Google Android

I watched the live stream of the T-mobile G1 launch, the first Android phone yesterday. The event was almost amateurish, a simple stage, photographers bunching around like they were at an Indian politician rally and there appeared to have been no preparation for possible questions, quite often the various gentlemen were looking around clueless while they figured out a response. You'd definitely never see this happening at an Apple event.

I never had any great expectations from the phone itself. In any case, it is not going to be launched in India anytime soon, but what I am excited about is the platform and the promise it holds. It is only a matter of time before the other partners start bringing their products into the market, and this is going to bring smartphones prices way down. 

The real potential of the platform is the software and the apps. Apple seemed to have that momentum and mindshare but given the restrictions on their SDK and the god-like power they hold over which apps get sold, that could be waning pretty fast. Though WinMo and Symbian have a huge developer community and lots of apps, I predict that Android will eclipse them quite easily.