Google Executive Confirms Rumours Of Google Phone - Honest!

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,61997897,00.htm' target='_blank'>http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobile...61997897,00.htm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The head of Google in Spain and Portugal has confirmed that Google is working on a mobile phone. 'Some of the time the engineers are dedicated to developing a mobile phone,' Isabel Aguilera is quoted as saying on the Spanish news Web site Noticias.com."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20070321-google.png" /><br /><br />Straight from the horse's mouth as it were - so there! But seriously, the case for Google getting into the mobile hardware business is even less compelling than that for Apple, as this <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20070319/tc_infoworld/86975">dissenting view</a> lays out. If indeed the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070319/tc_nf/50840">'no-smoke-without-a-fire'</a> speculation is true, Google appears to be going mass-market rather than the 'so-chic-you-can't-live-without-it' road that Apple is taking. So, any thoughts on the truth of this? Better still, would you <i>want</i> to have Google in the hardware arena?<br /><br /><b>Update:</b> After letting everyone wallow in a speculative frenzy for a while, Google has (sort of) denied they are planning any mobile hardware (<a href="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/03/21/google-phone-rumors-shot-down-for-the-moment/">link</a> and <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20070321/bs_nf/50905">link</a>). Anyone else find it interesting that all these tidbits are coming from Google managers outside the US and not Google HQ?

[Craig Horlacher]

I'm not at all a fan of Apple. I wasn't a fan of Apple then they released an mp3 player with no screen. At least, since OS X, they do have a very respectable operating system. That's all I'll say.

I'm looking forward to a mobile phone from Google! I love all the free products they put out, as downloadable installs and via the web. Have you tried google trends, google finance, google real estate, or it's calculator and unit conversion functions? I'd love to see a communications device developed by the minds at Google. I may be one of the first to buy it!

[Muntasser]

"Better still, would you want to have Google in the hardware arena?"

Why the heck not? I'd be happy to see the kind of innovation googles engineers can bring to the mobile arena.

[twalk]

(Long time since my last post here...)


I wouldn't put much faith in the "dissenting views". Google has really, really, really smart people working for them, who do a pretty good job of seeing how things will change towards the future. (ie, people who are a heck of a lot smarter than the people writing the dissenting views.)

Even more to the point, in this case you don't even have to see the future to see what Google is doing. Just add 1 plus 1 plus 1.

1) Google has bought up massive amounts of dark fiber.
2) Google/Earthlink is setting up big cities (SanFran, etc) with city wide wifi.
3) The word is that this phone is a wifi phone.

Can anyone say "the cheapest and fastest wireless phone service in the nation"?

The big benefit for Google is that they can eventually create a complete nationwide wireless service without having to actually own any wireless spectrum (not to mention last mile internet service to PCs). Of course there will be bigger/more holes in this network, but the speed/cost will get a lot of people to switch anyway.

(Those holes could eventually be patched with dual mode phones either by buying a little spectrum with wimax towers or dual mode to connect to one of the current nationwide carriers.)

Todd

[ecsk2]

"The head of Google in Spain and Portugal has confirmed that Google is working on a mobile phone. 'Some of the time the engineers are dedicated to developing a mobile phone,' Isabel Aguilera is quoted as saying on the Spanish news Web site Noticias.com."

Straight from the horse's mouth as it were - so there! ?

What to believe what to believe!? :| :?:


...... Google's South-East Asia managing director of sales and operations, says that Google is obviously investing in the software side of things, but that it has no interest in entertering the crowded handset market. "At this point in time, we are very focused on the software, not the phone."..............




http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/03/21/google-phone-rumors-shot-down-for-the-moment/

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I saw that ecks2, thanks - post updated!

[joefuture]

Just what I want... a Google ad service breaking into my voice conversations to deliver commercials based on what I'm talking about...

[StevePoOo]

hhhmmm... Just in time for April 1st.. But it's SOOO unlike Google to play an April Fools joke...

http://www.google.com/romance/
http://www.google.com/googlegulp/
http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
http://www.google.com/intl/en/mentalplex/
http://www.google.com/technology/pigeonrank.html

[Craig Horlacher]

Just what I want... a Google ad service breaking into my voice conversations to deliver commercials based on what I'm talking about...
Yeah, interrupting just to advertise would be evil but this is Google, not the RIAA. Google is not stupid. If they interrupt to advertise, they'll make it worth it. As long as each time they interrupt they give me a $20 off my next purchase at buy.com when I use google checkout they can interrupt all they want! :)

[shindullin]

Google has a huge stock price and not enough income to justify it. They need to explore areas like hardware if they ever hope to justify their capitalization.
As for whether that's good for the consumer, more competition from a company with skilled &amp; imaginative engineers seems like a good idea to me.