Android in the home, and in the fridge

Nearly every device in your house, from your television to your refrigerator, is going to be networked and could very so then beAndroid-powered, panelists said today at a CNETCES event in Las Vegas.

The smartphone will become the portal to other devices

The smartphone will become the portal to other devices and appliances in the home, which will all work at the same time seamlessly and allow access to whatever type of information you want anywhere in the house. It's already happening, with Wi-Fi being used now to control lights in houses.

An early foray is the TV. Google TV represents a melding of the computer with Android apps and the TV. "Google TV is the only offering I know of that fully integrates the television experience and the browsing experience," Schmidt said.

The fragmentation of the Android market

Asked if the fragmentation of the Android market, with so many different makes and models of devices, was a threat to the ecosystem, Schmidt said he preferred "differentiation" to put it more exactly than "fragmentation" and argued that consumers want choice. "Fragmentation means the app only runs on one device and not the others. In other words not happening to Android," he said. "Competition provides value, drives cost down, etc. etc."

As far as the most surprising thing he saw in 2011, Schmidt said he was surprised to see how powerful ecosystems can be. "Amazon, Apple, even the Facebook ecosystem, which have similar characteristics in this connection, as so then as Google,... everyone is working against this cloud platform model. It means everyone is a winner...and you get enormous growth effects. The secret is to make them open enough...to enable the creative people, the content creators, developers...to love them."

Samsung's job is to provide device choices to the market and leverage its expertise in the consumer market to create products for businesses as then, he said.

The challenge as then as the strength for the platform

"Fragmentation will continue to be the challenge as then as the strength for the platform," he said. "Android will have growing pains."

Meanwhile, Krikorian said Android works so then for home automation nevertheless iOS doesn't. "I didn't want to have to swipe the damn thing to make it work."

"I think Google's Android execution may be the most aggressive strategic initiative in the history of business," he said, during Google as well has succeeded in protecting its search empire. "It's amazing the momentum they have."

In addition, Google has been smart about investing in developer relations. "What Google is doing with Android, it's going to destroy a lot of market cap. It's already happened with RIM and Symbian."

Apple, meanwhile, has alienated partners. "Apple made one mistake, they haven't made many," he said. "They got greedy on the rake," of 30 percent. They alienated Amazon and Facebook.... They should have made them their best friend and had them deeply integrated in the operating system like Twitter is.... now we've got a multifaceted war."

Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 afterwards working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press.