Google has officially announced its plans for an Open Handset Alliance and Android platform, putting an end to current gPhone speculations.In a company blog, director of mobile platforms Andy Rubin stated that Google's plans are in fact "more significant and ambitious than a single phone".
"In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can't imagine today," he added.
The Open Handset Alliance is a group of over 30 technology and mobile firms - including T-Mobile and Motorola - that have collaborated to develop Android, a complete, open and free mobile platform.
Android includes all of the software to run a mobile phone, but "without the proprietary obstacles that have hindered mobile innovation".
It is part of Google's strategy of furthering its goal to provide users with access to information wherever they are.
The platform is designed to break down barriers to building new applications, allowing developers to build products that combine information from the internet with data on a person's mobile phone, for example.
According to Mr Rubin, "through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers and others, [Google] hope[s] to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform."
