Google's Open Handset Alliance releases Android SDK

The Open Handset Alliance, a group that includes Google, Motorola, Sprint, T-Mobile and others, on Monday released the Android software development kit (SDK).

The alliance notes that the Android SDK is an "early look" designed to allow developers to provide feedback about the platform (see statement). And the alliance wants developers on board: The Open Handset Alliance prods developers to join in the Android Developer Challenge, which dangles $10 million in front of developers who build apps on the platform.

Last week, Google and its partners outlined the Open Handset Alliance and early plans for its open source Android software. The mobile suite is expected to power phones in the second half of 2008.

The Android documentation also makes for an interesting read. Among some of the technical details about Android:

• Android is a platform based on the Linux 2.6 kernel, a set of libraries, multimedia interface and phone applications;
• The platform includes the Dalvik virtual machine;
• Android is based on the Apache v2 open source license.
• The developer kit also includes a plug-in for the Eclipse integrated development environment.

The Open Handset Alliance also detailed requirements. They include:

To begin building applications for Android, developers will need to download the Android SDK to an x86-based computer running Windows XP or Vista; Mac OS 10.4.8 or later; or Linux Ubuntu Dapper Drake or later (other modern distributions of Linux will also likely work but are not directly supported).

Developers will also need Eclipse 3.2 or later, with Java Development Tools and the Android SDK's plugin, or Java and Javac 1.5 or 1.6; Apache Ant; an integrated development environment; and Python 2.2 or later.

If you're a developer taking Android for a spin ping me. I'd love to hear your early reaction.