Google Wars! - Online story

Google has started yet another war. But this time, it is in the unexpected arena of cell phones.

Google has announced a new mobile software platform called Android. It has partnered with several different big companies and is hoping to standardize programs across carriers. Current differences in software coding prevent this from happening.

But along the way, Google has accused some major carriers as monopolizing the situation. At first, it appeared that the major carriers were against the move. However, it looks like they may be changing their tune.

Verizon announced last week that it was changing it position and that it would support Android in the future. It had previously stated that it would not allow the software, but responded to negative criticism. “Android is an enabler of what we do,” said CEO Lowell McAdam in a interview with Business Weekly. He also announced that they would be opening their networks.

Not to be outdone, AT&T came back and said that its network has been open to any GSM device and software and that it has been that way for years.

"We've not gone out of our way to tout the fact that we have this, and very few people have taken advantage of it," spokesman Mark Siegel said in a telephone interview with PC World Magazine. He later added “We think that we are the most open company in the industry.”

However, he said that the announcement was not in response to the Verizon and Google announcements.

Source articles: here, here, and here.