Multitouch support was dropped from the Android platform, and
therefore the T-Mobile G1, after Apple requested it not be included.
That’s the
latest rumor,
apparently confirmed by an unnamed Android team member, who described
the arrangement as an attempt by Google to avoid the IP aggression
we’ve recently seen between Apple and Palm.
While the G1’s capacitive touchscreen certainly recognizes multitouch input - as recent hackshave demonstrated
- and earlier builds of Android code included what’s believed to be
Google-written, but subsequently disabled, multitouch support, the
functionality did not ship in the released device. At the time, this
was generally put down to Google’s ambitious launch schedule, promising
an Android device by the end of 2008, and that lack of timing meaning
that multitouch fell by the wayside. However it now looks as though
its omission was purposeful, with Google prioritizing their good
working relationship with Apple - and, some might say, common foe in
Microsoft - over the handset’s eventual capabilities.
The unnamed source also confirmed the rumors
that Intel is expending great efforts in supporting Android netbook
development, suggesting that the chipset company is keen to be further
involved in open-source budget ultraportable hardware. While Intel’s
specific plans are unknown, the Android team member revealed that there
are many different Android-based netbooks - as well as other, non-phone
and non-netbook hardware - in development at present.
