Google G1 Android phone: What next?

Continued...Samsung is already reportedly hard at work on its own Android phone, and given the Korean company's flair for design, it's sure to provide stiffer competition to the iPhone in the looks department than the G1 has yet succeeded in doing. Asustek too, is said to be considering a mobile phone based on the Android platform. The Taiwanese company, best known for its ultra-cheap, ultra-portable "netbook" computer, the Eee PC, has both the vision, and the manufacturing expertise, to churn out a truly compelling device.

While better looking, flashier phones may come and go, what will remain a constant is the operating system itself. But Android in its current form is not the Android you'll find on the Motorola, LG or Samsung phones of the future.

Google's operating system is a work in progress. While the search giant has happily laid the foundations, it's up to the software developers to build the scaffolding for the platform. The quality of applications can make or break a device. Users of Apple's iPhone have downloaded more than 200 million applications onto their devices since the App Store launched in July. While many of these are games and mobile versions of desktop services, such as Facebook and Twitter, many others are truly innovative and push the iPhone to its limits.

Android will need to engender the same sense of adventure in its developers and, by extension, its users. Applications do not need pre-approval from Google to make it into the Android Market, and it will be up to the Android community to sort the wheat from the chaff.Continue...