Open Handset Alliance

Open Handset Alliance logo
Abbreviation	OHA
Formation	2007
Type	Open mobile platform (Android) development organization
Headquarters	Mountain View, California, United States
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	Mobile operators, Software companies, Commercialization companies, Semiconductor companies, Handset manufacturers
Parent organization	Google
Website	www.openhandsetalliance.com

The Open Handset Alliance (OHA) is a consortium of 84^[1] firms to develop open standards for mobile devices. Member firms include Google, HTC, Sony, Dell, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, T-Mobile, Sprint Corporation, Nvidia, and Wind River Systems.^[2]

The OHA was established on 5 November 2007, led by Google with 34 members,^[2] including mobile handset makers, application developers, some mobile carriers and chip makers.^[3] Android, the flagship software of the alliance, is based on an open-source license and has competed against mobile platforms from Apple, Microsoft, Nokia (Symbian), HP (formerly Palm), Samsung Electronics / Intel (Tizen, bada), and BlackBerry.

As part of its efforts to promote a unified Android platform, OHA members are contractually forbidden from producing devices that are based on incompatible forks of Android.^[4][5]

Products

At the same time as the announcement of the formation of the Open Handset Alliance on November 5, 2007, the OHA also unveiled Android, an open-source mobile phone platform based on the Linux kernel.^[2] An early look at the SDK was released to developers on 12 November 2007.^[6]

The first commercially available phone running Android was the HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1). It was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on 18 August 2008,^[7] and became available on 22 October.^[8]

Members

The members of the Open Handset Alliance are:

Joining date	Network operators	Software developers	Other	Component manufacturers	Device manufacturers
Founding members[9]	KDDI Corporation NTT DoCoMo Sprint Nextel T-Mobile China Mobile Telecom Italia Telefónica	Ascender Corporation eBay Google LivingImage Myriad Nuance Communications PacketVideo SkyPop SONiVOX Wind River Systems	Flex Comix Nexus Telecom The Astonishing Tribe	Audience Broadcom Corporation CSR Plc. Intel Corporation Marvell Technology Group Nvidia Corporation Qualcomm Synaptics Texas Instruments	HTC LG Sony Motorola Mobility (joined as Motorola) Samsung Electronics Cetelix
December 2008[10]	Vodafone Softbank	OMRON	Borqs Teleca	AKM Semiconductor ARM Atheros Communications ST-Ericsson (joined as Ericsson Mobile Platforms)	ASUSTek Garmin Huawei Technologies Sony Mobile Communications (joined as Sony Ericsson) Toshiba
May–June 2009	China Unicom[11]	SVOX[12]			Acer[13]
September 2009				MIPS Technologies[14]
January 2010	Bouygues Telecom[15]		Sasken Communication Technologies Limited[16]		ZTE Corporation[17]
May 2010		NXP Software[18]
July 2010		Access[19]		MediaTek[20]
November 2010		VisualOn[21]
Unknown	China Telecommunications Corporation Telus[22]	Cooliris MOTOYA Co., Ltd.	Accenture L&T Infotech SQL Star International Inc. Wipro Technologies	Cypress Semiconductor Corporation Freescale Semiconductor Gemalto Renesas Electronics Corporation Via Technologies	Alcatel Mobile Phones Compal Communications Dell Foxconn Haier Kyocera Lenovo Mobile Communication Technology Ltd. NEC Sharp Corporation Saygus

See also

• Google Nexus
• Symbian Foundation
• LiMo Foundation
• Open Mobile Alliance
• Automotive Grade Linux

References

1. Alliance FAQ | Open Handset Alliance
2. "Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform for Mobile Devices". Open Handset Alliance. 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
3. "Open Handset Alliance members page". Open Handset Alliance. 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
4. "Alibaba: Google just plain wrong about our OS". CNET News. September 15, 2012.
5. Amadeo, Ron (21 October 2013). "Google’s iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary". Ars Technica (p.3). Retrieved 1 December 2013.
6. "Developers". Open Handset Alliance. 2007-11-05. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
7. "FCC Approved HTC Dream". Engadget. 2008-08-18.
8. "Google Is Calling. Will You Answer?".
9. "Open Handset Alliance Members". 2008-10-15.
10. "Open Handset Alliance announces 14 new members". Open Handset Alliance. 2008-12-09.
11. "Open Handset Alliance member announcements". Open Handset Alliance. 2009.
12. "SVOX announces its joining of the Open Handset Alliance". SVOX. 2009-05-27.
13. "Acer announces its joining of the Open Handset Alliance". Acer. 2009-06-01.
14. "MIPS Technologies Joins the Open Handset Alliance". MIPS Technologies, Inc. 2009-09-30.
15. "Bouygues Telecom devient membre de l'Open Handset Alliance". bboxnews.fr. 2010-01-06.
16. "Sasken joins Open Handset Alliance". SASKEN. 2010-01-22.
17. "ZTE to launch Android handsets this quarter". ZTE. 2010-01-15.
18. "NXP Software Joins the Open Handset Alliance" (PDF). NXP. 2010-05-18.
19. "Access Joins the Open Handset Alliance". Access. 2010-07-91. Archived from the original on 2010-12-02. Check date values in: |date= (help)
20. "MediaTek Joins the Open Handset Alliance Continuous Commitment to Providing Multimedia-Rich Android Solutions". MediaTek. 2010-07-12.
21. "VisualOn Joins the Open Handset Alliance to Enhance the Multimedia Capabilities of the Android Platform". VisualOn. 2010-11-09.
22. "Open Handset Alliance Members Mobile Operators". 2010-12-27.

• Google enters the wireless world
• Google's wireless initiatives go beyond Android

External links

• Open Handset Alliance official site
• Automotive Grade Linux official site