gPhone news

More on the gPhone

Posted by samc on August 2nd, 2007

Apple Insider says Google’s development budget for the gPhone in the “hundreds of millions” and that HTC is being tapped to build a Linux-based gPhone to be launched on T-Mobile in the US in early 2008, with Orange getting the exclusive in France and other countries.

The Wall Street Journal speculates on the rumored Google Phone and the company’s moves to incorporate their search function into current cell phones:

The company, which has made billions of dollars in Web advertising on computers, is courting wireless operators to carry handsets customized to Google products, including its search engine, email and a new mobile Web browser, say people familiar with the plans.

Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the cellphone project, say people who have been briefed on it. It has developed prototype handsets, made overtures to operators such as T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, and talked over technical specifications with phone manufacturers. It hopes multiple manufacturers will make devices based on its specs and multiple carriers will offer them.

For wireless operators, the plans are a double-edged sword. Google’s powerful brand and its popular Web services could help operators sign up more subscribers to data packages, on which they increasingly rely as voice revenue declines. However, operators have been wary about losing control over the mobile-ad market.

The long-rumored Google phones are still in the planning stages, and wouldn’t be available to consumers until next year at the earliest, say people familiar with the idea. Some details are likely to shift as the plans develop.

The Mountain View, Calif., company has made clear it is serious about developing advanced software and services for cellphones. “What’s interesting about the ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads because they’re more personal,” said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt at the D: All Things Digital conference in May.

Google has announced that it may bid for wireless-spectrum licenses at a coming government auction. The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved rules addressing some of Google’s concerns about the sale.

If it owned spectrum, Google might turn into a phone operator itself. However, such a project would take years to come to fruition and cost billions of dollars. For now, Google has to work with existing cellphone operators to get its mobile products to consumers.

In recent months Google has rolled out mobile versions of products such as the YouTube video-sharing site. It has made deals to include its search engine or applications such as Google Maps and Gmail on select handsets. But the company has sometimes been frustrated at the limited distribution it has achieved. In some cases, Google has managed to get around operators. Its 411 location search service can be accessed by dialing an 800 number from any handset.

Now it is drafting specifications for phones that can display all of Google’s mobile applications at their best, and it is developing new software to run on them. The company is conducting much of the development work at a facility in Boston, and is working on a sophisticated new Web browser for cellphones, people familiar with the plans say.

The prize for Google: the potential to broker ads on the mobile phones, complementing the huge ad business it has built online. Google even envisions a phone service one day that is free of monthly subscription charges and supported entirely through ad revenue, people familiar with the matter say.

FUJITSU UMPC U8240
Uploaded by AkihabaraNews

Last year, global spending on mobile-phone advertising, including placement of ads in text messages, Web pages, video and all other content, was only $1.5 billion, according to eMarketer. But that figure is projected to grow to nearly $14 billion by 2011, the market research firm says.

source : dailywireless.org