Finally, Android SDK have just been released for developers via Google code. The SDK download is available for three platforms Windows (59MB), MacOS (55MB) and Linux (55MB), the version code for this release is M3-RC20a and there are already 16 known issues that you might encounter during Android SDK usage, and which should be fixed in future releases.
As we were expecting in the previous post, the development platform is around Eclipse. An eclipse plugin is available to help developing and debugging Android’s applications. Android documenation is very well done and include all the necessary from requirements, to getting started, developping applications, references informations, until sample code. In addition to the API demo showing the SDK capabilities, two demo applications are available with sources : Lunar Lander game and a simple notepad application.
Android Challenge: $10 million to give away
With the announcement of Android SDK, the alliance offered $10 million for developers in a challenge to finance developments and certainly encourage getting more amazing applications in a very short time. There will be in total 50 winners and getting each one from $25k, to $100k or $275k. This is not just for fun I’m sure, the challenge will be in two parts. In the first part, submissions will be accepted from January 2 through March 3, 2008, and the second part will be after the first handsets built on the platform become available sometimes in the second half of 2008.
You can build any kind of applications from from Social networking, Media consumption, management, editing, or sharing, e.g., photos, Productivity and collaboration such as email, IM, calendar, etc., Gaming, News and information, Rethinking of traditional user interfaces, Use of mash-up functionality, Use of location-based services, Humanitarian benefits, Applications in service of global economic development, to Whatever you’re excited about!
This will certainly bring amazing applications to Android and slow down development for other platforms by loosing some open source mobile developers.
Conclusion
Overall, I think that Android succeeded its launch, the time to get more familiar with the SDK and the platform, you might check the new Android developers blog, and official dev group to ask questions and meet the Android team. Also the time to finish my download and get the SDK working on my laptop. Amazing but true, the open mobile platform is already here !
Popularity: 10%
Today is the day that everyone is expecting to get a first taste of Android technology and get the SDK for the first time. It’s amazing how a project with such number of members was kept secret for all this time. We was following opinions since last monday and many things unknown are now more clear especially the commitment of Google and other partners in the project, the choice of linux, the open license Apache V2, … etc. And defintely, Eric Schmidt answer on the Google’s strategy to monetize Android is self-explanatory :
