Android vs. OpenMoko

I've been following OpenMoko for a while and rooting for it to succeed, but Android might be a
better solution simply because C/C++ scares a lot of developers.

The best thing to happen for FIC is to get Android running on their hardware so the success of
Android doesn't mean the failure of FICs open handset line.

I think it's too early to tell whether or not the success of Android means the failure of
OpenMoko, it might be that the two platforms are different enough to appeal to two different
segments of the developers.


I've often discussed the possibility of having Google crush TomTom, Garmin and the other gps
navigator players with an initially cheap phone with access to google-maps and a little bit of
cache.

Where TomTom et. al. need to sell the entire lump of map material (expensive) and update it
rarely for yet more money, an online GPS navigator could download only the data needed to
complete the trip and the initial cost could be much closer to that of a normal phone with the
map data being paid for on a pr. trip basis.

I'm sure phone companies would love to work with the map provides on making the billing easy
for the customer.