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Google Phone Would Be Significant Departure |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Monday, 19 March 2007 |
The industry is abuzz with rumours that Google is doing an 'Apple' and
working on its own mobile phone handset. A project, that would indicate
a radical departure from the company's existing business and one that
would put it in direct competition with some of the industry's largest,
fiercest and influential competitors - Nokia, Motorola and even RIM.
Certainly, the company has confirmed
it is working on a "phone project", but has not said exactly what the
project is. But Google's Chief Executive in Spain, Isabel Aguilera,
went a step further and confirmed the group was "investigating" an
actual phone handset, but her revelation was far from convincing and
seemed to indicate that the phone was little more than a sand-box
project undertaken by a handful of engineers. (The link here is to the Ars Technica story covering the revelation as the original text is in Spanish).
To Google though, a handful of engineers could well be the rumoured
100-person mobile phone group led by Andy Rubin, the designer of the
popular Sidekick device.
In reality a phone project at Google could take any number of forms,
but the industry rumours
strongly suggest the company is working on a low-cost, Internet
connected hardware device, and capable of VoIP calling and targeted
at mainstream users. Of course Google corporate isn't officially
commenting on the rumours, but unnamed Google sources at CeBIT are said to have confirmed the rumours.
Apart from Aguilera's revelation, the only official Google corporate comment to date is to say: "Mobile is an
important area for Google and we remain focused on creating
applications and establishing and growing partnerships with industry
leaders to develop innovative services for users worldwide. However, we
have nothing further to announce."
Both Samsung and Taiwan-based HTC have been linked to the rumours as a
manufacturing partner, but the latest iteration of the rumour has it
that Google is shopping around Asia looking for somebody to make its
devices.
Certainly the device image purported to be a prototype of what Google
has in mind looks like it's all LCD and therefore is unlikely to come
in at a budget price, but perhaps less than the iPhone.
A low-price would certainly be in stark contrast to Apple's announced
iPhone which seems to be based on a perception of brand allure that is
a little beyond reality.
Perhaps if the device was subsidised by advertising, the company could
keep the handset price down. Certainly Google CEO Eric Schmidt has gone
on record recently saying that mobile phones (including the calls)
could be free if paid for by advertising.
Advertising is Google's
primary source of income (mobilised is made possible only by the Pay
Per Click Google advertising on the site), but any mobile (cellular)
device would require connectivity and either carrier-centric mobile
advertising systems or Internet-centric advertising systems such as
Google AdWords. Any Internet access device will continue to be hampered
- at least in the short term- by restrictive carrier pricing for data
transfers.
Further it seems unlikely that Google would undertake such a daring
venture on its own. Nokia and Motorola are so well entrenched in the
mobile handset market it would seem foolish to try and take them on, even
for a company with the market cap of Google.
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