So the much awaited gPhone, nee the Android OS for the open handset alliance, debuted this week. Yawn. So Google's going to hock an OS that while it has the trendy underpinnings of Linux and the Open Source code-word attached won't at the end of the day (or year rather) give us much more than we already have on our Blackberries, Treos and iPhones. (Not to even mention the plethora of Windows Mobile cell phones with these capabilities).

So the iPhone doesn't allow third party applications (yet). On that note I wrote recently why Apple has been forced down this road. It seems Macworld's Jason Snell has similar thoughts. By the Android rolls around there will be millions upon millions of handsets on the market that do much if not all of what it will. Perhaps the oddest of all is a passage in the announcement video about wanting to have a cell phone with a shared family calendar. Huh? Perhaps before touting this need they should head on over to Google Calendar and take a look at this announcement from over a month ago which even includes a picture of Google Calendar working on the iPhone. (It is by the way a great way to have a shared family calendar on a cell phone and it is available today not a year or more from now.)

Google became great because they solved problems for users. Search was a mess and they sorted it out. Now, however, there seems to be a rash of Google announcing projects to solve problems that others have already solved. In some cases "others" are apparently other projects at Google.