We've known that Cupcake has been floating around in dev circles for months now, but it's been clear as mud how the Open Handset Alliance plans to incorporate all of the lovely features it brings into Android's trunk, how Android will be versioned going forward, and in general, how the group plans to present a unified front to developers, manufacturers, and end users. That all gets a little clearer today with the official unveiling of Android 1.5 that fully incorporates the Cupcake branch, and -- perhaps much more importantly -- a home screen framework for developing widgets and populating live folders with whatever content you can dream up. There's no word on exactly how 1.5 will come to existing Android handsets in the field, but as far as we can tell, there's nothing listed in the changelog that would prevent current hardware from taking full advantage -- and the OHA is going to be releasing a series of articles about new-to-1.5 features in the coming weeks to help devs "prepare your applications for the release of Android 1.5 on phones." Sounds encouraging, doesn't it?

Immersion's no stranger to bringing haptic feedback to cellphones, and if it has its way, it'll be on an Android-powered cellie in the very near future. The developer and licensor of touch feedback technology has proudly (very proudly, in fact) announced that its touch tech is now available for implementation in Android phones. Few details are spilled to the general populace, but we are informed that makers of Android handsets can "now easily add haptics to dramatically improve the mobile user experience." Of course, the back end of that statement is totally subjective, but don't blame these guys if your next Android phone doesn't buzz with each button press.

There's not a lot of meat here, but we like where it's headed: ASUS CEO Johnny Shih talked up the company's "two-pronged" approach to mobile devices last night, which apparently includes a unit that can be "put in the pocket, play MP3s, offer GPS services, works like a PDA and offers Mobile TV altogether" -- with the other prong being the Eee PC, we would guess. When asked about plans to use Android, now that the company is a minted member of the Open Handset Alliance, Shih said that they're looking into using the OS on the already-hacked Eee PC or the Eee Phone (hopefully both!), and that they're big iPhone fans -- we'll just let our imaginations run with that one.

[Thanks, Neerhaj]

Remember not so long ago when Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that Android was "not yet good enough" for the Sprint brand, and how weird and awkward that was, all things considered? Well, it turns out that Google's VP of mobile technology, Rich Miner, is set to deliver the keynote at Sprint's mobile developer's conference on December 12th. We assume he'll be there to talk about how much he loves hot dogs, or... an Android and Sprint teamup. So, does this mean that the platform is now approaching Sprint Speed, or what?

The Open Handset Alliance just made a major score with 14 more members: AKM Semiconductor Inc., ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc. (previously rumored), Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International Inc., Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone. That's not quite everyone that matters, but pretty darn close. Were we to climb not-very-far onto the limb of conjecture, we might posit that Garmin might be looking at Andoid for its much-delayed nuviföne, or some sort of followup, while the emergence of an ASUS "Eee Phone" or a XPERIA X1 running Android (Sony Ericsson may very well be the biggest win here, consumer-wise) would be welcome moves from those manufacturers. We'd say at this point the holdouts are starting to stick out more than the actually OHA members, which spells good things for the industry no matter what specific hardware is the fruit of this relationship... but seriously guys, build us some more Android phones.

Hot on the heels of Electronic Arts kinda-sorta slamming Nokia for its lackluster N-Gage gaming platform comes word that the video game giant will be dabbling in the world of Android here shortly. Unsurprisingly, we're informed that Tetris will be the first Android title out, while Bejeweled and Monopoly should follow suit in November. According to EA Mobile vice president Adam Sussman, "Android is another exciting new platform to offer customers great games with enhancements like touch and tilt capabilities," and while we weren't given specifics outside of the aforesaid titles, more games are definitely "in development."

We'd already heard that ASUS had been invited to join the Open Handset Alliance, and DigiTimes is now reporting that the company is, in fact, planning to launch an Android-based handset -- go figure. That phone, some unnamed company sources say, will roll out sometime in the first half of 2009 (we're guessing late first half), and could possibly be released in Taiwan first under ASUS' own brand before making its way overseas in the form of different "customized models" for various clients. Of course, any other details are non-existent at this point, but those same sources did also note that ASUS will be phasing out its use of the Ericsson Mobile Platform (or EMP) in its phones in favor of handset platforms from Qualcomm and Marvell, which is interesting insofar as that both Qualcomm and Marvell are members of the OHA, while Ericsson is not.

We're not sure if its recent spate of handset announcements had anything to do with it or not, but it looks like Google has now asked ASUS to join the Open Handset Alliance, an invitation that we're assuming ASUS expected to accept (or else we probably wouldn't be hearing about it). Apparently, Google is interested in working with ASUS due to its "brand recognition worldwide," although neither party seems to be making any sort of official comments just yet. Knowing ASUS, however, we're sure it'll find some way to work its Eee brand into the picture before all is said and done. Eee Phone, anyone?

[Via VentureBeat, thanks Michael Y]

Okay, it's not really a secret weapon, per se -- China Mobile's smack at the top of the Open Handset Alliance's member list, after all -- but In-Stat's predicting that Android has a chance of absolutely dominating the iPhone's sales figures next year if it can get a big ol' helping of love from China's hundreds of millions of wireless subscribers. Diving into the numbers, the analysis firm predicts that Apple will push some 9.5 million iPhones globally next year, compared to 17.1 million Android-equipped pieces, based largely on the assumption that China will end up throwing its weight behind the more open (read: cheaper) Linux-based platform. That being said, China Mobile is also still in discussions (as far as we can tell, anyway) to bring the iPhone to its network, so the battle could ultimately be about pricing and marketing. Google has done a solid job of building name recognition over there lately, and there's little doubt that manufacturers crafting Android sets will be able to undercut the iPhone, so In-Stat's little spat of fortune telling seems downright plausible.

Lookee here, yet another supporter of Google's Android. Taking the wraps off of its mCUE converged communications client here at CTIA 2008, D2 Technologies is touting said software -- when coupled with Google's Android SDK -- as a "complete turnkey solution for developing multi-mode mobile communication devices based on Android." According to the company's vice president of marketing and sales Doug Makishima, the goal with mCUE is to "make it as fast, easy and affordable as possible for OEMs to deliver converged, unified communications devices to meet the demand [for Android]." Hey world, there's still time left to hop on this (increasingly attractive) bandwagon, believe it or not.

California-based a la Mobile has crafted a somewhat complete set of phone apps in prototype form -- you know, the most basic kinds of things you'd need on a smartphone to make it usable -- on top of Android, claiming it's the first group to show off a fully functional prototype. The firm installed its goodies on a Qtek 9090, a rather ancient, janky HTC device from days gone by, proving that a wide swath of devices already in the marketplace will be ripe targets for Android transplants once solid, fully functional code is widely available. Though no one in the 34 member strong Open Handset Alliance has publicly committed to a particular Android software stack -- let alone a particular hardware design -- a la Mobile says that it's making a play among OHA member manufacturers to take a good, hard look at its wares as they navigate the process. The head of the LiMo Foundation, a sorta-competitor to the Open Handset Alliance, naturally downplayed a la Mobile's efforts, calling Android "just like a big lab experiment" -- though he did manage to call the prototype "interesting." How about we keep the verbal volleys to a minimum and get some friggin' Linux in the mainstream, ladies and gentlemen?

It's not like we weren't already aware of SiRF's participation in the Open Handset Alliance, but nevertheless, the company is sounding pretty ecstatic about the software developer kit it "just received." Reportedly, the outfit is already hard at work on "end-to-end location-enabling features" for Android, and in case you couldn't guess, it's also providing Android platform support for a plethora of products based on its famed SiRFstarIII architecture. Essentially, the firm is hoping to take advantage of having location as a "native feature" within Android, and it makes the obvious sound a whole lot more intriguing by teasing us with visions of "out-of-the-box locative experiences" involving geo-tagging, geo-searching and social networking. Still, we'll tip our hat to any form of tight integration, but this here's probably nothing to get riled up over.

While it's still not clear if it's actually going to go so far as to join the Open Handset Alliance (as previously rumored), it looks like Verizon Wireless is at least getting behind the Android platform, marking a fairly significant shift from its previous position on the matter. According to Business Week, Verizon Chief Executive Officer Lowell McAdam now says that the company is "planning on using Android," adding that, "Android is an enabler of what we do." It seems that Verizon's embrace of open access won't include the same level of support that it offers to its current handset lineup, however, with the company only promising to "to ensure the wireless connection is working for customers who buy those devices" (although it will test all phones developed to run on its network). According to McAdam, customers will have to "talk to their handset provider or their application provider if they have particular issues." That, Verizon says, will allow it to offer far more devices than it's previously been able to, which should, in turn, attract customers it's previously been unable to lure in -- or so it hopes.

[Via Phone Scoop]

In a recent chat with clients, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster did a little name dropping regarding Google's Open Handset Alliance, casually mentioning in passing that Verizon "is a member." Hold up there, chief; last time we checked, that isn't the case. Among US national carriers, only T-Mobile and Sprint have publicly thrown their hats into the Android ring, so we're not sure whether Mr. Munster knows something we don't (which is entirely possible) or whether he's just a little confused. For what it's worth, we can understand why he'd be confused in light of Verizon's recent commitment to open its airwaves to all comers -- the initiative appears to share much of the same spirit as the OHA's charter, after all -- but by the same token, Google's intention to snap up 700MHz bandwidth would seemingly pit the two juggernauts against one another. We'll have to wait and see whether Big Red's name magically appears on the Alliance's member list, but if it does, the pressure's gonna get pretty high on AT&T to cave, eh?

Carefully orchestrated announcements for broad, sweeping initiatives like the one staged by Google today don't always do a great job of diving straight into the meat and telling it like it is, so we thought we'd boil down the Android and Open Handset Alliance sitch as best we could into a tight, easy to digest series of bullets. If this list is still wider than your attention span, though, just know this: you can pick up your Google-powered phone in the latter half of 2008.

• At its core, Android forms the basis for Google's operating system and supporting software for phones. In Google's own words, it's a software stack.
• Two separate but related entities form the basis for today's announcement: the Linux-based Android mobile platform (a result of Google's 2005 acquisition of a start-up of the same name) and the Open Handset Alliance, a 33-strong group of device manufacturers, component manufacturers, software companies, and carriers that have committed to working with Android.
• There is no cut and dried "Gphone" and Google doesn't intend (or at least it hasn't indicated an intent) to enter the hardware business. Instead, it'll leave that to established players like HTC, LG, and Samsung -- and theoretically, anyone else that wants to have a go at it since the Android platform and its code base is wide open.
• Unlike the platform itself, there's no guarantee that devices based on the Android platform will be open to third party developers. Google says that'll be left to manufacturers and carriers to be decide, although it doubts they'll choose to lock them down (hmm, has Google ever worked with a carrier before?)
• Nokia, Apple (on whose board Google CEO Eric Schmidt sits), Palm, and Microsoft are notably absent from the alliance. Palm has come out today to announce that it intends to continue to integrate Google services into its future products.
• Carriers currently in the alliance include China Mobile, KDDI, NTT DoCoMo, Sprint Nextel, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, and T-Mobile. T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel are the two national US carriers that are signed up; AT&T and Verizon are not.
• The first Android-powered devices are expected in the second half of 2008. Rumor has it that Google has been using an HTC-sourced device, the "Dream," to demonstrate Android to potential partners. HTC may launch a version of the Dream as one of its first handsets to use the platform.