Like Sun Microsystems promised of Java before it, Google claims that its Android will hand developers the holy grail of being able to write an application once and then run it anywhere. An expert on mobile APIs, however, says Google’s reissuance of Sun’s slogan not only is “a bit of hyperbole,” but that Android will not write once, run anywhere. Such speculation and doubt, of course, did not stop chip makers Freescale, Marvell, NEC Electronics, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments from showing off Android phones based on their chips, and saying they expect such devices to come to market later this year. Nor did it prevent AOL’s announcing an open mobile platform it hopes to release by mid-year that developers can use to create applications that run on any mobile phone. Ultimately, experts doubt that potential for Android or any other mobile platform, citing differences at the hardware level that make standardization downright complex. Software Development