The recent release of the “pinch-and-zoom” functionality to be released as an OTA update serves as a clue as to why it really does make sense for Google to launch a phone.

Google is really banking on public perception of Android for it to be successful.  With the heterogeneous mixture of Android versions out in the wild, this perception is bound to vary.  What Android is depends on what version you’ve seen and on which handset.  Why are there so many versions to begin with and why couldn’t the handset manufacturers just post OTA Updates when Google releases new versions?  Apart from the maintenance and development of fairly sophisticated skins that sit on top like Blur for Motorola and SenseUI for HTC, it really comes down to varying philosophical/political standpoints by each of the carriers (and perhaps just general slowness on part of the handset manufacturers). 

Motorola might generally be fearful of Apple laying down the law with pinch-and-zoom patents and therefore sit tight on this feature – in fact, this is probably why it doesn’t exist on the Droid while is available as a built-in feature of the Droid Eris manufactured by HTC.   Interesting to note is that this device runs Android 1.5 (a relatively ancient version of the OS) but features pinch-zoom functionality across the Browser and Gallery apps.  This is probably due to a lax stance by HTC on pinch-zoom; read: they don’t really give two shits about Apple’s possible litigation.

These varying stances are exactly why Google feels it necessary to jump into the handset action to lay down a vision for what they think ought to be the optimal version of Android out their in the wild getting OTA Updates in timely matters without think red tape getting in their way.  

That being said, this Nexus One buzz makes me want to vomit.  For one, it seems to implicitly antagonize hardware manufacturers from wanting to commit themselves exclusively to Android considering the proprietor of the OS is now jumping in with a device of it’s own.  HTC wins both ways but Motorola?  Samsung?  and um… Sony?

Google decides to dock the price of the “under-contract” plan for the Nexus One by $100.  Whoop-tee-doo.  Tell me how this is a game-changer please?  The unlocked version of this phone is not a novel idea; entire sections of e-tailer websites have unlocked versions of phones available.  Quite frankly, the fact that other Android phones do not have unlocked versions makes the openness of the platform feel not-so-open.

Android now has literally a handful of OS versions out in the wild – 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, 2.0.1, and 2.1.  2.1 was released with the Nexus One and a few days earlier than the SDK for the same was made available to developers.  This seems a bit backwards and I’m surprised that the other hardware manufacturers aren’t keeping up to pace with the Android versions as they get released.  This staggered nature of the platform simply confuses users and developers the same.

Android is being tested on all sorts of devices due to its openness and MP3 players should be no exception.  What *should* happen is for Sony, Creative or Sansa to adopt the platform for their MP3/media players.  The value proposition for devices that can do so much more than play music and videos is obvious I would think.  A quick Google search (while writing this post) turns up this article and so I put my foot in my mouth and simply pray instead.