Google Phone

Well according to Business Week they have had two independent sources contact them saying that is the case. I love the idea of anyone except the traditional telcos getting their hands on this spectrum. Much like Google, I highly doubt Apple would stay with the traditional business model for companies that own spectrum.

In fact I would be willing to wager that even Google would be happy with Apple getting the spectrum, as long as it wasn’t another wireless service provider to come along and lock down the spectrum and restrict its use. This biggest, and this is a big one, difference between Google and Apple, is that Apple already has lots of experience with the mobile market as they have already gone through the whole handset design, release, and upkeep process which means they are already familiar with that end of things whereas Google’s only experience in the mobile market is with its apps that are constantly being added to handsets.
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With increasing attention from both online and traditional media, the prospect of a Google Phone (or gPhone, or whatever the legal teams can agree on) is raising questions around to what extent the search company might be moving out of their software comfort zone and into hardware. Opinion is already split over how successful Google could be if left in charge of a section of the wireless spectrum, and with little in the way of a track record the naysayers in some quarters seem to be becoming more vocal in their doubts.

Reading a MEX analysis of Danger, however, I was struck by the similarity in the potential models between the company and Google. Danger, the developer behind the perennially popular Sidekick devices on the T-Mobile network, takes its revenue not from the distinctive handsets (which are constructed by Sharp and sold in the US, UK and Germany) but entirely from software and services - the device/server platform which makes the Sidekick unique.

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We’ve talked quite a lot here on Google-Phone about potential revenue schemes by which non-traditional carriers might monetise subscribers, and yesterday Google used YouTube - which they acquired last year - to trial what analysts are calling the first major sign that the search company intends targeted advertising to fund the gPhone. The adverts, which are contextually themed to each video and overlaid relatively discretely at the bottom of the frame, disappear after a few seconds if not clicked on, and so far occur only sporadically through viewing rather than affecting every clip.

The belief is that this, coupled with Google’s ongoing trials of ad-revenue supported mobile service, could potentially be the answer to the issue of how best to serve adverts neither too intrusive nor avoidable; analysts are saying that cellphone screens could display such advertising when users are dialling or surfing the net:

“It showcases the fact that you can do ads that are unobtrusive in at least one format with video. It very well could be that you could use a derivative of this to handle cellphones. It does look like Google is getting closer to bringing out that property” Rob Enderle, Technology Consultant

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For FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Google’s threat to pull out of the 700MHz auction next January if their open-access demands were not met (is it me, or is it all sounding a tad James-Bond-villain?) must have been hanging like an unpleasantly scented cloud above the head; with a claimed $4.6bn investment to play with, that’s a big ball to take home if the game isn’t going to their favour.  And prior to the FCC ruling, Google’s people made it very clear what their stance was:

“If there is no openness requirement there, Google won’t go” Richard Whitt, Telecom & Media Counsel, Google Washington

With various sops in place (albeit not the full package the search giant demanded), the question remained of whether it was enough for Google to stay in the game, a question they refused to be drawn on.  However, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has thrown a tempting tidbit back into the ring when asked by T-Mobile USA’s government relations chief Thomas Sugrue whether Google would take part in the auction:

“[Bidding] probably would be the way to answer that” Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

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If the whole FCC auction malarkey has got you confused, then thankfully more analysts are stepping in to lay out exactly what might be on offer for existing carriers, potential new carriers and customers alike.  And while normally the correct name for a group of analysts is “a gobshite” for once they’re actually helping push through some clarity.  One thing’s for sure, Google’s preliminary toe-dip into cellular waters - and their ostentatious $4.6bn credit card waving - has got plenty of people talking.

So what do we know already?  Well, if you want to get pantomime about it, there are the “good guys” and the “bad guys”; Google, Frontline Wireless and others would like to think they sit firmly in the former camp, while existing carriers such as AT&T and Verizon lament in the latter.  Google would have you believe that a new paradigm of wireless usage is at stake, breaking down so-called “open access” into four interconnected chunks.

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The new rules set by FCC for the 700 MHz band, which will become available for new services in 2009 once TV broadcasters completely migrate to DTV. It’s clear that Google and other Internet parties won a partial victory when FCC voted to require “open access” for devices and applications using services delivered in these bands, while not requiring the winner to sell wholesale capacity in the licensed spectrum.

In a nutshell:

The “open access” requirement allow you as consumers to use the devices of your choice and download and use applications of your choice, subject to “reasonable network management requirements that allows the licensee to protect the network from harm.”

Nothing frustrates me more than comments such as the one below, written by an editor of PCMag.com, where fear of change has seemingly overtaken the desire for fresh thinking:

The company seems least prepared to work in the mobile service space. Verizon, AT&T, and even Google’s new partner, Sprint, are not exactly industry darlings or customer favorites, but they know this business and, even if motivated purely by greed, are bound to build a better network than Google. Perhaps they would use it to enhance the mobile devices we already have. I don’t see Google doing any of that. In fact, Google’s history of throwing out a free, beta product isn’t yielding the same kind of results it did a few years ago, and I’d hesitate to let the company take a similar approach to wireless.

Breaking this down, Ulanoff appears to be saying that Google doesn’t know what they are doing and are unlikely to push forward or create new products and services; in other words, they wouldn’t make the best use of the 700 MHz. Moreover, he would rather see the “beach front” property go to Verizon, AT&T or Sprint simply because they’re stalwarts in the industry and despite the fact that they are “motivated purely by greed” — and yes, by the way, they are “bound” to build a better network than Google. My bullshit meter is flying off the scale; let me try to explain why. First of all, let me say this again, what Google doesn’t know now, they’ll buy out whole companies or recruit the best minds in the business to figure out. And secondly, should the 700 MHz spectrum go to Verizon or AT&T, they’ll squat on it for years to come to protect their existing infrastructure. Finally, unless Ulanoff knows something that we all don’t regarding Google’s “master plan”, or he can predict the future, his overall stance seems pretty sweeping when the little Google has revealed about its intentions is mightily inconclusive.

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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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