Wind River Announces Android Platform
“Wind River today [yesterday] announced the immediate availability of its commercial version of open source Android optimized on the OMAP™ 3 platform from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). The Wind River Platform for Android is a validated, fully compliant software platform based on the latest versions of the Android software development kit (SDK), available with pre-integrated software from initial partners Adobe, PacketVideo and Red Bend Software; and global support by Wind River.”
“Wind River Platform for Android, the company’s first commercial version of open consortia-based software, is available with the following building blocks:
- Open source Android code validated and tested by Wind River in a rigorous process combining hundreds of manual test cases and tens of thousands of automated test scenarios including compliance with the latest Android Compatibility Test Suite (CTS);
- Pre-integrated third-party software, including existing Flash® technology from Adobe, OpenCORE™ mobile multimedia software from PacketVideo, firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating and device management software from Red Bend;
- Enhanced Android user interface and personalization options for such common branding functions as boot-up splash screen, locked idle screen, and termination screens and additional gesture-based choices for core phone functions;
- Extended framework and applications including master reset function, music player, performance and power management;
- Dedicated Wind River global customer support and services; and
- Optimization for leading mobile hardware including Texas Instruments’ OMAP34x and OMAP36x platforms.
Wind River’s website offers a wealth of information – including a .pdf you and can download. It’s a whole buncha cut-n-dry information for your imagination to go wild with. I’m seeing the words “benefits” and “enhancements” thrown around an awful lot. ‘Course, just reading the words “Pre-integrated” behind “Flash” brings a smile to my face.
But what implications might things like this have on the Android platform as a whole? That’s a healthy debate worth having but ultimately it will be up to the manufactures. Are we seeing too large of a fragmentation that will hurt us in the long run – or might this actually help to keep things unified?
Give us your thoughts.
[ WindRiver | Press release | gigaom.com ]