Right now Google is setting the stage for its next big push in both social networking and in the mobile space. Its big products (OpenSocial and Android) may not be in production quite yet, but its a far cry from vapourware.

OpenSocial may not be what everyone expected, but once it really starts to roll out across the partner sites that are supporting it, the true power of this approach will be realized and everyone once again will be singing Google’s praises.

The same goes for Android. This operating system has a real chance to revolutionize the world’s cellular markets, particularily those in North America. Look at the upcoming FCC auction for the 700MHz spectrum. If it wasn’t for Google throwing its hat in the ring, I highly doubt that the FCC would have even thought twice about specifying open access to all devices and applications as a requirement of the 700MHz spectrum and the big comfortable incumbent telcos would just be able to sit back and continue raking in their extortion-like fees and keeping their customers in their respective mobile information silos. North America’s mobile market is infantile when compared to those in the rest of the world (particularily Asia) because of the telcos iron grip on customer lock in and their love for closed systems.

Google knows where the mobile market is heading, and it’s destined to be the biggest consumer technological shift in the industry since the invention of the web, or more comparitively the PC. Numbers in Japan show that Japanese people are finding less and less use for PC devices and want more of that functionality to be available on a more mobile platform. Android is not designed to compete with the iPhone, its designed to compete with the likes of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) program that offers ultra cheap laptops to developing nations. Google just hopes that with their mobile operating system they can change the game when it comes to the feature:price ratio. Offering a truly open and superior mobile OS at a cost that will essentially be unbeatable is what will shoe horn them in there as the new default OS for mobile devices. Think the ubiquitousness of Windows but built with the quality of Linux.

So while right now, Google appears to not be delivering highly anticipated products at the same clip that it once did, it can be argued that the only reason these products are not being highly touted yet is because they haven’t even been released yet. Most of the noise we’ve heard about these products has more to do with the partners they have signed on to use their products and less to do with the products themselves (with the exception of that $10 million competition for Android applications).

So taking all of this into account, if Google isn’t changing the world, who is?

My point specifically with OpenSocial and Android wasn’t so much that Google’s supposedly-perfect image was slipping (you are quite correct — they’ve never really been perfect), but that they’re actually engaging in marketing about their services/products (the press releases), something outside of Google’s usually release-and-use habit.

Google has never been perfect. It tries a lot of things, and gets a couple very right. Those are the ones people remember. You haven’t been paying attention

Maybe OpenSocial will really take off, making Orkut the actual Facebook-killer. Seems like a bit of a stretch, but it really takes only one person to realise the power — and everyone else to notice.

As for Android … I guess I’m still sceptical that the API will change the mobile market.