Google facing developer criticism over Android SDK

With the mobile games industry and its aunt going doolally over iPhone this week, what of Google's Android platform?

In talking to the larger publishers recently, it's clear that many see Android, iPhone and N-Gage as part of their three-pronged 'advanced' mobile gaming strategy.

However, while N-Gage and iPhone are out in the wild, the first Android handsets aren't expected to go on sale until later this year. But more of a worry for Google is the developer unrest that's building up.

Ars Technica has a detailed feature on the subject, and specifically developers' impatience about the lack of SDK updates and information on the platform's progress.

Nicolas Gramlich, who runs the independent Android Development Community message boards, has taken Google to task for its approach, starting a petition.

"In order not to lose many highly encouraged developers, I think its time to release some news about the development process of the SDK. Maybe let us know why we have to live with these long cycles," he wrote. "In my personal opinion it is not the right choice to keep developers in the dark."

Meanwhile, Ars reports on the unofficial response from one of Google's Android engineers, Jean-Baptiste Queru:

"We (the Google Android team) are very much focusing on playing our part in getting an Android device on the shelves as soon as we possibly can, and that focus comes at the expense of other tasks, like getting an SDK out," wrote Queru.

"So, while [concerns expressed in mailing list posts] aren't falling on deaf ears, they're typically falling in the wide-open ears of people whose hands are tied and whose mouths are gagged... The Google Android people who read the groups hear you, we understand your pain, we communicate it back up to our management, we're not happy about the situation either, we'd love more openness too."

There's no doubt that games developers remain enthused by the potential of Android, but it seems that Google may have some work to do, particularly with many making a direct comparison between its SDK and developer support, and those of Apple, Nokia and other platforms.