Android 2.2 or ‘Froyo’

Today is a big day for Apple & Steve Jobs. If they weren’t nervous before, they should be now. Android 2.2 promises to make Apple’s iPhone look clunky, slow, restrictive and passé. Unlike the iPhone, users of over 60 different hand-held devices will be able to use Flash or HTML 5.0 depending on the Web content they like to use. It browses the Web faster than even the new iPad. It can stream DRM-free music from an iTunes library. You can download apps to your phone while browsing Google’s Market on the Web without the need for physically tethering to your PC. You can turn your mobile into a portable ‘hotspot’ & allow others to access the internet through you.

In other news, Google announced Google TV (supported by Sony, Logitech and others) … which will use Android and allow mobile Android apps that don’t need special mobile functionality to run on your home TV. Google also announced that over 100,000 Android devices were being activated per day … so they are gaining market share faster than Apple after a very small period of time.

This all adds up to bad news for Apple. They’re going down the same road they did with the first Macintosh computers that lead to near oblivion at the hands of Microsoft and the IBM-compatible PC manufacturers. If Steve Jobs doesn’t do an about-turn sometime soon, I would say they could easily revert back to a niche brand with a hardcore but small following.

Android 2.2 is another nail in Apple’s coffin. The question is, can Apple adapt their thinking and react.