the software development kit used by companies to build applications for the Android platform.

"It's very likely that we will see early devices there running Android, but they're unlikely to be the finished product," said Ben Wood, an analyst with CCS Insight.

Despite the Android project being at a relatively early stage, research firm Strategy Analytics has estimated that Android will be installed on 2 per cent of smartphones by the end of this year. The presence of Android-based prototype handsets at Mobile World Congress is sure to ruffle the feathers of other mobile phone operating system providers, who privately worry that Google might be able to replicate its online dominance, and success in the areas of internet search and online advertising, in the mobile phone sector.

It is estimated the mobile advertising market could be worth more than £5.5bn by 2011, as phones become more sophisticated, the web browsing experience becomes better, and high-speed mobile data networks become more commonplace.

The development sure to increase tensions between Google and Microsoft, which is currently trying to buy the search engine's rival Yahoo! for £22bn. Microsoft offers its own Windows Mobile operating system on many phones, while Yahoo! is well-established as a mobile search engine and web portal.

Other mobile operating system providers, such as RIM, the company behind the BlackBerry, will also be wondering whether Android has the potential to damage their market share. Apple, with its iPhone, has also raised the bar in terms of what mobile users expect from their phones, and the ease with which they expect to do it.

Among the other devices and services expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress are a range of phones that look more like digital music players than conventional handsets, and partnerships between network operators and film and television studios to provide on-demand programmes which can be rented for a fixed fee and downloaded directly to mobile phone handsets.