Google Androids self-destruction derby begins [Video]

The dark side of the flood of new Android smartphones: versions run amok

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Simply put, it’s too much of a good thing. Every few days, another Google Android device is announced, as hardware makers and wireless carriers rally around the mobile operating system as the de facto smartphone platform alternative to Apple’s limited-availability iPhone and RIM’s limited-capability BlackBerry.

That flood of options should be a good thing — but it’s not. In fact, it’s a self-destruction derby in action, as phones come out with different versions of the Android OS, with no clear upgrade strategy for either the operating system or the applications users have installed, and with inconsistent deployment of core features. In short, the Android platform is turning out not to be a platform at all, but merely a starting point for a universe of incompatible devices.

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