Android Developers Have Risen to the Challenge

I'm thrilled to share the news that developers from over 70 countries submitted 1,788 entries to the Android Developer Challenge!

Here are a few facts that I thought were interesting. When we announced the Android Developer Challenge back in January, developers started submitting entries right away but it wasn't until the April 14 deadline approached that the flood really began. The rate of submissions spiked in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, reaching as high as 170+ submissions per hour.

What I find truly amazing is how global the interest in the challenge has been. Developers from the United States submitted one-third of the total applications while the rest came from countries such as Germany, Japan, China, India, Canada, France, UK, and many others. The entries are also very diverse representing many application areas, from games to social-networking applications, to utilities, to productivity and developer tools, and many more. On behalf of the Open Handset Alliance, I want to thank everyone who has submitted entries to the challenge. We look forward to reviewing all of them.

Now that the applications are in, over 100 judges will soon receive judging packets and laptops that we've preloaded with all the submissions, for a consistent, fair environment to judge the submissions. The majority of the judges are from member companies of the Open Handset Alliance, in addition to non-alliance mobile industry experts who have all graciously volunteered their time. I'd like to thank these judges too for all the time they will be putting into this.

In May, we'll be informing the 50 Semi-finalists who will be awarded $25,000 each. Until then, the team and I will have our hands full.

Android Developer Challenge Judges

We have received a few inquiries regarding the judges who will be evaluating entries to the Android Developer Challenge (ADC). All Entries will be judged by a panel of experts in the fields of mobile devices, cellular telecommunications, software development, and/or technology innovation ("Judges"). Google will select the Judges from the member organizations of the Open Handset Alliance, Google and/or mobile experts.

As a reminder, the deadline for the Android Developer Challenge is April 14, 2008. We're really looking forward to seeing what you've created so make sure you submit in time. Good luck!

Android University

Spring is on the way, and temperatures are rising. We're no exception, and things are starting to heat up over here in Android-land, too.

The Android Developer Challenge deadline is approaching quickly. Wow, that's strange to me. On one hand, we've come so far that the first announcement back on November 12 seems like a prior geologic era, but on the other hand it seems like the Challenge just started! But it's been five months, so it's time to finish your code, polish your UI, and submit your application. Remember to submit by midnight on April 14th, PST (GMT-8).

But after the Challenge, what's next? Well, on the 28th and 29th of May we have Google I/O. This is the biggest Google developer event of the year, and you can bet that the Androids will be there in numbers.

Here are the sessions we've prepared on Android.

• Android 101: Building an Application
  
• Anatomy & Physiology of an Android
• Dalvik Internals
• Inside the Android Application Framework
• Building Great UIs with Android
• Internationalizing Android Applications
• Location, Location, Location
• Mobile Mashups

For more details on these sessions, visit the Google I/O site. Please do, in fact—I'm really excited by some of these because we're going to go into a level of detail that we haven't before. Ever wanted to hear the tech lead on Dalvik talk about Dalvik? Ever wanted an exhaustive review of the i18n/resource system? Then don't miss this event.

Besides the technical sessions, there will be a Fireside Chat with as many members of the Android team as we can rustle up, and an Android section in the demo and coding area. (Personally, I'm looking forward to that the most: it's shaping up to be a code festival of mammoth proportions.) If you need a break from Android, there are also tons of sessions on other developer technologies from Google, too.

We intend this to be the premier developer event for Android, this year. If you only go to one Android event, we humbly suggest that you consider this one. Early-bird registration ends TODAY (April 4th), so be sure to sign up soon.

I'll see you there!

Android's First 5 Months

Originally by Sung Hu Kim, Product Marketing Manager for Android, Google mobile team

As some of you may have heard, Wireless Week has chosen the Open Handset Alliance and Android for its Emerging Technology Award, noting that "Android's potential promises openness and innovation, perhaps changing not only the mobile Internet but the Internet itself."

We at Google would like to congratulate all the members of the Open Handset Alliance and the fantastic Android developer community for this well deserved recognition. Android's growing momentum is the result of an amazing effort and collaboration among many different people.

Coincidentally, this week marks five months since the Open Handset Alliance and Android first went public. A lot has happened in this short period of time. Among the things of note:

• We released an early look at the Android software development kit (SDK), allowing anyone to learn and start creating apps for the platform.
  
• Feedback from developers has contributed to numerous fixes, improvements, new tools, and major updates to the SDK, the latest version of which you can find here.
  
• Google announced the Android Developer Challenge, which will provide $10 million in total awards for the best Android apps—and the first phase has nearly wrapped up. (Be sure to get your submissions in by April 14!)
  
• Several companies gave the first working demonstrations of Android in February.
  

These have been an exciting first 5 months, and we look forward to making the coming months even better.