OStatic

Today, JKOnTheRun notes that HTC--the first hardware maker to back the open source Android operating system--may be putting Android on over 50 percent of its future phones. If true this is a big blow to Windows Mobile, the platform on the major portion of HTC?s lineup for some time, they conclude. I have to agree, and this is yet another example of Android's pronounced momentum in the smartphone market, where we're going to see large waves of Android handsets arrive this year and next. Android is shaping up to be a hugely influential open source platform.? For Android phones to really get competitive with the iPhone, though, the cool factor matters. This is much more important than it may seem at first glance.

Matt Asay has an interesting item up today called What open source can learn from Apple, in which he notes that as a developer-driven phenomenon, much of the best open source software ends up being written for other developers. He points to the success Linux is on the server, where it reaches a technical audience, but notes that it largely loses on the desktop, where a less technical audience is present. Apple has the opposite problem, he writes. It is religiously focused on usability, but struggles to open up to outside developers. Can open source take a usability lesson from Apple?