Android Phones Get Bluetooth Credit Card Swiping and Receipt Printing for Payment Processing.

Advanced Merchant Solutions has released a complete payment solution for Android devices. This solution is geared towards mobile sales professionals who can use the Pocket Verifier Software and Pocket Spectrum hardware to swipe credit cards and print receipts.

FULLERTON, Calif., May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Pocket Verifier Professional for Android is now available with the Pocket Spectrum Plus; a complete payment solution that swipes credit cards and prints receipts for the rapidly growing Android mobile platform.

Advanced Merchant Solutions, Inc. (AMSI) has launched a payment solution for the Android, available now in the Android Marketplace as a free application which enables on-the-go merchants to accept credit cards anywhere. This application can be used with the company's Pocket Spectrum Plus, a Bluetooth 2-track card reader and thermal receipt printer. Coupled together, the Pocket Verifier/Pocket Spectrum system enables any mobile business user to avoid the high cost of "card-not-present" transactions. AMSI further integrates this breakthrough system into a complete solution by packaging it with a combined merchant and gateway account; with no upfront costs, no term commitments, and no cancellation fees.

"This solution really differentiates itself from the rest of the market by incorporating a printer. The marketplace-to-date has had to settle for keyed-in email receipts which really slow down the throughput. In addition, attaching today's cradle solutions to read cards greatly increases the weight and bulk of the phone. That's what Bluetooth was invented for... to keep things isolated, light, and efficient," says Dennis Ideue, the company's CEO. "Being the developer of the application, the manufacturer of the printer, and the ISO issuing the merchant accounts allows us to give unprecedented value to our customer base," continues Ideue, "...everything is truly under one umbrella. We make it a simple one-stop mobile shop with one of the best competitive merchant rates in the industry."

Google Android Users Can Now Access Their City On-The-Go with Mobile by Citysearch.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Citysearch, a leading online local guide and an operating business of IAC , today announced its new Mobile by Citysearch application for the Google Android platform. Android device users can browse, search and share local information for over 15M local business listings, and post reviews to Citysearch directly from their devices. Mobile by Citysearch for Android joins the family of Citysearch applications for multiple mobile platforms, including iPhone, Palm WebOS, Blackberry devices and all mobile web browsers.
"Our mobile applications enable users to experience their city, their way - offering the best local content and features available, no matter where they are, or which mobile phone they use," said Kara Nortman, Senior Vice President, Publishing, Citysearch. "As one of this year's hottest holiday gifts, Android phones will now deliver an even better local experience to users, who can search, find and share local user reviews and editorial content in real-time."
Mobile by Citysearch for Android uses GPS to search the nearest restaurants, cafes, banks, movie theaters and other listings closest to a user's location, and provides directions via Google Maps. Mobile users can instantly connect and share a new listing with friends within the Citysearch App using email, SMS or Twitter.

  The Mobile by Citysearch for Android application will enable users to:

  --  Submit reviews on the go: Share feedback around local restaurants,

      bars, boutiques, salons and more

  --  Share: Share merchant details, reviews and tips via text, e-mail or

      Twitter

  --  Search and sort your city, your way:

      --  Auto-identify your location through enhanced GPS search and browse

          nearby destinations

      --  Search by keyword, category, distance, cost and Citysearch rating

  --  Access leading Citysearch content: user and editorial reviews,

      editor's picks and featured merchants

  --  Save time and money:

      --  Avoid awkward calculations with "Tip Calculator" and "Split the

          Bill" features

      --  Bookmark "favorites" or "wish-lists" of Citysearch merchants for

          easy re-discovery

      --  View recently-viewed merchants and recent searches

NaturalMotion Games Intros Jenga for Android

NaturalMotion Games, a digital publisher of socially connected games, has announced that its Jenga mobile app is launching on the Android operating system.

Designed in consultation with the original inventor of Jenga, Leslie Scott, and under official license from Pokonobe Associates, NaturalMotion Games reported that Jenga for Android lets users play the tower-building game wherever you are. Using an authentic real- time physics simulation and touch controls, Jenga for Android is an experience for everyone.
"We are excited to bring the official Jenga game to the Android operating system", said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. "Jenga is a cultural phenomenon, with more than 50 million towers sold, and we're delighted to be able to offer an authentic Jenga experience to Android users all over the world."

The Android version of Jenga is specifically optimized for a range of devices and Android versions, and takes advantage of available screen resolutions and processing power, the Company said. The game was developed by NaturalMotion Game's Oxford studio.

Jenga is available on the Android Market with immediate effect.

NaturalMotion Games is a digital publisher of accessible games for connected new platforms, combining technology and graphics with accessible, social gameplay.

RealVNC Launches VNC Viewer for Android

                  RealVNC announced it has launched its new VNC Viewer for Android, available to download now from the Android Market.
                   Following the success of VNC Viewer for iPhone and iPad on Apple's App Store, the company noted, this latest application allows users to connect to and take full control of a computer anywhere in the world from their Android mobile or tablet devices.
With VNC Viewer for Android, users can view and interact with their desktop, run applications and access files, exactly as they would if they were sitting in front of the computer itself. The app is ideal for personal and professional users alike, giving individuals the freedom to access their computer whilst travelling or as a tool for business users such as IT help-desk staff, enabling them to remotely support colleagues or access servers for troubleshooting wherever they are, reducing downtime and out of hours trips to the office.
                   The app offers a trackpad-style mouse for precision interactions and users can apply familiar touch, tap and drag gestures to control the computer, pinching to zoom into a specific area of the desktop or zooming out to see the entire screen. Text can be entered using the on-screen keyboard and a scrolling key bar for non-character keys such as cursor keys and Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Delete. VNC Viewer also features mouse button mode, incorporating virtual left, middle, right and scroll mouse buttons.
                   Android devices equipped with VNC Viewer can connect to any Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or UNIX computer installed with and running a VNC compatible Server. The recommended Server is VNC Enterprise Edition that provides connections along with industry standard AES security.
                   "Following the success of VNC Viewer for iPhone and iPad, and staying true to our cross-platform roots, we have launched VNC Viewer for the Android platform," said Dr. Andy Harter, CEO at RealVNC. "Android users will now be able to access VNC remote control capabilities on their mobile or tablet device, in a way that is fast, simple and cost effective."
                   RealVNC will be demonstrating VNC Viewer for Android at the Mobile World Congress between February 14-17.

Google Android set to topple BlackBerry

GOOGLES ANDROID mobile phone operating system (OS) is set to pip Research in Motion (RIM) to second place in the global market by the end of this year, more than 18 months earlier than expected.

Mobile handset sales increased by 13.8 per cent in the second quarter, thanks to improving economic conditions, according to research published by the technology research analyst Gartner yesterday.

But the recovery in the market as a whole was dwarfed by a 50.5 per cent boom in sales of smartphones. And Android was the main beneficiary. Nokia and the Symbian OS remain overwhelmingly dominant, with respective market shares of 37 per cent and 41 per cent. But the Google OS was by far the fastest-growing in the second quarter, accounting for 17 per cent of the market - compared with just 1.8 per cent in the same quarter of last year, when the software had only recently launched.

Such stellar progress has already catapulted Android to third place in the world league, and just a single percentage point behind RIM's BlackBerry. Google and RIM have been on a collision course ever since the launch of Android, because RIM's major growth opportunity is to expand its business- focused product into the consumer market its rival is targeting. But the Google OS has taken off so rapidly, it is already second in the US league and is expected to oustrip RIM globally by the end of 2010, rather than by 2012, as previously forecast.

"For Android to overtake BlackBerry was always just a question of time," Carolina Milanesi, a research director at Gartner, said. "It is a surprise how quickly Android has become a force in the market."

Android's rapid rise is due to several factors, including the speed with which the software platform has been developed, the number of handset vendors that have backed the new system, and the support from major mobile operators.

The Google OS is not only a threat to RIM. Symbian's dominance is also being chipped away, dropping 10 percentage points from last year's 51 per cent market share. And the Nokia/Symbian combination needs to take a bigger piece of the high-margin, fast-growing smartphone segment of the market. "Nokia and Symbian are where they are because of volume not value, and in the long run that is something they can't afford," Ms Milanesi said.

But the big loser is Microsoft. When smartphones first hit the shops, the top three mobile operating systems were Symbian, RIM and Microsoft. But the giant has seen its market share progressively eaten away, falling to a woeful 5 per cent in the second quarter from 9.3 per cent last year.

The problem is the operating system itself. The software has suffered from the fact it was created by scaling down software designed for full-sized computer screens, and then re-engineered again for use on touch-screen devices.

Microsoft is trying to remedy the situation. The next version of its operating system set for release later this year, has been built from scratch specifically for small, touch-screen devices. But it may be too late.

"If Microsoft had done this a year ago, it would have been fine," Ms Milanesi said. "But now it is coming up with something that catches up with the competition but doesn't stand out."

INDIA SETS DATE FOR RIM SHUTDOWN

The Indian government has set a 31 August deadline to reach a deal over access to BlackBerry customers' secret data, after talks with the company and phone operators in the country yesterday proved "inconclusive".

The home ministry said it would block corporate email and instant messaging services over the devices if no solution is found by the end of this month.

The ultimatum comes after months of argument between the two sides, with the Indian government emboldened to increase its demands in the wake of a deal in the past few days between BlackBerry and the Saudi Arabian government. The Saudis had demanded access to codes used to encrypt the data travelling across BlackBerry's networks and through its servers.

Research in Motion, the Canadian company which owns BlackBerry, and which built its reputation on the security of email traffic between its devices, has not commented on the details of any of the disputes.

India says it needs BlackBerry's co-operation to monitor wireless networks because they can be used by terrorists.

Google amplifies voice commands for Android phones

Just because mobile phones are becoming more like small computers doesn't mean you should have to do a lot of typing on them.

That's the thinking behind the latest update to Google Inc.'s popular Android software for mobile phones.

The latest version of Android 2.2, released Thursday, includes 10 new voice commands that can be used to operate phones without using a keypad.

Although Google says about 200,000 Android-powered phones are being sold each day, not all of them are equipped with the 2.2 operating system, also known as Froyo. Google's Nexus One phone already runs on Froyo, but users will need to download free updates through its Android Market. Motorola Inc.'s Droid 2, which went on sale this week, already has the necessary updates. The features are expected to be added to HTC Corp.'s Evo and Incredible phones when they get Froyo in the coming months.

Google's new "Voice Actions" tool" enables people to dictate their text messages and e-mails. The voice recognition technology automatically translates the spoken words into text.

Phone calls can be made simply by speaking the name of a person or business. The feature can also find and play songs with spoken commands.

Although spoken words were turned into written words almost flawlessly in a Thursday demonstration for reporters, many applications relying on voice recognition technology misinterpret what's being said in less quiet settings. Google says its tests showed Voice Actions was highly accurate.

Android already has been processing spoken requests for Internet searches and directions. The feature has caught on quickly: Google says about 25 percent of its search traffic on Android phones is triggered by the spoken word.

The additional bells and whistles already have helped Android phones gain usage in recent months, though overall there are far more iPhones from Apple Inc. and BlackBerrys from Research in Motion Ltd. already on the market.

Besides adding more voice controls to Android, Google also is making it easier to transfer information from a computer screen to a phone. Google is making that happen by offering a free tool that users can add to Google's Chrome Web browser for personal computers. This tool makes it possible to send the link to a story or mapping directions from a personal computer to a designated phone within seconds.

Our Android Astronaut; A Nearly Forgotten Test Dummy Helped the U.S. Put Men in Space

"It was lying around in one of the warehouses. Nobody knew what it was," says Paul Ceruzzi, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum. "Someone said to me, 'Find out what it is or we're going to get rid of it.' "

The "it" in question looked like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. Ceruzzi would later learn that this tin man played an important role in the design of spacesuits for U.S. astronauts.

In 1961, when President John F. Kennedy committed the nation to sending men to the moon before the end of the decade, the space agency, NASA, had to figure out how that would be done. One important task was to make spacesuits that could hold up in the brutal environment of space.

"Spacesuits were very new at the time, and no one knew how to make them," Ceruzzi says. "Some early designs were heavy and hard to move in."

Testing different models meant doing experiments that might be painful, tiring and possibly dangerous for a person. The space agency needed a stand-in.

NASA turned to a team of engineers led by Jozef Slowik at the Illinois Institute of Technology. They built an android for the job. (An android is a machine that looks like a person.)

"NASA builds robots all the time," Ceruzzi says, "but this is the only robot that NASA ever built that looks like a human being. In reality, they look like whatever they have to look like to do a job. This one, it had to replace a human being inside a spacesuit."

Slowik's android copied many of the joint motions of the human body. With each spacesuit design, the engineers put the android through its paces: bending, kneeling, swinging its limbs, grasping heavy tools.

The android had sensors that measured force, "so it gave you feedback to let you know how hard it [was] to do certain things: how much strength [was] needed to turn your head, for example," Ceruzzi says.

Many fabrics and materials were tried. "In the vacuum of space, you need air pressure," he says. "If you didn't design it right, the spacesuit inflated."

That's what happened to Soviet cosmonaut Alexi Leonov in 1965. Leonov was the first person to walk in space outside a spacecraft. But when he tried to reenter the craft after 12 minutes spent floating outside, he couldn't fit through the entrance because his spacesuit had inflated. He had to release some of the air first.

NASA's test dummy was helpful, but not without its flaws.

The android was not a complex robot. It could not operate on its own. Instead, "it was remotely controlled by someone who twiddled a lot of knobs," Ceruzzi says.

In addition, it was bulky and needed lots of tubing. It used hydraulic fluid, the same substance that operates the brakes and other mechanical parts of a car. The android's fluid tended to leak; it was messy and even a little distressing to the engineers to see their creation "bleeding" after a particularly difficult test.

Slowik's widow, Clare, remembers her husband's intensity during the project. "I know that there were things they were concerned about," she says. "It had never been done before."

But she also remembers that "it was one of the best times of his working career. He was able to use his mechanical-engineering skills, but mostly, his imagination."

-- Brenna Maloney

Drippler Reaches More Than 150,000 Downloads On The Android Market.

Drippler, a free update service for gadget owners, recently hit 150,000 downloads on the Android Market. Drippler created an application that allows Android users to stay updated with their mobile phones for more than 30 different models. Drippler has a model specific "Updater" app that Android users can install on their droid and receive updates on apps, games, firmware updates, reviews, accessories and more.

Matan Talmi the CEO of Drippler stated, "With Android's massive growth, users are constantly searching for the latest apps to download, usage tips, accessories and ROM updates. We're here to save them the hassle of searching and make sure they are always up-to-date. We will soon support many more Android models, and eventually provide a Drippler Updater app for any model on the market."

Recently, the Updater was featured by Sprint on their list of recommended apps for Android Market. Some of the top Drippler apps downloaded on the Android Market are for the Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Evo 4G and Motorola Droid X. The app features the latest updates, news and rumors about the device. Users can browse by either the 'Latest' updates, or the most 'Popular' ones. The app also features a desktop widget, and Facebook and Twitter sharing. Following a major update to the app, a regular user of the app stated,"I've loved this app for months and the update is incredible. It's great."

Drippler does not just cater to Android users; users of smartphones, tablets, video game consoles, and other gadgets can also use Drippler to their advantage. Drippler provides consumers with personalized updates on their gadgets, keeping them up-to-date with the latest gadget updates, news & rumors. Creating an account is easy and free at drippler.com. Once selecting the relevant gadgets, Drippler takes care of the rest. 

SpeechTrans Launches Translation App on Android Devices

SpeechTrans, a company focused on app-based multi-language translation, announced the launch of its SpeechTrans Ultimate App for Android devices.

The Company said the app turns Talk from one language into Voice output to another by enabling text-to-text, text-to-speech, and two-way Speech to Speech communication translations in multiple languages. Two-way speech communications are enabled for English, UK English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, German and Mandarin Chinese. Text-to-Speech is available for the preceding languages as well as Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Dutch, Swedish and Arabic.

SpeechTrans is an application that allows speech-to-speech Facebook's chat translation into the app, which gives users the ability to communicate with anyone on Facebook in their chosen language. Users can speak aloud into their Android device and SpeechTrans will translate the content into the recipient's native language via the Facebook chat interface in near real time.

According to a release, Android app users can store and play back translations, a valuable feature for communicating frequently asked questions or phrases and to enable usage without an internet connection. The SpeechTrans Ultimate app is now compatible with both Android and iPhone devices, allowing users of the different platforms to seamlessly engage in translated conversations. Unlimited transcriptions are offered for the Android app, which encourages users to freely experiment with the service without the worry of running out of transcriptions.

The Company noted that the Automatic Speech Recognition technology used in SpeechTrans Ultimate is powered by Nuance Communications, Inc. a company focused on technologies including speech recognition, scanning, and automotive applications.

"We are very proud to offer SpeechTrans Ultimate for Android users, as part of our continuing goal of eliminating language barriers from personal communication," said Yan Auerbach, Co-Founder of SpeechTrans. "SpeechTrans Ultimate for Android offers users maximum flexibility with unlimited translations, which encourages people to use it frequently without hesitation. Availability for Android devices with our unique Facebook chat integration helps us bring real-time accurate translation to an ever larger global audience."

SpeechTrans offers accurate multi-lingual person to person communication. SpeechTrans' apps can be used as a portable in-person translator and also mobile-to-mobile and mobile-to-text. 

New Welcome Home App from Mark/Space Makes the Switch to a New Android Phone Fast, Easy.

Mark/Space, Inc., the leading developer of phone and tablet synchronization solutions for PC and Mac, today announced the availability of the new Welcome Home to Android application for customers who are new to the Android platform. Welcome Home is a comprehensive one-time set-up tool, offering customers who are transitioning from a BlackBerry or iPhone, a fast, easy and complete way to set-up a new Android phone with their info and media.

"Switching to a new phone should be painless," said Brian Scott Toney, Mark/Space Director of Sales and Business Development. "Android has skyrocketed to be the number one OS, so we created a tool that gets customers who are new to Android loaded up in minutes instead of hours. We capture their workout playlist, vacation photos from their old phone, video they shot of their friends, even info and media from their computer."

The Welcome Home to Android application gathers media and personal information from an old phone and from a PC or Mac computer, then moves it to a new Android phone. It encompasses:

"Many people considering a switch to Android this holiday are worried about losing data," said Brian Scott Toney, Mark/Space Director of Sales and Business Development. "Welcome Home includes how-to videos that walk customers through setup to ensure they get all the info they want, whether it's on their old phone or their computer."

Mark/Space is offering the Welcome Home application to customers transitioning from a BlackBerry or iPhone. The desktop application runs on Windows PC or Mac computers, and the mobile app works on Android phones running Android OS 2.1 or higher. The Welcome Home app includes English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, and is available now for US$9.95 at http://www.markspace.com/welcome-home.

About Mark/Space Inc.

Founded in 1990, the Los Gatos, California-based company Mark/Space, Inc., http://www.markspace.com, develops and markets award-winning mobile, desktop and cloud-based synchronization software, including Fliq, GoGadget and The Missing Sync family of products that synchronize Windows and Mac computers with mobile devices, smartphones, readers and tablets from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, HP, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson and others. 

New Welcome Home App from Mark/Space Makes the Switch to a New Android Phone Fast, Easy

Mark/Space, Inc., the leading developer of phone and tablet synchronization solutions for PC and Mac, today announced the availability of the new Welcome Home to Android application for customers who are new to the Android platform. Welcome Home is a comprehensive one-time set-up tool, offering customers who are transitioning from a BlackBerry or iPhone, a fast, easy and complete way to set-up a new Android phone with their info and media.

"Switching to a new phone should be painless," said Brian Scott Toney, Mark/Space Director of Sales and Business Development. "Android has skyrocketed to be the number one OS, so we created a tool that gets customers who are new to Android loaded up in minutes instead of hours. We capture their workout playlist, vacation photos from their old phone, video they shot of their friends, even info and media from their computer."

The Welcome Home to Android application gathers media and personal information from an old phone and from a PC or Mac computer, then moves it to a new Android phone. It encompasses:

"Many people considering a switch to Android this holiday are worried about losing data," said Brian Scott Toney, Mark/Space Director of Sales and Business Development. "Welcome Home includes how-to videos that walk customers through setup to ensure they get all the info they want, whether it's on their old phone or their computer."

Mark/Space is offering the Welcome Home application to customers transitioning from a BlackBerry or iPhone. The desktop application runs on Windows PC or Mac computers, and the mobile app works on Android phones running Android OS 2.1 or higher. The Welcome Home app includes English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, and is available now for US$9.95 at http://www.markspace.com/welcome-home.

About Mark/Space Inc.

Founded in 1990, the Los Gatos, California-based company Mark/Space, Inc., http://www.markspace.com, develops and markets award-winning mobile, desktop and cloud-based synchronization software, including Fliq, GoGadget and The Missing Sync family of products that synchronize Windows and Mac computers with mobile devices, smartphones, readers and tablets from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, HP, HTC, LG, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, RIM, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson and others.

Follow Mark/Space on Twitter (http://twitter.com/syncexperts), and the Mark/Space blog (http://blog.markspace.com).

GoGadget is a trademark of Mark/Space, Inc. Mac and iTunes are trademarks of Apple, Inc. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft, Inc. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 

MIT LAUNCHES APP FOR ANDROID MOBILE DEVICES

Echoes functionality of Institute's mobile site, existing app for iPhones

MIT this week launched a free application for Android devices, expanding its portable offerings to the growing family of devices that support Google's mobile operating system. The app echoes the functionality of MIT's mobile website and its iPhone app, giving users access to the latest news about MIT research and innovation, a calendar of campus events, a searchable people directory, class information and announcements, emergency updates, real-time shuttle tracking and alerts, and an interactive campus map.

"Android market share has been dramatically increasing both here at MIT and around the world," said Jason Pontin, MIT director of media. "To support our vision of creating a comprehensive mobile strategy, Android was an obvious next step for offering our community - and the broader public - access to next-generation tools for their portable devices."

Information Services and Technology managed the Android app development project in collaboration with the MIT News Office.

The free application can be downloaded from the Android Marketplace

Designed specifically for devices running Android, the app will allow users to:

Read the latest news articles about MIT research, innovation, teaching and more

Monitor campus shuttles in real-time using a GPS tracker, and receive "push" alerts as shuttles approach specific stops

Search the Institute map for services and buildings at MIT

Look up contact information for MIT students, faculty and staff via the campus directory and contact them via e-mail or phone in-app

Get access to Stellar, MIT's course management system. Mobile Stellar can be set to send push notifications when selected classes are updated

Receive real-time alerts during campus emergencies

Search or browse events, exhibits, and academic and Institute calendars

The app leverages the open-source MIT Mobile framework, which MIT engineers have developed over the last several years. Both the MIT Mobile Web and the MIT iPhone app continue to be available for non-Android mobile phones, tablets and smartphones at m.mit.edu. 

Marketers mum on Android patent lawsuit.(DIRECT REPORT: DULY NOTED)

Although Oracle's $6.1 billion lawsuit against Google for infringing on Java patents to develop the Android operating system has the potential to drive up costs for marketers who use the platform, most are keeping their concerns to themselves as the litigious saga continues.

"Agencies and clients are going to be reluctant to comment because there's really no upside to getting into the fray," said one source who asked not to be identified. "They don't want to risk relationships they currently have with Google or relationships they may want to build with Oracle, or vice-versa."

Many brands are tight-lipped about legal matters, especially when it involves a valued business partner. Google has grown into a technological behemoth with platforms for search, email, voice and social networking.

"We're watching it, of course, but we don't think it's appropriate to offer an opinion," said Tim McIntyre, VP of communications at Domino's Pizza. Clothing retailer Threadless, paint company Behr Process Corp., Netflix and The New York Times--all marketers who have Android OS apps or advertise on the platform--declined to comment.

If Oracle wins the lawsuit, it will be able to charge licensing fees to run Android on handsets, which may prompt both handset manufacturers and marketers to reconsider their investments in the platform. Anticipating a long-term court battle that would be a hardship for jurors, U.S. District Judge William Alsup postponed the trial until 2012.

There are 47 other Android-based patent lawsuits pending against Google, which Dave Hanley, cofounder and principal of the social media agency Banyan Branch thinks is only the beginning. He sees the prevalence of these suits as a teachable moment that could lead to greater innovation.

"In a world of open-source software and great speed of development, you'll find purposeful and accidental infringement of patents," Hanley said. "Embracing patent problems could lead to more creative workarounds. They may inspire people to create something that's truly a breakthrough, not duplicative of someone else's work."

Some believe the lawsuit may even be a boon for mobile marketing. "If the lawsuit puts an end to uncertainty surrounding the cost and liability of using Android, more manufacturers may jump on the platform and build devices, which means more ad inventory," said Victor Wong, CEO of PaperG, a Web and mobile display ad technology provider.

The same concerns that are keeping marketers mum about the Android patent suit could have also kept an underdog like Oracle from challenging Google, but the lawsuit is also an opportunity for Oracle to get a piece of the mobile pie. Android grew to have the largest global smartphone market share since its debut in September 2008, and Android's market currently boasts more free apps than the iPhone app store and is expected to surpass its rival in total number of apps by mid-2012.

Oracle did not return requests for comment for this story, Google declined to comment, and the Mobile Marketing Association declined to comment on the suit, because it involves one of its members.