Despite OpenMoko’s ongoing and pioneering efforts in open mobile phones, most of the excitement and buzz in this area swirls around an alternative effort, Android. A partnership between Google and members of the Open Handset Alliance (a consortium of 34 mobile providers and hardware vendors), Android is an open software platform for mobile phones. Although Android itself is software, and is the platform on which developers will write their applications, Android’s success will rely on open hardware from mobile vendors. It is this combination—one is tempted to say “synergy”—of open hardware and software, deployed on as widespread a product as a cell phone, and backed by corporate interests as large as Google, Motorola, Samsung, and T-Mobile, that may radically change the relationship between developers and consumer hardware.

Theoretically, customers owning Android-based phones could run any software they want on them (that is available, of course), making use of whatever hardware the vendor has built into that model—bluetooth, GPS, touch screen, etc.—without being limited by the interests of a vendor or service provider.

That said, the number of open phones currently running Android is approximately zero. But this should change even by the time you read this, as T-Mobile has announced plans to release the Dream, a stylish phone manufactured by HTC and running on the Android platform by fall 2008.

Beyond Business

It is no longer only the oddball experimental businesses whose revenue model is built around open source software. From MySQL (databases) to Zimbra (messaging) and even to Sun, the business case for open source software is now proven. While open source hardware advocates hope to make a similar case, there are others who argue that open

source hardware can offer real benefits outside of for-profit business.

Consider the Free Telephony Project. Although the end-user’s experience with a telephone is relatively simple, the technology behind switched telephone networks, routing calls, and VoIP can be very complex. Complex also means expensive, with commercial PBX systems costing upwards of $10,000.

In underdeveloped areas of the world, the costs to implement sophisticated telephony systems can be prohibitive, resulting in populations cut off from modern opportunities. The Free Telephony Project has collected open plans for hardware and software with which enterprise-grad telephone switching systems can be put together for little to no money. Their IP04 complete phone system is available for $320—a fraction of the price of proprietary solutions—but beyond that, complete plans are freely available for implementing and modifying the system. Using the free software alone with existing hardware can produce even greater savings, bringing at least some level of communications to under-served areas.

Because the specifications for the Free Telephony Project are completely free, economically-challenged communities can not only build telephony boxes for their own needs, but potentially create a business model around building boxes for export, without owing any royalties or licensing fees for the technology.

Of course, even telephony is a luxury to some. In fact, many— The New York Times recently reported that 2. 6 billion people lack adequate sanitation for modern bathroom facilities. At an even more elemental level, the open source hardware philosophy is being applied to developing nation infrastructure by Akvo.org, “the open source for water and sanitation.” Akvo’s wiki contains free and open plans and specifications for