Google’s $10 Million Android Developer Challenge

Google
Android In an attempt to encourage application development for its Android platform, Google has just announced a $10 Million Developer Challenge.

According to the announcement, “The Challenge is designed to support the developer community and spark innovation on the Android platform by awarding cash prizes ranging from $25,000 to $275,000 to developers whose applications are picked by a panel of judges”.

Android is Google’s latest project, designed “to enable developers to create compelling mobile applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer”. This Challenge by Google is a recognition on its part that most of the applications, and indeed the best applications, may not necessarily be written by itself or other members of the Open Handset Alliance, but by the Open Source community (Google used the phrase developer community, but you can read that as Open Source).

Just as this global network of developers helped to create and sustain the Linux operating system (and other UNIX variants) and all the software that runs on it, Google is hoping that a $10 Million challenge will be more than enough to spur application development for the Android platform, which, by the way, is based on the Linux Kernel.

The Android Developer Challenge will be a two-phased event - Android Developer Challenge I and Android Developer Challenge II. Application submission for Challenge I will run from January 2 through March 3, 2008, and the 50 best applications will receive cash prizes of $25,000 each. Those 50 from Challenge I may then submit to participate in Challenge II by May 1, 2008. Ten of the entrants in the second challenge will receive cash prizes worth $275,000 each and another ten will get $100,000 each.

The Open Source community does not really need a lot of encouragement to start coding. An open platform and a bit of time will do just fine, but with prizes like Google is offering, Open Source developer will make a lot of time to code. So let the coding begin!