Google has released a kit for software developers to create programs for the "G-phone" due out next month in a direct challenge to Apple's hot-selling iPhone.
The Android 1.0 software developers kit lets
computer programming wizards customize applications
that will work on the open-source platform built
into the G1 handsets being brought to market by
telecom carrier T-Mobile.
The T-Mobile G1 phones are heralded as the first of
a generation of devices built on the Google-led
Android operating platform.
Apple recently began letting outside developers
customize applications for iPhones and iPod Touch
models but vets programs carefully and safeguards
details of proprietary software built into its
products.
The finished Android developers kit released on
Tuesday is a refinement of a "beta" test version
that Google has let third-party programmers tinker
with for months.
Google already held the first of what is to be an
annual "Android Developers Challenge" and gave away
five million dollars in prize money for innovative
software tailored to the platform.
Google
unveiled its
long-awaited smart phone on Tuesday. G1 phones will
be available in stores in the United States on
October 22 and will cost 179 dollars, 20 dollars
cheaper than the iPhone 3G.
The G1 will go on sale in Britain in early November
and in other European countries served by T-Mobile,
a subsidiary of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG, in
early 2009.