It’s rare that you’ll hear a software developer say anything negative about the Android platform itself. Finding a coder who will rave about what Google is doing and the implications of their mobile OS is much more common. But when it comes to running a successful app business, iPhone is still the place to be – at least for the programmers that have made a name, and bundle of cash, for themselves in the Apple App Store.

Jeff Smith is one of these success stories. His company, Smule, produced two of the App Store’s ten top sellers in 2009, and has sold 4 million apps to date. Despite making a huge chunk of change from sales and securing over $13 mil in VC, Smule doesn’t feel that reaching in to the Android realm is a safe endeavor. Fragmentation, the requirement of starting a new division and training…For Jeff, Android is more trouble than it’s worth. While I recognize that Smule is a business and that profitability determines direction, I can’t help but wonder what new ground could be broken on the Android front by such a competent mobile app publisher with such seemingly vast resources. Video after the break:

It seems like e-readers are the new gotta-have-one product for OEMs that want to feel like they’re running in the big race, and I don’t think we’ve heard of a new one in at least three days. Enter Gigabyte with their Samsung 667 MHz processor equipped “world’s first Android e-ink device…I mean, the first World’s first that [the narrator] has ever seen.” Clearly, what we’re seeing below is an early reference design but I’m hoping – unlike the shooter – that it doesn’t turn up later with a touch screen. I’m thinking that a super low price tag could be this gadget’s strength in a soon-to-be saturated market. At least it’s real Android, with Market access.

The yet-to-be-released HTC Desire seems to have some tricks up its sleeve. Desire is one of the most highly anticipated devices since the launch of Nexus One. And the lovely Sense UI on top of already beautiful Android 2.1 – Eclair – is just like the extra toppings on the the…eclair. Now, we are finding that it will feature internal tasty treat as yet unknown, and one of them is DivX support.

Twitter junkies  now have yet another way to get their fix with the announcement that HootSuite, dubbed the “The Professional Twitter client,” is now available from the Android Market.  Said to be built with the Android environment in mind, HootSuite takes advantage of the open web nature of the Android platform.