Google introduces Android and an alliance to build it

Google has announced Android, a mobile software platform being developed with the new Open Handset Alliance. The 34-member group includes handset manufacturers, chip companies, carriers and software firms, an unusually broad coalition for a phone operating system.

Android will include an operating system, user interface and applications. Google says developers will receive early access to a software development kit next week, while the first phones based on the platform are expected in the second half of 2008.

No Android handset exists for buyers yet, so today’s news is a commitment rather than a product review. Still, opening the software stack gives manufacturers an alternative to building every layer themselves and gives programmers a larger possible audience. The unanswered questions concern how consistently different phones will run applications and how much control carriers will retain.