| larryziegler |
Google cell phone? Rumors swirl
Internet search giant is investing heavily in the mobile-search market
By Jessica Guynn
Los Angeles Times
Article Last Updated: 09/04/2007 11:29:37 PM MDT
The Google phone is like the Roswell UFO, few outsiders know if it really exists, but it has a cult following.
Just months after Apple's iPhone mania gripped gadget heads nationwide, suspense is building over reports that Google plans to release its own cell phone.
The blogosphere is buzzing with rumors that the search giant might announce Linux-based mobile software as early as this week and a Google phone, which observers have dubbed the ''GPhone,'' by early 2008.
The latter is the most tantalizing to Silicon Valley, which is just getting over the June 29 launch of Apple Inc.'s multipurpose iPhone.
No one has displayed indisputable proof the GPhone exists. But one thing is certain, Google, which made $11 billion in 2007 from Web advertising, is investing heavily to target the potentially lucrative and contested mobile-search market. The plan is to have mobile-phone service offered free to consumers willing to put up with advertising.
The goal is for Google to broker advertising on mobile phones the way it has on the Web.
The fear is that wireless carriers worry that Google will muscle its way into the young market and capture their wireless advertising dollars.
The official line is that ''Google doesn't comment on speculation,'' company spokeswoman Erin Fors said.
In recent months, the company
is rumored to have aggressively sought to partner with mobile carriers and manufacturers to make its search engine, maps program and other software available on more mobile handsets and networks.
If Google does make an even more forceful move with Google-branded handsets to be offered by multiple wireless carriers, it would mark a seismic shift in the mobile industry.
At stake is the intensifying skirmish for the mobile-phone advertising dollar.
Research company Frost & Sullivan in July estimated the U.S. mobile advertising market would hit $450 million in 2007 and exceed $2 billion by 2011.
Another company, Gartner Inc., is even more bullish, predicting $3.9 billion in North America and $14.7 billion worldwide by 2011.
Analysts say the mobile phone is poised to become one of the most prevalent ways to access the Internet raising the stakes for Google.
Blogs are reporting that Google is choosing among 20 models of phones to be produced in early 2008 by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC Corp.
Purported photographs of Google's touch-screen handset have gotten loads of hits on the Web.
Blogger Mark ''Rizzn'' Hopkins says the phone will cost just $100. Web site CrunchGear says the phone will have the Google Talk instant messaging and Internet calling program, a special version of Google Maps with built-in GPS and Gmail, Google's e-mail service. |
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| robrecht |
| Most of the rumors I've heard say it will have a relatively small screen, at least by comparison with the beautiful 3.5" HVGA screen of the iPhone, which would be a shame on a web-based phone. |
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| colorider |
Moved to Off topic....
:) |
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| 5Gs |
if the gphone is similar to the iphone, but support multiple carriers, I can easily see it beating the iphone. apple has its fanatics, but google has theirs too. :D
(btw, did anyone try out the flight simulator in the google earth software?) |
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| CMasten |
compared to what I paid for my first Mac some 24 years ago and ALL of the cutting edge technology I have owned over the past 30 years, yea no problem at all, its been easily 600 bucks worth of fun as hell... the coolest gadget out there, and it all works as advertised IMO. I have about 6 folks at work that all feel the same way, some of us get 100 back some a bit more fortunate and getting 200 back, but all of us would not part with our IPhones and we all feel like we got what we paid for. No issues on my end, I consider the 100 bucks a gift, and will use it to buy yet another Apple IPOD for a family member.
CUPERTINO, Calif., January 24, 1984
Apple Introduces Macintosh Advanced Personal Computer
Apple Computer today unveiled its much-anticipated Macintosh computer, a sophisticated, affordably priced personal computer designed for business people, professionals and students in a broad range of fields. Macintosh is available in all dealerships now. Based on the advanced, 32-bit architecture developed for Apple's Lisa computer, Macintosh combines extraordinary computing power with exceptional ease of use--in a unit that is smaller and lighter than most transportable computers. The suggested retail price for Macintosh is $2,495, which during the introductory period also includes a word-processing program and graphics package. |
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