MobileCrunch posted an analysis of the situation, citing that the G1 (Google’s Android-powered smartphone) does indeed support multi-touch, thanks to a couple of hackers who managed to patch their devices, proving its capabilities. Multi-touch on the Android is very much achievable with just a few lines of code here and there.
It seems likely that Google bowed to Apple’s request and did not implement multi-touch outright. All this according to some details provided by Android development team member to VentureBeat. Apple “asked”, but whether they “asked nicely” or not is a different story altogether. But we all do know of the fact that Apple turned their heads away when reports of Google using the private-APIs in one of the apps for the iPhone hits the blogosphere.
The article further cited that Google may enable multitouch later, perhaps once the legal papers of licensing the technology from Apple are signed.
Apple is very protective of this new IP that they have for the iPhone but Palm with its new Pre, on the other hand, is simply going to say “See you in court!“
