Google Phone

What Google wants, Google gets. It’s that simple. Federal regulators pulled the rug out from under Verizon and AT&T by requiring that the winner of the upcoming 700-megahertz auction provide an open source standard that could work with any devices and applications. This came nearly a week after Google said it would bid $4.6 billion on a scheduled airwave auction to dish out former analog UHF TV spectrum to emergency services groups and wireless service providers.

The agency approved rules for an auction of broadcast spectrum that its chairman, Kevin J. Martin, said would promote new consumer services. The rules will let customers use any phone and software they want on networks using about one-third of the spectrum to be auctioned.

To refresh your memory, the key reason why Google is so keen on the newly available spectrum is because it is the last piece of beach front property where the frequencies can travel at a greater distance as well as going through walls.

“The 700 MHz auction may well be the FCC’s most important wireless-related action for many years, because it could lead to the introduction of new facilities-based providers of broadband services, wielding new business models,” Google attorney Richard Whitt wrote in a letter earlier this month to the FCC.

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Google’s head of special initiatives, Chris Sacca, recently took the time to outline some of the company’s intentions with the FCC auction.  In an interview with CNET, he paints a picture of an institution appalled by the “reprehensible” lack of open access to all the riches of the internet.

“We have fought hard on a number of fronts to make the Internet as available as possible to the largest number of people as possible. Right now, the Internet is not available in too many places. And it’s still too expensive for most folks”

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With FCC Chairman Kevin Martin stunning telcos and analysts alike earlier this month with a surprise suggested shift of policy toward favouring the “open access” standards demanded by potential investor Google, rival bidders in the war for the valuable 700MHz band that’ll be freed up from the analogue-digital TV switchover are beginning to stake their ground.  After previous fighting words from the CTIA - calling it a “scheme to have the auction rigged” - Verizon have wheeled out their CEO to discretely threaten to reign in the company purse:

“We have made our position clear about the FCC not putting any unnecessary restrictions on any of these blocks … What we need to do now is see what the rules say and then develop a bidding strategy accordingly” Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ivan Seidenberg

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There’s no denying that Sprint is one of my favorite carriers and Google is hands-down the best search engine. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when the two companies announced their partnership.

I wasn’t aware that there had been some tensions between Google and AT&T, were you?

Early last year, the chief executive of AT&T, Edward Whitacre, shot off his mouth about how Google was getting a “free ride” on “his” network, and perhaps how a company like that should be nicked for higher fees. Ever since then, Google has been stewing in its own juices over the notion.

Ouch. If I read that correctly, Whitacre seemed to be saying that Google is mooching off of the AT&T network for nothing. It’s obvious that Google already pays millions of dollars for network access just to be on the Internet; I bet right there and then, a light bulb must of gone off in their collective head that they are at the mercy of AT&T. Which might explain Google’s buying spree of unused black fiber around the world.

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Honestly, first Forbes and now Microsoft - Google’s cellphone software engineers are taking a beating lately, as pundits and providers alike take issue with the company’s potential move into providing handset OS and applications.  Today it’s the turn of Bill Gates - normally so shy and retiring - who is reported as saying of Google’s ambitions:

“They’ve introduced about 30 different products; they have one profit-making product. So you’re now making a prediction without ever seeing the software that they’re going to have the world’s best phone and it’s going to be free?”

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That steep learning curve Dave Ewalt was talking about might be holding up one of Google’s more interesting mobile projects - a refined version of their search-for-cellphones functionality that could even pave the way to the company entering the mobile sales market.

Pantagraph reports (complete with input from multiple “people familiar with the matter”) that Google are in the mid-stages of developing a mobile content service that would allow users to search for ringtones, wallpapers and games and pay for them through their Checkout service. Up until now, such sales have either been the preserve of an operator-run phone-based store or remote content accessed from third-parties via some sort of text ordering system; Google’s content would instead be a new gateway potentially circumnavigating the operator’s phone-based stranglehold.

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I’m going to cut to the chase and label Dave Ewalt, Forbes.com’s Deputy Editor’s comments in this interview idiotic. Ok, true, Michele Steele did set Ewalt up, but he fell for it hook, line and sinker! Michele later revealed how she really felt about the whole Google phone thing.

Steele: I guess the concern there is that they don’t have the depth of knowledge that Apple had with the iPhone, with hardware.

Ewalt: Google is not a hardware company, and people say Google might come out with a phone, I think that would be CRAZY.

Ewalt - complete with grimaced face about Google’s little search box - continues to lament Google’s lack of experience making hardware of any sort.

Ewalt: [Google] shouldn’t be developing a phone, what they should be doing is what they are already doing, working with companies like Apple…

Steele: I think we are going to have to agree to disagree there because I totally think the Google phone is on the horizon, and I think they would be dumb not to do it.

Ewalt: It would be a stretch for them; it’s not an easy business for them to get into.

Steele finally shuts him up about this and moves on to the next subject.

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These new images of the Google Phone supposedly came from this story submitted by a forum member on Mobile Burn’s discussion forum. It’s hard to say whether there’s any truth to it, but as the story goes, the member was sent a survey to complete through equip-surveys.com about a “Google Phone”. The poster claimed to have seen the specs, but forgot to take a screenshot of them. The features consist of 3G data, WiFi, and a 2-megapixel camera, a really big screen with tight Google integration.

I’m signed up to a paid-survey website and well i received this the other day as part of the survey that i was participating in basically it was a survey about a google phone, which was designed by samsung, but running what seemed to be a google interface, i totally forgot to take a screen shot of the specs but they seemed decent, not mind blowing had the usual in par of 3g/wifi etc, had a camera 2megapixal from what i recall, feel really stupid for now taking a screenshot of the specs not lol

Looking over the picture, the Google Phone looks pretty good (it’s probably photoshopped, even if it’s a real product). There’s a concealed QWERTY keyboard beneath the display, which highly resembles many slider phones on the market today. I have to admit it does look a lot like the Sidekick. There are a couple of standard buttons that look somewhat like Google Talk icons. Lastly, the screen may switch between portrait and landscape using accelerometer – similar to the iPhone.

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These conceptual rendering of the Google Phone are eye candy, but I highly doubt they’ll ever see the light of day. Keep in mind that this was initially posted back in April of this year so as you can imagine it’s already a few months old. On top of that, it’s not Google’s nature to be flashy or arrogant to where they engrave “Google Phone” on the device.

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We’re kicking off Google-Phone.com with Google Spain’s very own CEO Isabel Aguilera confirming that the giant has a mobile phone in the works. So welcome to the everything Google phone website!

Google is making waves these days with all the rumors floating around. There has been no real substance until now. As far as when we’ll see an actual Google phone becomes realized is a whole different story.

The only thing that would make the Google phone better — is if Google gave away the phone, and bundled in free voice and data plan.