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One Man's Wish List for Android

By Mark Murphy on Sat, 05/09/09 - 5:01pm.

Google I/O is scheduled for late May, not late December. That being said, it's time for a wish list, of the things I would like to see that will make Android that much more compelling to the public, to developers, and to people like me who are into the whole "free as in speech" concept.

I want...

...a consumer Android device not tied to a carrier, or even related to a carrier, that one can use with any (GSM) carrier via prepaid plans, or with no carrier via VOIP
...an Android MID or small tablet (not a netbook, until Android is in position to make use of something that spacious, yet not a phone, either)
...a full-featured open source VOIP stack, perhaps based off of sipdroid
...at least one other major player to take on Android Market, to help spur innovation and keep them honest (Amazon, perhaps?)
...some truly off-the-wall fun use of Android (an Android Chumby?)
...somebody to create an enterprise remix of Android, so Android is not perceived as being purely a consumer mobile OS
...some consumer-friendly reason why Android devices should be flashable with user-selected firmware, rather than limited to vendor-supplied updates
...a better code reuse model in Android, to help spur people to create reusable components, such as help viewers, feedback forms, and the like
...the Open Handset Alliance to realize that helping independent developers is a wise move to help Android be a success in the marketplace
...Continental Airlines to decide that Android book authors are awesome and to provide them with complimentary upgrades to OnePass Elite Platinum status

Is this too much to ask for? Well, other than the last one?

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About Android Angle

Mark Murphy is the founder of CommonsWare and the author of The Busy Coder's Guide to Android Development. A three-time entrepreneur, his experience ranges from consulting on open source and collaborative development for the Fortune 500 to application development on just about anything smaller than a mainframe. A polished speaker, Murphy has delivered conference presentations and training sessions on a wide array of topics internationally. Outside of CommonsWare, Murphy has an avid interest in how the Internet will play a role in citizen involvement with politics and government.