Why Google's Android Is So Important And Could Change The Future Of Mobile Computing

If mobile computing interests you (especially the future of mobile computing, which many believe is the future of computing), you should read this informative article just published in Slate Magazine. The title is "Yes, Google Is Trying To Take Over the World. Next step: Take out Ma Bell." written by Tim Wu. The article explains why it's not the mobile OS of Microsoft or Symbian that are the real obstacles to Google's largest plans. Rather as Wu states:

Google's truest and most formidable foes are much older and more powerful. Today we call them Verizon and AT&T, but their real name is the Bell system. Their ideology, which today governs the cell phone world, is called "Vailism," and it can be traced back to 1907 and the origins of AT&T's domination of American telephony. The Bells' philosophy, as promulgated by AT&T's greatest president, Theodore Vail, is based on closed systems, centralized power, and as much control as possible over every part of the network. Vailism is the antithesis, in short, of everything Google stands for. It is this—conquering the business culture of the telephone, as opposed to the computer—that is Google's great challenge.

Towards the end of the article - "Google believes that the ideology of openness must win out, and that the Bell system will collapse under its own contradictions." And the article's last sentence "Provided Google continues to have the nerve and resources, we'll likely remember the Android announcement as the beginning of a long, drawn-out battle for ideological supremacy in the world of wireless."

I do feel just a tad bit nervous about whether Google has taken on more than it can handle with this.