HONEYCOMB READY From GOOGLE ON TABLETS

Finally Google unveiled the tablet-friendly version of the Android OS last night. Rubin showed off Android 3.0, aka "Honeycomb," on a prototype Motorola tablet�and promptly threw the nascent Android tablet market into further confusion.

Honeycomb is coming out next year. Yeah, sure, it rewrites core apps to make them more tablet-licious, but the most important aspect is the APIs. It looks like Honeycomb will let third-party programmers write apps designed for a wide range of Android tablets, rather than blown-up phone apps or app versions targeted to one specific manufacturer or device.

  

Google has always had a weird relationship with their Android manufacturer partners. Sometimes they work tightly together, as with Motorola's Droid. Sometimes they seem to have absolutely nothing to do with each other, such as with Archos's bizarre, mutant-Android devices. Google likes to disclaim responsibility by saying Android is an "open" project, but it's the simple truth that Google guides the main branch of Android. Most importantly, Google blesses and controls the Android Market, which is the way most third-party apps get sold for Android gadgets.