手机开发界的两位传奇人物——马特•赫汉森和乔•布里特突然作为Android开发团队的成员登场。他俩的加盟意味着谷歌（Google）将进行重大变革，这将远非直板手机和翻盖手机之间的改变，而是指手机硬件在谷歌的地位将变得和软件同样重要。

    赫汉森和布里特曾是2000年创建Danger公司的三巨头成员，另一名成员则是如今负责Android的安迪•鲁宾。2000年，这三位工程师推出了具有开创性的消费级智能手机，其中包括曾在名流圈中大红大紫的T-Mobile Sidekick。

    如今三人组再度聚首。在过去1年里，布里特和赫汉森悄悄加盟谷歌，负责Android内一个名为Android硬件（Android Hardware）的新项目。他们告诉我，自己一直在做东西，这些东西将为Android外围设备提供设计参考。Android硬件在探索各式各样的东西，从家庭自动化到锻炼游戏和机器人，几乎无所不有。虽然谷歌目前并不打算制造谷歌品牌的Android配件，但布里特表示自己很想看到谷歌将来推出一些自己的Android外设。看来苹果（Apple）必须小心了。

    在Danger时，三巨头决定改变移动产业，他们的想法是让人们人手一台微型计算机。于是他们研发出Hiptop手机并被非主流移动运营商Voicestream采用，不过没多久该公司就被T-Mobile收购。Hiptop更名为Sidekick品牌并赢得广泛好评，至少在青少年和社会名流这个小众市场中是如此，这些用户喜欢用Sidekick的全键盘发送短信息，他们终于可以不再带着自己父亲的黑莓手机了。（布里特、鲁宾和赫汉森曾讲述过Danger早期的故事，如想深入了解这段有趣的历史，请观看2004年斯坦福大学一场对话的视频。）

    随着Danger的发展，投资者们想物色一名管理者执掌公司，于是鲁宾放弃了首席执行官职位。鲁宾于2003年离开Danger并创建新公司，Android系统后来即在此诞生。2005年，谷歌收购Android，而鲁宾成为谷歌的高级副总裁，是七位直接向首席执行官拉里•佩奇汇报的高管之一。

    与此同时，布里特和赫汉森则留在Danger继续工作了好些年，甚至在2008年，Danger被微软（Microsoft）收购、Sidekick被取消，他们也没离开。两人还曾短暂参与过“粉色项目”（ "Pink project"），正是该项目制造出了悲剧而短命的Kin手机（Kin在去年夏天被取消）。在Kin发布后，布里特和赫汉森在同一天双双离开微软。

    Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt, two legendary figures in mobile phone development, have suddenly resurfaced as part of the team building Android. Their hiring signals a big change at Google, showing that the company is getting just as serious about the hardware of phones — and this goes well beyond flip vs. candybar -- as it is the software.

    Hershenson and Brit were part of the trio that founded Danger in 2000. The third partner: Android chief Andy Rubin. The three engineers launched pioneering consumer smartphones, like the once-ubiquitous-among-celebrities T-Mobile Sidekick in 2000.

    Now they're back together again. Within the last 12 months, Britt and Hershenson quietly joined Google (GOOG) to run a new wing within Android called Android Hardware. They tell me they spend their days building things that will turn into reference designs for Android peripherals. Android Hardware is exploring everything from home automation to exercise gaming and robotics. While there are no immediate plans to build Google-branded Android hardware accessories, Brit indicated that he would love to see Google introduce some of its own Android peripherals in the long term. The folks in Cupertino (AAPL) have to be paying attention.

    At Danger, the three were determined to change the mobile industry by putting a tiny computer in everyone's hands. They came up with the Hiptop, which was adopted by a renegade mobile carrier Voicestream shortly before that company was bought out by T-Mobile. The Hiptop was rebranded the Sidekick and went on to critical acclaim, at least in its niche of teens and celebrities who loved the ability to text message with a QWERTY keyboard, without having to carry around their father's BlackBerry. [For an interesting and thorough history of the early days of Danger told by Brit, Rubin and Hershenson, have a look at these videos from a 2004 Stanford talk.]

    As Danger grew, investors wanted a manager at the helm, so Rubin relinquished the CEO role. Rubin left Danger in 2003 to form the company that would later become the basis for Android. Google bought Android in 2005, leading to Rubin's role as Senior VP at the company -- one of seven reporting directly to CEO Larry Page -- today.

    Brit and Hershenson, meanwhile, stayed on at Danger for years, even after Microsoft (MSFT) purchased the company in 2008 and went to work killing the Sidekick. They briefly moved into the "Pink project," which produced the ill-fated and short-lived Kin phone (it was killed last summer). After the Kin's introduction, Brit and Hershenson both left Microsoft on the same day.

    赫汉森表示，自己当时驾车离开微软的停车场，随后直接去了谷歌的44号楼，即谷歌Android团队所在地。而布里特原计划“休假一年”，不过他表示通过在谷歌园区吃午餐，了解以前的同事们正在干什么，自己几个月后就被“引诱”进了谷歌。

    在谷歌，他们的新职责决定了他们两人将大部分时间都花在实验室里，手持烙铁，设计新产品和新方案。换句话说，他们又回到2000年时创建Danger的时代——在租来的办公室里和鲁宾一道对着机器修修补补。

    只不过现在是2011年。智能手机成为了主流而且地位极其尊崇，不再只是说唱歌手以及帕里斯•希尔顿口袋里的潮物。

    而且和Danger不一样的是，布里特和赫汉森现在加盟的是一家科技巨头，而非新创企业。Android在市场份额上甚至即将超过iPhone。正是这点吸引了Danger的创建者们再次聚首，他们的目标是将自己想展示的硬件和功能带到新的Android设备中。对于谷歌而言，仅仅向运营商提供Android软件是不够的，如今它还希望能影响手机制造商们打造产品。

    Android硬件团队所设计的新的原型设备可能到达数亿用户手中，甚至可能赢得数十亿用户。而这一切正是鲁宾和Danger员工们一直梦寐以求的。

    有一件事大家可能感兴趣：布里特和赫汉森都在使用谷歌Nexus S手机，尽管他们都尝试过新的Android Sidekick手机并且很喜欢它的键盘，新的Sidekick仍然保持着2000年左右的原型机的风格。

    译者：项航