Android Losing Steam?

This is a very interesting read and article. Sounds like the industry might be giving Google some cold shoulders. Google could be getting to big for it’s britches. Read on below.

By Ari Levy and Brian Womack

April 28 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc.’s mobile-phone alliance is showing signs of strain.

After Verizon Wireless scrapped plans to offer Google’s Nexus One handset this week, Motorola Inc. said it opted for a mapping software other than Google’s version. Samsung Electronics Co. has developed an alternative mobile-phone operating system, and HTC Corp. is considering follow suit.

By shunning the Nexus One and adding rival applications to phones, the handset makers and carriers may loosen Google’s control over how customers use wireless devices. The company worked with partners three years ago to create Android, an operating system that the industry could share. Recent setbacks may hamper Google’s efforts to replicate the success of its Web search engine in the burgeoning mobile advertising market.

“Everybody is afraid of Google having too much power,” said Carl Howe, an analyst at Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm. “I don’t think anyone wants to say, ‘In addition to 70 percent of the search traffic in the world, we’re going to give them a whole lot more business.’”

Android’s share of the U.S. smartphone market jumped to 9 percent in February from 5.2 percent at the end of 2009, according to research firm ComScore Inc. in Reston, Virginia. It ranks behind Research In Motion Ltd., Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile. continued on businessweek.com

~TechnoNoob~

story via businessweek.com

picture from thestar.com