At yesterday’s Google I/O developers conference, Google announced its new Android founding partners initiative which basically means that of the hundreds of Android OS sporting handsets that are released on a nearly weekly basis, Google and a select group of partners have banded together to ensure the select partners get updates first, and receive more developer attention for the first 18 months after a product’s launch.
Google has teamed up with Networks/Carriers Vodafone, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon and at&t (mostly US based for the moment) who will also be joined by Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, HTC and Samsung as “Founding Partners”.
The skin and bones of the operation means that all of the above networks and manufacturers will provide full support on all the handsets they release including the latest OS updates as soon as possible, which will stop older handsets being left out in the cold when customers are tied into a 2 year contract.
The only stipulation here is that the phone’s hardware must support the Android build, which sort of means low-end Android devices will still be left to die before their high-end brethren.
Either way it’s a good step forward and we are excited about the prospect of not having our handsets superseded by every software update that comes along.