Google exec says Android going social

By Hercules K, BUSINESS 2.0 PRESS
Published: July 11 2009, 12:18 pm EST

android Google exec says Android going socialGoogle VP of Engineering Andy Rubin gave some insight as to where Android is heading to during yesterday’s joint T-Mobile Google media event in San Francisco.

He said “Social is a big push for now,” saying how Android would become a much more social platform. He said soon Android would be able to display photos of incoming callers, and even the latest Twitter and Facebook update from that contact (why you would want to see the latest Facebook update on the incoming call screen?).

Google is also looking at implementing different payment methods for apps purchased from the Android Market. Currently, only Google Checkout is supported. The plan is to support for multiple billing methods, and perhaps the most important, the ability to charge purchases directly to monthly T-Mobile invoices.

Rubin also confirmed Google is naming Android releases after desserts, and confirmed future codenames as “Eclair”, “Flan”, and “Donut”.

He also noted that the recently announced Chrome OS is not a substitute for Android or mobile operating systems.

Not as many Android powered handsets have been pushed to market already. Rubin expects momentum to increase for Android and still expects 15-20 Android powered handsets to be released to market by the end of 2009.

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Questions about this post? Please contact Hercules K at hercules@business2press.com

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  • joey
    i just recently got my BB curve and love it, also got the FB app with a twitter client :)
  • Mark
    I'm using the HTC Hero firmware (Based on cupcake) on my HTC Magic. This firmware is integrated somewhat with Facebook and I love it. Each of my contacts which has a facebook has their facebook profile pic liked to their contact on the phone and it's badass. (What they meant above I think, is that when a person calls you who is linked this way, you will see their profile picture on the phone as it's ringing. This is what happens when people call me).

    Viewing people status updates is only one aspect which is interesting... the other nice features are things like if I go into my contact list, I can give peoples Flickr or Facebook albums from their contact on the phone etc... I think it's great.
  • yeah, its nice that they've done that...have u checked out the facebook app on the blackberry? i'm impressed with the push notifications, like if someone tags or adds you....u get an instant notification on the blackberry...not to mention the integration with your contact list as well.
  • Im thinking they ment seeing twitter and facebook updates on the phone, not when a new call comes in. Hopefully that means it'll also auto-update the contacts information if it changes (no reason we cant get it if the pre has it). As to viewing pictures of the contact, it already does that. Their profile pic you assign them...and really not sure I'd like to see random facebook or myspace pics of someone as they call me. That could be...awkward
  • Shawn
    i really think companies are over doing with bs features....we don't need 50 facebook apps and a million different ways to get the same data (like tweets)

    blackberry does it perfectly - push facebook notifications... and probably soon we'll see a push twitter app (but honestly, not as many people even use twitter anyways)
  • ralph
    “Eclair”, “Flan”, and “Donut” are not deserts, but desserts.
  • thanks Ralph - we've made the change!
  • Mark
    i always like what google does, but i don't know about this one....

    what they need is push notifications like the BlackBerry with the Facebook app, that is good enough - we don't need bs on an incoming call screen
  • OkinKun
    forget social networking sites... I just want more augmented reality on my portable devices!
  • Brian
    i really don't know why hes so excited about android lol, ohhhhhhh i can't wait, twitter updates on the call screen lol
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