Google on February 2 provided a glimpse at tablet computer software crafted to dethrone the iPad and courted developers key to the success of Apple gadgets. Google showed off a Honeycomb version of its Android operating system that debuted on the Motorola Xoom tablet that won raves at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month.
"Honeycomb is tailored for the new generation of tablet-sized computers," Google mobile products director Hugo Barra said while demonstrating software features at the Internet titan's headquarters in Mountain View, California.
The free, open-source operating system is expected to quickly be built into an array of touchscreen tablets in a booming market currently dominated by the iPad launched by Apple last year. In a sign that Google is intent on wooing the developers behind the "apps" fuelling the popularity of smartphones and tablets, executives here stressed that Honeycomb is built as a platform for software innovation.
Google also announced the launch of an Android Market Web store at market.android.com where people can get fun, functional or hip applications for devices running on the mobile operating software.
Google set out to address a long-standing lament by allowing developers to make money from in-application transactions such as buying virtual goods, music or other digital offerings.
"We've gotten a fair amount of feedback from developers that they want more ways to make money from their applications," said Android engineering director Chris Yerga.
"Today, we are releasing code for in-app magnetisation to the entire Android developer community." Disney general manager of mobile Bart DeCrem said the US entertainment powerhouse had held off bringing its hit "Tap Tap Revenge" music game to Android devices until there was the option of selling songs to players.
"Tap Tap Revenge" was one of three Disney games for Android unveiled by DeCrem at the Google event.
"Tap Tap" is Disney's most successful mobile game and more than 50 million copies have been downloaded. The slew of applications for Honeycomb demonstrated after the presentation included interactive software to link tablet users to CNN news stories, images and video.
"There is no secret that tablets are becoming a force in the marketplace and something we are going to be watching throughout the year," said CNN vice president of mobile Louis Gump. "We've been hard at work for an Android app for the tablet."
A free CNN application for Honeycomb tablets will launch "in the near future," according to Gump. The Honeycomb event took place on the same day that News Corp's Rupert Murdoch launched "The Daily," a digital newspaper created exclusively for the iPad, at an event in New York.
Murdoch, an enthusiastic fan of the iPad, said The Daily will only be available on Apple's tablet computer for now but will eventually appear on other tablets.
"We expect to be on all major tablets. But we believe that this year and maybe next year really belong to Apple," he said.
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