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.

While Google themselves declined to comment, the content industry is a-buzz with stories of their courting entertainment companies and mobile-media aggregators, eventually acting as a broker in the manner that they highlight relevant businesses through sponsored AdWords results.

If they’re successful - and their heavy-handed playing of the FCC wireless spectrum auctions would indicate that they’re betting heavily - then just about any web-enabled cellphone could end up a Google Phone.