Google's Android developer kit for mobile phones has been successfully installed on several hardware devices, a step toward turning it into a genuine mobile-phone platform.

The Android Software Developer Kit (SDK), first released in November, has been developed by Google and others as part of the Open Handset Alliance with the goal of spurring innovation in the mobile space. The platform, based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, will comprise an operating system, middleware stack, customisable user interface and applications.

Google released the preview version of Android without support for actual hardware - instead, developers were given a software emulator based on Qemu. However, running the software on actual hardware can give developers a more accurate idea of how their applications will run.

Read more: techworld.com 

Labels: Android, Google Phone, Gphone, hardware, mobile, phone

Appliance of faience

DELL HAS AGREED to flog Google hardware. The PC maker sasy it will sell Google Search Appliance and Google Mini devices direct to corporate customers.

Dell already makes the boxes for Google, the firm has not been flogging them until now.

"Having Google Search Appliance and Google Mini bolsters our enterprise offerings and simplifies the search engine process for our commercial and public customers," said Terry Klein, vice president at Dell's Americas Advanced Solutions Group.

Full story: theinquirer.net 

Labels: computer, Google Mini, hardware, PC

Hard Times with Ingram Micro

Is there no end to this company's ambitions? Google has signed up Ingram Micro, the world's biggest IT wholesaler, to distribute its hardware search appliance box in the US.

Distributors are useful for credit, delivery and product returns. They are used to making next to no money and love new products where the margins flow freely and the vendor marketing budgets are generous.

Does Google fit the bill? As the world's most efficient advertising network, it has little need to turn to others to make market on its behalf. But its name is not yet synonymous with enterprise search - Autonomy and FAST are contenders too.

Read more: channelregister.co.uk 

Labels: computer, hardware, Ingram Micro, IT, PC