What Google's Android means to the tech industry

Editor's note: This column is part of a new series, "Making It Personal", that explores our love/hate relationship with personal technology.

The cell phone industry is rife with competition and a severe lack of distaste
for the consumer. Instead of allowing you to do what you want with the phone
you purchased, both manufacturers and carriers try to prohibit you from hacking
your handset and at times, moving it to another carrier, even though the task
would be as simple as popping out your current SIM card and adding another.

For years, this kind of mentality has permeated every facet of the cell phone
industry. After all, this is a market that's run by a group of suits that subscribe
to the beliefs of the Old Guard and have no real clue what consumers want.

If you're looking for proof of that assertion, look no further than the iPhone.
Instead of being like most other GSM phones that would allow the owner to pop
a SIM card out and use it on any carrier, Apple, in its infinite wisdom, agreed
to a deal that would lock the phone down to one of the most hated carriers in
the world. To make matters worse, the phone shipped without the ability to add
third-party apps that could actually enhance the experience and probably jump
start sales.

But alas, the iPhone has been relegated to the role of 'hack-worthy' instead
of 'buy-worthy.' According to its most recent figures, Apple has sold over 4
million iPhones, but its sales pace has slowed and although the company sells
about 20,000 iPhones per day, the chances of it selling 10 million this year
- one of Steve Jobs' goals - are slim at best, considering its current rate.

Ironically, Apple and AT&T also failed to realize that a huge hacking community
would emerge that would confront these two companies and provide one of the
most entertaining battles this industry has seen in years. And with around 1
million unlocked iPhones in the wild, according to Piper Jaffray, an international
middle-market investment bank and institutional securities firm, it looks like
Apple is losing.

If you ask me, the company could have fixed the hacking community long ago
and realized that what the consumers in this industry want isn't to have their
hands held by tech companies, but the ability to do what they want, how they
want on products they purchased with their hard-earned money.

Was it really so hard to figure out?

In comes Google. Instead of succumbing to the allure of releasing its own cell
phone and being forced to compete in an extremely competitive market that doesn't
allow any company to enjoy an advantage for too long, Google set its sights
on Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS, Symbian OS and to some extent, Apple's Mac
OS X hybrid on the iPhone. And by announcing the open-source Android OS that
would allow companies and users to do practically anything with their cell phones,
the industry may have finally woken up and realized that we're on the precipice
of something big.

Google's Android platform is based on Linux and is a creation that is backed
by the Open Handset Alliance. But beyond how it works and what makes it work,
Google's new OS is something fresh and new that none of us have witnessed in
years.

In essence, Android does away with the foolish notion that operating systems
should be locked down and gives the power back to the manufacturers and users
to create an element of innovation that has been lacking in the cell phone industry
for so long. Let's face it - how many times have you run down to your local
Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile store only to find the same crappy handsets running
the same crappy OS, looking roughly the same? It's ludicrous.

But things will change. Instead of seeing the derivative devices that do nothing
to push this industry forward, you will finally see a group of Android-based
phones that offer something different from every other device and have the look
and feel of something new, even though they're all running the same basic operating
system.

But perhaps more compelling, Android will allow us to finally take an upper
hand in what really goes on in the cell phone industry. For years, we've been
forced to pick and choose from pure crap, with no prospects of something good
coming down the pike anytime soon. In effect, we've been drones who walk into
our local carrier's store every two years, peruse the limited offerings of junkers
and ask for the one that looks sexiest. Is that really what we've been reduced
to?

With the help of Google, all this will change. Instead of allowing the Old
Guard fat cats to get fatter on our dime, they will finally need to work for
the income they enjoy so well. After all, if you compare two Android-based phones
at the store, each priced well within your budget, the only thing that can differentiate
them is the OS. And as long as the companies in the Open Handset Alliance stay
true to their pact of offering the most compelling OS that doesn't fall into
the generic category like so many others today, it's one company's version of
Android that will make your decision for you.

If nothing else, Google's Android platform is a by-product of where the tech
industry is in its development phase. Instead of being the scary beast from
years ago where people didn't want to know about tech and couldn't care less
how to get the most out of it, we've entered a phase where people want to tinker
with their gadgets just as much as they want to fix up their homes.

In essence, the idea that cell phone users are "dumb" and can't even
find the 'Send' button is finally being replaced by the idea that people are
looking for innovation, intuitive design and the ability to do what they want,
when they want, how they want. After all, they bought the device with their
own money, they should be allowed that freedom

And it's that notion - freedom - that has finally permeated the tech industry
and will usher in exciting devices going forward. You can bet on it.