title: MIPS, the Android Market, 3.0 SDK and JNI
body: <p>Not a bits, bytes, algorithm and syntax question... but a technology development and business one.  Hope that's ok.</p>
  
  <p>At CES 2011, mips.com unveiled new MIPS-processor based smart phones running Android.  By what I've read, it sounds like these either might be Chinese-market only (which, lets face it... is huge) or part of a big push by MIPS to elbow into ARM's territory.</p>
  
  <p>Here are problems I see:<br>
  - Google only provide first-class support for ARM.  Their SDKs are ARM-only.  Does anyone know if they have plans to adopt MIPS?<br>
  - The Android Market is ARM-only, as far as I can tell.  It looks like companies like Velocity Micro (and their little MIPS-based Cruz tablet) have their own "Cruz Market".  I think that's awful.  Is the Android Market going to be the one-stop shop for Android, or are things fragmenting even more?<br>
  - The JNI breaks the processor-independence of the VM.  Can multiple processor-specific JNI libraries be packaged into a single app?  MIPS binaries aren't exactly small.</p>
  
  <p>Does anyone out there have a crystal ball on these things?  Let the assumption be: MIPS won't just go away.</p>
  
  <p>TL;DR: Anyone know WTF is going on with MIPS?</p>