Another key difference with Android is that the operating system allows multitask-ger logged in to the service; you must reopen AIM and log back in. With Android Instant Messenger, you'll see a notification if an instant message comes in while you are using another application.Once opened, apps don't actually close, says Miner. "The Web browser may have gone to sleep, but it will reinstate its context and go back to where it was."

Google intends for Market apps to extend Android's capabilities-and handsets' capabilities, too. Meanwhile Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said that Google's Android does not "bubble up to the top" of Microsoft's list of tough-est competitors to Windows Mobile. He also added that it was too early to tell whether Android would emerge a serious rival in the mobile market. "We're in a world with Syrnbian ... Blackberry ... and Linux Mobile," Google might be a factor someday, but others "look a little tougher to me."

He added that he did not understand the busiŽness model that Google has for Android, which is free to device makers and carriers. "If! went to my shareŽholders and said, 'Hey, we just launched a new product that has no revenue model, cheer for me,' I am not sure my shareholders would take that very well, he said. "That's what Google is telling their investors about Android."

He also said that since Android was free Google may lack the incentive to "put in the same kind of investment to improve the product," as it might for a paid product.
To can take a look at the kind of apps available right now, head to cPanel. android. com/market.