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.

So here are my thoughts on this conversation. In reference to Steele setting Ewalt up, his reply to her comment about Google not being in the hardware business and that the cellphone and telecom industry are not being easy businesses to get into — well, that’s just ignorant. Many prominent figures from rival CEOs to analysts said the very same thing about Apple; easy as it is to revisit old quotes with the benefit of hindsight, but didn’t Verizon COO Denny Strigl said words to the affect of “the iPhone is something we are happy we aren’t the first to market with.” I bet Strigl wanted to put a gun to his head on iDay.

Historically, Google has been known to drop wads of cash to get what they want, buying whole companies if that’s what it takes to keep their edge in usability and functionality: YouTube, Android (Andy Rubin - co-founders of Danger), Reqwireless and GrandCentral are just a few examples. Dave Ewalt might not think it’s their place to branch into cellphones, but something tells me Google isn’t going to listen to his advice.