An impressive amount of resources

In the TechCrunch coverage of Google IO, I was impressed by this:

Not every team has the resources Google does to build for every platform. Google is betting on browser over time for mobile devices; it will be the entry point for many applications.

But today, the only browsers capable for supporting mobile apps include iPhone and few others. So Google is developing Android, which includes world class Webkit browser.

Here at the world headquarters of DedaSys LLC (which for the time being happens to be “in front of David’s computer, wherever that is”), we too have some suspicions about the browser becoming the platform of choice for mobile phones, although there is a big if:

When will the carriers make always on, cheap internet connections widespread?

Until that happens, client side apps will still probably dominate for many things. And of course for applications requiring hardware access, some kind of local program will be necessary as well for the foreseeable future. (And of course, Hecl is a good choice “for the time being”, too!)

Coming back to the phrase cited above, what blows me away about it is the sheer amount of time and money that they’re investing in something that “over time”, they’re not really betting on, in the sense that they just want browsers everywhere? Jumping into a market with a new “OS”, toolkit, etc… just to spread a platform with a decent browser?

Wow. That is a company with a lot of spare change. Most people and companies in business are doing the best they can to stretch out their dollars or euros as best they can. I guess it really takes a behemoth to pour so much in the way of engineering talent and financial resources into something that’s in some ways a bump in the road in terms of their long term vision. Or maybe I’m just reading too much into one phrase?