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Google’s new mobile phone software Android made its debut at an industry trade show in Barcelona, Spain today. Google’s new software marks an advance in the quest to bring desktop computing power to mobile phone handsets. The new software made its debut on a Texas Instruments handset. It is being powered by the TI OMAP850 mobile processor and includes Bluetooth and WiFi support.

Google launched the new free software in November 2007 and is being developed by a partnership of over 30 companies, but it is being promoted by Google, who looks to extend it’s reach beyond Internet searches and into the world of office productivity and mobile phone use. Google hopes that Adnroid will become the standard software for cell phones. It also aims to improve the mobile handsert web browsing experience for users who are accessing information away from their desktops. The first phone preloaded with Android is expected later in 2008.

The prototype TI phone included many commonly used cell phone handset features including Google maps, an Internet browser, a still and video camera, a multimedia player, email capability and a task calender. Other companies that plan on debuting Android capable prototypes are Marvell, Qualcomm, NEC and ST Microelectronics. Samsung has also expressed interest in designing Android capable handsets.

Google’s Android is based on the open source Linux operating system. The open source code allows programmers to be more flexible in their approach to application building and to tailor applications to specific phones. Limo, a second Linux based cell phone operating system, was also debuted at the Barcelona trade show. LG and Samsung both debuted devices featuring Limo.

A spokesman for Google, Barry Schnitt, explained the search engine giant’s interest in the mobile phone market, “As people use the web more, they’ll use Google more and we’ll be able to sell more relevant advertising.”

Google faces stiff competition in its quest for mobile platform dominance from Nokia’s Symbian OS. Microsoft is also rumored to be developing a Linux based OS as well. The Applie iPhone operating software has proven popular, but it is not open source, so application development has been serverely curtailed. With the introduction of Android and Limo, it is expected that the mobile phone market will embrace Linux based platforms and will move away from proprietary operating systems like the aging Palm S.

The Mobile World Congress is one of the largest telecom conferences in the world. As cell phone per minute rates drop, mobile service providers are turning to this year’s conference to help push cell phone users to play games, listen to music and surf the web on their mobile handsets in an effort to increase ad revenues. Google’s Android is expected to dominate the media coverage of the convention.

Tags: android, google, texas instruments

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