Googles Android SDK Comes Alive
Google took several steps to goose interest in its yet-to-be-released Android platform for mobile phones today. The Open Handset Alliance, sponsored by Google and others, released a software development kit for Android. Google also hopes to stir up developer interest with a coding cook-off that will give out $10 million in awards.
Within hours of its release, the Android SDK had become "one of the most downloaded items ever" off Google's developer site, according to company spokesman Barry Schnitt. The toolkit, which included an emulator for software testing and a plugin for the Eclipse development tool, drew immediate reactions from developers ranging from "phenomenally cool" to "a bit disappointing".
The toolkit is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license, opening it up for wide repackaging with other developer tools. Google's Schnitt said that thus far there are no application tool partnerships to announce; however, the toolkit comes with an Eclipse plugin, so it is ready to integrate into many Java development environments.
Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz has already committed to Sun providing support for Android in its NetBeans integrated development environment. In his weblog, Schwartz congratulated Google, and said, "I'd also like Sun to be the first platform software company to commit to a complete developer environment around the platform, as we throw Sun's NetBeans developer platform for mobile devices behind the effort. We've obviously done a ton of work to support developers on all Java-based platforms, and were pleased to add Google's Android to the list."
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3710656
Post a Comment