Snowballing
The Open Handset Alliance, which is the group of technology companies led by Google that has developed the Android mobile phone software platform, has announced the addition of 14 new members, taking the total to 47.
The new members are, in alphabetical order: AKM Semiconductor, ARM, ASUS, Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin, Huawei Technologies, Omron Software, Softbank Mobile, Sony Ericsson, Teleca AB, Toshiba and Vodafone. Here's the full list of members.
The first handset to run on Android was launched in the UK at the end of October. It was manufactured by HTC.
Here's what some of the new recruits had to say:
Ian Drew, marketing VP at ARM: "ARM is very pleased to join the Open Handset Alliance and to contribute ARM's OpenMax DL libraries and insight on the ARM architecture to the Android Open Source Project. Android is an excellent platform to enable Web 2.0 services on mobile devices, and demonstrates the innovation that ARM is seeing around mobile devices."
HC Hung, GM of personal mobile devices at ASUS: "ASUS is a leading handset manufacturer that will soon deliver high quality, innovative Android devices and technology for world class carriers and consumers."
Rikko Sakaguchi, CVP and head of creation and development at Sony Ericsson: "Sony Ericsson is excited to announce its membership of the Open Handset Alliance and confirm its intention to develop a handset based on the Android platform. We believe Sony Ericsson can bring a wealth of experience in making consumer focused multimedia handsets with new user experience to the Alliance drawing on the successes of the Walkman and Cyber-shot sub-brands."
