Last week I was fortunate to attend the Google I/O event in San Fransisco. Now when the emotions are settled down there's a chance to have a sober look at what happened and what effect it might have on us and the software industry.
The central place at the conference - its "booth" was located right in the middle of the second floor - took Android. Coincidentally the pivot of the second day keynote was also Android. At 100,000 new device activations a day the platform is no longer something to sneeze at. Android 2.2 Froyo was one of the few things that were announced and released during the event.
Another manifestation of the growing strength of Android is the fact that Google bets its new Google TV initiative on it. Yes, all those computers that we customarily call TVs are going to run the operating system with the green robot logo.
What was strangely missing from the keynotes was Chrome OS. My reading is either it's totally not ready for anything (though they did screw up the Google TV demo with a straight face no problem) or there's a change in the wind blowing high in the executive ranks. After Google Phone initiative was suddenly dropped I wouldn't be too surprised to see Chrome OS going out of business and Android taking its place.
Quirky and fragmented as it is, Android is making its way into our lives. If you are a developer you might want to jump on the bandwagon - there's still room and it's going to get big.
