Are You Ready for the Google Phone?
The past few days have been amazing for all the Google fans. The blogodome (yeah I am using Stephen Colbert lingo here) is on fire with news about Google’s phone. Bear in mind that this is still a rumor and nothing has been confirmed yet. However, this time Google is neither denying nor accepting any of this.
Yes, the rumors have been aplenty for past year or so (I have contributed to them as well) and countless number of mockups have been floating around, like the one shown right here (courtesy Gizmodo). This time around the news is coming in from credible sources. You know the ones who check, recheck and then check again. Here is a list of some of the news I stumbled upon:
- News from Rediff
- Techcrunch
- Mashable
- Crunchgear
- and the list goes on…
Now you can choose to call this completely BS and a complete clutter of your cute and lovely RSS application. However this time there is an interesting angle to these rumors. The one about Google’s mobile OS. The realization that Google may not have the same philosophy as Apple. Apple (or Mr. Jobs) as most of us know is a stickler for offering integrated hardware in order to derive the best aestheticity (don’t know if that’s even a word, what the hell, I don’t care at this point). Google may not be that hot on doing the actual hardware themselves.
Few years ago Google acquired a little wireless company called Android started by Andy Rubin (of Sidekick fame). Frankly since the acquisition there hasn’t been a peep from Google about the plans with Andy. Now the recent news is quoting that Google is focusing more on the OS leveraging Andy and his team from Android.
This makes sense because Google hasn’t been involved in the consumer devices (no the search appliances don’t count). Google derives value from offering value added services across various devices and displaying ads across the board. Hence it makes sense for Google to develop the mobile operating system with its key services and work with an OEM vendor to deploy the device.
HTC is one such OEM who has the versatility Google needs and has the capability to meet the market demands. Infact Crunchgear was able to get an unofficial confirmation from an HTC executive about the existence of Google phone.
My take is that, there is no smoke without fire. I am surprised that the OS angle or the Andy Rubin angle is being spoken of now (after nearly 3 years of their acquisition). Andy who has significant experience in this space would probably be heading this initiative.
So would this be the next Jesus phone? Should Apple worry about its new friend Google? The answers will be obvious as more news comes out. At this point some of my predictions would be:
- The phone won’t be locked if they chose a GSM version
- That will be totally against Google’s Open policy
- You can bet that it would be supported by advertisements
- Google will have a mobile pack for software developers
- The carrier in US would be Sprint, given their recent partnerships with Google
- HTC also has very good relations with Sprint
If anyone was following the industry closely would agree with above predictions. I would love to see how the market reacts to this. Especially after the hoopla around the iPhone.
So are you going to be standing in line for the new phone? Send in your comments.
If Google puts out a phone, I’d sign up for it. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold.
However, AOL had been talking about the “AOL phone” for quite a while, and several MVNO’s have been shut down in embarrassing failures.
The main determinant of Google’s success, should they decide to produce the ‘Google phone’, will be how their approach is fundamentally different than all the previous attempts.
Amos,
Nice to hear from you. I agree with your sentiments. The other key aspects will be actual distribution as well. Lack of effective distribution has impacted many of the failed MVNOs. Apple had its and ATT stores to do that. Not sure how Google will pursue it. If they launch with someone like Sprint, they can leverage their network.
Knowing Google, you can bet that their will learn from the mistakes and deliver a much successful model.
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I do not agree with the point on OS. There is already an open OS for mobile devices, Symbian, and there are devices using Linux too. Not to mention M$ with its Windows Mobile. There is already plenty of 3rd Party Software out for all these Platforms. There is no need for anther OS.
I also lack the need for a specific phone from Google. What should it do, apart from what current phones already do?
Marcel
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