The really nice thing about Android for developers is that it is backed by Google, a very well-funded, tech-smart company that is determined to win the mobile computing field.

Two interesting articles have been posted on the Google Android phones and ecosystem. The first is that there is supposed to be at least 18 different Android phones available by the end of the year. The second is that there is already 5000 apps on the Android Market. It is no where near the 50K apps on the iPhone store, but it is much better for developers who want their apps to be easily found.

For those newbie Android developers out there, just check out an earlier blog post on this site to learn about Android. And if you are in Silicon Valley on a Wednesday night, be sure to stop by the Informal Android Developer Meetup sponsored by Geogad.

Geogad has just released the latest version of the Geogad app to the Android Market. This latest version includes new features such as maps that expand to show you where you are with respect to the tour stops and can zoom in to focus just on the tour stops at the touch of a button.

We really do want to hear from travelers for ways to improve and serve you better. If you have a comment, let us know by posting it either to the Feedback link on the Geogad web site or through the Android Market.

Keep your eyes focused on Geogad on the Android Market because we plan to add more features over the next few weeks. And, of course, we are always adding more content, both professionally-created and user-generated, all the time.

Speaking of which, check out Geogad this week for our newest professional tour.

Enjoy your tours!

Geogad has released its first mobile application so that travelers can used the advanced features of their smart phones to search and find Geogad content when they are on the go. This app works on the Google Android platform and is available from Handango.

To support future developments on Geogad’s Android app, I am pleased to announce the formation of the Informal Android Developer Meetup. Tonight was our first meeting. I admit that it was set up very last minute since this Meetup group only formed a day or so ago. Despite the short notice, we had quite a few people show and discuss Android programming issues.

Some tips for programmers that are new to the Android platform are that they should start slowly and build up. There is a great deal to learn, but Google has put together a great collection of tools and samples. My personal suggestions on how to start are

1. Download the Eclipse IDE. You can use another IDE if you want, but this one is well supported by Google. Of course, this is assuming that you already have downloaded the latest Java jdk.

2. Download the Android SDK from Google.

3. Read the intro docs on the Google Android developer site.

4. Work through the Notepad tutorial on the Google Android developer site.

5. Check out the API Demos that should be preloaded on the Android emulator.

6. Check out the advanced Android program samples from Google.

7. If you would like a quick, formal intro and money is not an issue, you might want to buy an ebook on Android programming like “The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development“. It has some good starter examples and can talk you through the basics. I don’t think that it has anything that you can’t find on the Google Android site, but it was totally worth the $35 just for the command to switch the emulator from portrait to landscape mode (Control-F12 on Windows).

If you are on Castro St. in Mountain View on Wednesday and want to chat with other Android developers, feel free to drop by Red Rock Coffee Shop. We will be the people with the Android phones on the second floor.

After years of producing the hottest of GPS devices, Garmin has seen the future. Garmin will be releasing their Nuviphone, their first mashup of their GPS technology and cell phones. It is finally ready, after months and months of effort in which they learned putting together a high quality smart phone is harder than it looks. The sad part is that it will not be available until the second quarter of 2009, maybe. While it is great that they are finally releasing the phone (maybe), they are going to miss the ultra important Christmas season. Also, their efforts to get out this phone may be completely wasted since it may not be as good as the iPhone or the G1 Google phone. The question is, does it really make sense to release this phone at all?

As a partial answer to this question, Garmin has said that they will be building an Android phone in the future. Garmin has learned the hard way that they want to be a hardware company. Let Google handle their software.

Of course, the best part for Garmin with going to Android is that they don’t need to try to develop a community of developers. They can just piggyback off the efforts of Google and they focus on their key GPS technology.

The mobile industry has never been so hot. Forst, Apple announces quietly that users have downloaded 300 million apps among the 10,000 apps available on the iPhone Apps store. Apple is also pushing the iPhone in new sales channels, specifically WalMart, which may be the only retailer on the planet to have increased sales during the downturn.

Their competitor, Google’s Android, is getting more allies in their fight. Sony Ericson will be building Android phones after initially refusing to join Google’s mobile push. Sony is still part of the community that will be working on Nokia’s Symbian platform, which is in the process of being open sourced. But there has been little good news from Nokia lately. We will see if the revamped Symbian can compete with the brand new iPhone and Android platforms.