Google Putting Down the Hammer on Mobile and GPS Companies

Google's ability to innovate and surprise it what keeps a company there size going. The much anticipated Motorola Droid the first phone to be running Google's Android 2.0 was officially announced today. But that was expected we all knew it was coming, and just wanted a price. The announcement is huge for a few reasons, first off it is the first Android phone to hit Verizon and it is the first real open phone on the Verizon network. Verizon is known to be extremely closed not wanting anything on there phones that they do not approve of. For example on the old Motorola Razor phones they all had Bluetooth in them but this was disabled for exchanging files between your phone and your computer because they wanted you to buy ring tones through the Verizon store.

Now the days of the locked up Verizon phones are over with the new Motorola Droid. When rumors of a Verizon android phone started hitting the air and bouncing from ear to ear, everyone's first thought was, "Is Verizon going to lock there version of Android?" The consumers know Verizon's past and did not want to see Android an operating system based on open source to be locked up and destroyed by Verizon. There was fear that Verizon would not allow Google maps and would make you pay for Verizon navigator, but this all changed when Verizon first announced there partnership with Google and Motorola.

One of the first things they stated was that the new phone would be open to Google Voice, another Google program which At&t is fighting off at the moment. But on the day of the release everyone was ready, everyone knew what the Verizon Droid looked like, we knew all the specs and even what Android 2.0 was all about....or maybe not. The thing everyone was focusing on was the price, everyone thought this was the only thing not known about the Motorola Droid but Google had much more up its sleeve with Android 2.0 then we all thought. On the same day as the press announcement confirming the Motorola Droid on Verizon Google decided to announce Google navigator.

Google Navigator in essence is exactly what you get with your Garmin GPS device or any other hand held in car GPS device except its a free application for any Android phone running Android 2.0. The day Google announced Google navigator for Android, which would be free an incorporates Google's very own street view which just looks amazing in the driving directions Garmin's stock dropped just about 16%!! Google pretty much just laid down the hammer not just on the smartphone industry but also on the handheld GPS industry.

Motorola is going to release around 10 android devices over the next year really putting Android into the faces of the people. I am already starting to see the reaction of the public starting to open up to Google's Android. Where in the past a lot of people didn't know what Google Android was I am now seeing people ask about it and consider it a big player. Google has officially made there big move into the cell phone business.