Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) said this week that it sweetened the pot on the hotly-anticipated "Android" mobile operating system platform announced last week. The sweetener? Offering cash prizes to Android developers who build applications for the new, open-source mobile platform.

Google is obviously trying to get as many quality developers on the Android platform as possible right from the start so that it can compete better with established platforms like Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows Mobile operating system. Although Google says it's not competing with any established platform -- but merely offering an open-source alternative -- that's the company's strategic mantra. After all, the "non-competition" it always claims is a ruse. Google is one of the most competitive companies on the technology landscape today.

The developer rewards program -- dubbed Android Developer Challenge -- is not something out of a sci-fi novel and will feature cash prizes ranging from $25,000 to $275,000. That is enough to encourage any developer to get on board. With Google having set aside $10 million just for the prize pot, and with many software developers preferring the open-source idea in the first place, Google may score another hit on the way to recruiting some fantastic programs to launch Android with next year.

Every day, there is something new in the news about Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). The company has spent the better part of 2006 and all of 2007 preparing an "Act II" to ensure the constantly growing revenue heap if receives from text-based internet advertising doesn't lead to the "all eggs in one basket" scenario that has worried many shrewd industry watchers and investors for years. While Google's revenue from internet advertising is still growing every quarter by leaps and bounds, the company needs to share the love into other areas. Well, the revenue love, anyway.

Google has signed more high-profile advertising partnerships this year and just recently released details on what I consider to be one of its most ambitious projects to date -- the mobile phone operating system. Google, always the one to wrestle tight control from the corporate shaft-meisters and give it to the people, wants the mobile phone to be an open standard usable by any customer on any device.