Google phone rising: The Android and the politics of open source.

This paper explores the rise of Google's Android phone – a fascinating case study in a crucial yet under-theorized terrain of mobile media that illuminates the politics of software, operating systems, and their attachments to handsets and networks. While Android is a notable attempt to create an ope...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 741 - 753
Main Author:	Goggin, Gerard
Format:	Article
Published:	Taylor & Francis Ltd Oct2012
Subjects:	Google (Web resource) Android (Operating system) Open source software Case studies Computer software Smartphones Social media
Online Access:	View this record in EBSCOhost

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Summary:	This paper explores the rise of Google's Android phone – a fascinating case study in a crucial yet under-theorized terrain of mobile media that illuminates the politics of software, operating systems, and their attachments to handsets and networks. While Android is a notable attempt to create an open source platform, I argue that in key respects it remains tied to the project of media corporations enclosing and controlling mobile and online platforms. This is nowhere more evident than in Google's embroilment in intellectual property struggles over smartphone patents.