It Will Be the Summer of Android Love in 2009

Still fresh from the love Android has received from the free Ion phone giveaway at Google I/O in May – this summer looks to be promising for Android.

The hope is to finally put to rest the murmurs of doom and of Android’s ultimate failure.

With one week before the 2009 Summer Solstice I am offering the following Android predictions:

1. Five of the planned 18 Android phones will debut this Summer

Andy Rubin, founder of Android, stated there will be at least 18 Android phones released in 2009. I believe at least 5 Android phone will debut in the summer with the brunt of the remainder coming out before the Holidays.

2. Android Will Dominate in China Illegal or Otherwise

There is already a flood of illegal Android phones in China which will continue to proliferate in the patent ignorant land as this Summer China Mobile will offer its first official Android phone with more to come.

3. Android Market Overhaul

The Android Market will get a much needed overhaul in both presentation and usability.  A more refined search and sorting is needed along with expanded categorization.  It should get an Amazon like “would you like this” based on apps you already have and are searching for.  Also some sort of improved web interface to break the reliance on checking apps outside your phone at Cyrket.

4. Android App-vertising Takes Off

I believe Android more so than with the iPhone provides developers better chances at making money with Appvertising than outright sales. This Summer should see some intelligent ways to effectively advertise within applications that are not distracting while being useful and providing a reasonable CPM to the developer. Brands will further focus on Android paying developers to create interesting apps that have some use while promoting their brand such as Audi & Burger King.

5. Android 2.0 Donut Will be Released by the End of the Summer

Donut, The follow-up update to the CupCake 1.5 Android release, should at least be aiming to be completed by August 3rd, 2009. Why? The HTC Lancaster, the first Android phone for AT&T, is tentatively scheduled to debut on August 3rd. Whats important about this is that it has a QVGA 240 x 320 resolution screen vs the HVGA 320 x 480 resolution on the G1 & Magic. QVGA is ONLY supported in the upcoming Donut release as all versions prior just support HVGA.

6. The myTouch 3G Will Compete with the iPhone 3GS this Summer

I believe the iPhone 3GS will outsell the myTouch 3G (Magic) from T-Mobile once both are released in the US this Summer, but it will be competitive. I am still trying to get used to not having the G1 keyboard on the Ion phone which is similar to the upcoming myTouch 3G, but the vastly improved design and battery life more than makes up for this in my opinion. I don’t think any one Android device will outsell the iPhone but it will be multiple Android devices together that will dominate.

7. Android Will Outspeed the iPhone 3GS

The iPhone is falling into the same trap of the PC wars as Apple will lag again in processor speed and innovation. Apple has locked itself in as the only developer of processors for the iPhone while Android has been using Qualcomm MSM chips, importantly and almost quietly it has been expanded to MIPS. This opens up Android to a wide variety of processors such as Godson, Tegra, Snapdragon, among others.  These processors not only expand the speed of Android but are extremely battery efficient and robust to handle FLASH.

8. Flash Will be Android Ready AFTER the Summer

Speaking with Android engineers at Google I/O FLASH working with Android looked grim. Adobe has promised FLASH will work with Android by the end of 2009, but I don’t see it happening within the Summer.

9. Android Sites Further Collaboration

Most of the major Android sites communicate with each other and I see the ones that fully embrace this persevering for the benefit of their readers and the Android community. Taylor Wimberly of AndroidAndMe, Scott Webster of AndroidGuys, Rob Jackson of Phandroid, & Antonio Wells of AndroidTapp among others exemplify this in my opinion.

10. A GoogleAndBlog Android Widget

GAB reader Kimberly asked me a great question the other week as to when GoogleAndBlog will get an Android widget. I hope to have one out by the end of the Summer and anyone that can assist me on this would be appreciated and of course given full credit citation.

What are your predictions or counter arguments to mine above? Enter them into the Comments

About the Author

Michael Martin is the SEO Manager at Covario and owner of Mobile Martin in San Diego, Ca while also being recognized throughout the search marketing industry as one of the leading authorities on Mobile SEO and all things Android. In his 10-plus years of Internet marketing experience, Michael has spearheaded online marketing campaigns for such global industry leaders as Research In Motion, Dell, T-Mobile, Samsung, IBM, SC Johnson and IGN.