KEY POINTS:
A few clunky-looking devices at the Mobile World Congress this year are attracting a huge amount of attention.
Why? Because they are prototypes featuring early versions of Google's Android operating system, which threatens to challenge the traditional methods of interacting with mobile phones represented by the
likes of Symbian and Windows Mobile.
I've seen a handful of Android devices now, presented by Texas Instruments, ARM and Qualcomm.
It's hard to get too excited - on the Texas Instruments stand at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona I saw in Android a fairly attractive interface that allows you to scroll through icons to quickly get to services like Google's search engine, messaging, Google Talk and multimedia.
In other words it's much like other operating systems already in the market.
But the promise of Android lies in two major areas - it's focus on integrating the entire suite of Google services for easy access on the mobile, including Google's search engine and its associated targeted advertising.
It's also an open-source operating system that promises to give greater control of the core features of the operating system to software developers.
As Android's backers, the Open Handset Alliance explain: "An application could call upon any of the phone's core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users.
"Android is built on the open Linux Kernel. Furthermore, it utilises a custom virtual machine that has been designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment. Android will be open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge technologies as they emerge."
Google already has a software developers kit for Android available for free download, so enterprising Kiwi developers can get to work designing their dream mobile applications.
The open-source nature of development has led to great innovation before - Linux, Firefox and some of Google's creations are proof enough of that.
But as I've been hearing here at the Congress, the effectiveness of operating systems is tightly aligned with hardware specifications which is why the likes of ARM and Texas Instruments are getting in at the bottom floor with Android.
If they can design chipsets and processors that make Android operate efficiently, they could eventually be suppliers to a vast ecosystem of Android handset makers.
So far, the list of handset makers officially supporting Android includes HTC, Motorola, LG and Samsung.
The list is telling - it's dominated by the Asian handset makers who have risen to challenge the dominance of the traditional mobile giants, particularly Nokia, which is the main backer of Symbian.
I think what we've seen of Android in Barcelona makes it a little early to tell how successful it will be - the search-related advertising features, which in the long-term may even be used to subsidise the cost of the handset itself for consumers, weren't on show.
In the short-term there's more interest in the iPhone software developer's kit, which Apple says will arrive this month but some observers suggest will be delayed.
The iPhone SDK extends application development for the iPhone from utilising the Safari web browser to sitting natively on the phone itself which gives developers a huge amount of flexibility.
Android news wrap-up:
Symbian's response to Android.
The battle the operating system faces against established players.
AOL reveals its own plans for an open-source developer platform for mobile phones.
