Big cellphone makers shifting to Android system

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: Saul Hansell

Since 1996, Microsoft has been writing operating systems for little computers to carry in your pocket. It was a lonely business until the company’s perennial rival, Apple, introduced the Web-browsing, music-playing iPhone. But now that smartphones are popular, Microsoft’s operating system, Windows Mobile, is foundering. More cellphone makers are turning to the free Android operating system made by Microsoft’s latest nemesis, Google.

Cellphone makers that have used Windows Mobile to run their top-of-the-line smartphones—including Samsung, LG, Kyocera, Sony Ericsson—are now also making Android devices. Twelve Android handsets have been announced this year, with dozens more expected next year. Motorola has dropped Windows Mobile from its line entirely in a switch to Android. HTC, a major cell phone maker, expects half its phones sold this year to run Android. Dell is using Android for its entry into the cell phone market.

All four of the largest carriers in the US have now agreed to offer Android phones. When the first Android handset, the G1 from HTC, was introduced last fall, only T-Mobile offered it. Now, Verizon, the largest carrier, is putting a huge promotional push behind the Droid from Motorola, set to be introduced this week. Even AT&T, the home of the iPhone, recently said it would join the Android party next year.

Google is rapidly introducing updates to Android, each named after a bakery sweet. Version 1.5 (cupcake) came out in April, version 1.6 (donut) appeared in September. Version 2.0 (eclair) is expected to appear on the Droid. “A lot of manufacturers are walking into our office and talking about how important Android is becoming to them,” said Cole Brodman, the chief development officer of T-Mobile, the first carrier to sell phones with Google’s software. “Android is ramping with more manufacturers and more price points. It is going to have a pretty significant impact.”

Android is on only 1.8% of smartphones worldwide, according to Gartner, and Windows Mobile software still dwarfs Android. But Microsoft is slipping. The percentage of smartphones using the Windows Mobile system has plummeted to 9.3%, from 12% in the second quarter of 2008. Microsoft fell behind Apple, which shot up to 13.3%, from 2.8%. (Nokia’s Symbian operating system is the world leader, followed by Research In Motion’s OS for its BlackBerrys.)