Android has flourished in the past year, with wild success and growth that has only begun to gain the attention of large developers and brand marketers. Yet the announcement of Android 2.2 “Froyo” at the Google I/O Conference this week has enabled us to envision new opportunities for the Android platform. The OS upgrade will be the first to support Adobe Flash 10.1, essentially making the full Web experience a mobile one. Check out Android’s official introductory video:
Attracting developers
This means a wealth of potential is now laid out before Android developers, enticing them to create media-rich apps that push crisp video content and advertising displays to mobile devices. Leaping over Apple’s Flash-banning stubbornness, Google welcomes Adobe with open arms.
Now that Google TV has been unveiled, there’s a whole new world for Android apps to explore. It seems silly to call them mobile apps anymore, as they’ve been promoted to mini-web portals that work together through the Android platform to personalize your experience. Replicating that across devices and products means apps can be incorporated into televisions, remote controls, and even your satellite set top box.
Reintegrating mainstream media
What Android 2.2 means is that Google can now better compete with Apple to provide a robust and media-centric experience for consumers. Partnering with Adobe, Sony, Logitech and others, Google’s Android platform will attract developers that have an interest in creating activity-driven access for users.
Mainstream media can now be better incorporated into existing capabilities of Android devices, making it easier to view the content you want, when you want it. Looping the once-doomed television industry back into the current technology trends will redefine what Google does for connecting businesses and consumers.
Those apps that leverage the increasing desire to create your own, on-demand programming can be better monetized as well. ABC will have more incentive to create programs and content around Android 2.2 if it can be viewed with ads or even commercials. Completing the Web experience for mobile and television devices, Android 2.2 really is a whole new world for apps.
