The first software developer has create applications using Google's Android. These include a Google browser, a phone dialer for making voice calls, an audio player, Google maps, a camera, several
games, a calendar, a contacts manager, a calculator and a notes application.
With Android, "there can be a lot more customization," than with other mobile operating systems, "reducing
the cost of devices as well as development time," says A La Mobile CEO Pauline Lo Alker. The company installed the aforementioned programs on the Qtek 9090, a smartphone from HTC. It now plans to
pitch this prototype, which Alker says is a first for Android, to handset makers.
HTC is part of the Open Handset Alliance, which aims to create phones allowing consumers to use any
software applications developed for the mobile Web. A La Mobile isn't a coalition member, but it doesn't have to be to create software programs using Android on participating members' phones.
Separately, Andy Rubin, Google's senior director of mobile platforms, says the coalition will launch an Android-based phone in the second half of the year.
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