Rumors are circulating that Dell and Google will use the Android platform to launch a new, Dell-branded cellphone at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona next month. The handset, which would mark Dell’s return to the mobile device market after they ceased creating PDAs, would leverage Google’s online application suite in what would likely be a cost-effective device.
2 Comments | Tags: Android, Dell, Google, Google Phone, rumor
The Editors Cut is reporting that, according to a Berlin-based reporter for Total Telecom, T-Mobile will be launching an Android-powered handset in at least one of its geographical regions.
“T-Mobile is set to introduce this year a handset based on Android software, which is likely to be unsubsidised”
While little else is known about the rumor - and the Total Telecom site itself bears no mention of it yet - T-Mobile is known as one of the Open Handset Alliance partners and the concept of them bringing out an Android-based cellphone is not especially remarkable.
We’ll bring you more information as we get it.
No Comments | Tags: Android, Google Phone, T-Mobile, rumor
Confirmation that Google has booked two stands at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in February 2008 has prompted suggestions that Android-based handsets will be in strong evidence at the event. Extrapolating from the sighting of an HTC-designed reference handset spotted by Gizmodo earlier this month, APC Magazine believes that Google will be looking to make a definite showing at the mobile-focused event so as to whet the public and industry appetites prior to commercial Android-based models launching in the second half of the year.
“You can bet that if Google’s handset partners lift the covers on their Android phones during the Mobile World Congress expo, which kicks off on February 11th in Barcelona - or if Google itself trots out a flock of phones to impress this annual powerhouse gathering of the global mobile industry (the company has booked two stands on the expo floor) - that these will be shiny snazzy models endowed with a very high ‘cool’ factor” David Flynn, APC Magazine
Just as the creatively overhauled Google interface for the Apple iPhone was heralded as the search company “practising” for their own Android platform, the news that Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo is considering using Google-powered search and email functionality in their own handsets will likely be viewed as further evidence of paving the way for 2008’s gPhones. Sources quoted in the Nikkei business daily claimed that from as early as Spring DoCoMo subscribers with compatible handsets will be able to access their Google-based email, calendar, photos and searches through the i-mode network.
“We are currently studying the possibility of an alliance in search services with domestic or overseas partners, but nothing has been decided yet” Hiroto Nakagawa, DoCoMo spokesman
No Comments | Tags: Android, Google, Mobile content, NTT DoCoMo, Open Handset Alliance, rumor
As if the search giant didn’t have enough to do right now, what with fixing the Android SDK and staving off search and mapping rivals, Computerworld’s Stacy Collett has gathered together a number of analysts and set them the challenge of predicting what Google will do next. The results vary from the predicable (setting up or buying another social network) to the outlandish (buying an Ad Agency), with stops made at the dull (local reviews) and debatable (giving away ad-supported PCs) along the way.
The FCC isn’t the only organisation sitting on a newly-available chunk of spectrum; UK media regulator Ofcom is in a similar situation, with the ongoing switch-over from analogue to digital TV - set to be completed by 2012 - freeing up enough frequency space for a “nationwide mobile network”. Ofcom have confirmed that they’re watching the US auction process closely, perhaps hoping that, should it be the success the FCC are expecting, they will have a similar experience when they set out their stall come 2009.
“We have a lot of interest in innovation and talk to the FCC regularly … We would be interested to discover if Google have an interest in the UK. They are bidding in the US and we are extremely interested [in that]” Ed Richards, CEO, Ofcom
Will they/won’t they speculation has flourished since Google first made overtures towards the FCC with regards the 700MHz spectrum auction in January, and now the Wall Street Journal is claiming [registration required] that the search company’s participation is set to crank up a gear with a statement announcing their intent to bid expected on Friday. The auction - for a slice of the wireless spectrum commonly described as “beach front” because of its rich support for high-speed data networks - demands a statement of intent to be declared by the 3rd December; previously analysts have been unsure whether Google intends to invest or merely push through the open-access provisos that would make competition in the cellular industry more straightforward.
No Comments | Tags: FCC spectrum auction, Google, rumor
Edit: HTC tell us that this meeting never took place, and are denying that TouchFLO will necessarily make an appearance on the gPhone. See update at the end of the article.
With developers seemingly hiding underneath their keyboards and rival hardware manufacturers and networks apparently on an hiatus of Android criticism, we’re left desperately seeking out crumbs of handset news from key players such as HTC. Executive Style’s Adam Turner resorted to inviting HTC exec John Featherstone on a coffee date to try to prise further details out regarding the company’s cellphone plans; obviously he didn’t buy him a biscotti, as Featherstone would only confirm that the TouchFLO interface “could” be ported to Android and be included in the first wave of devices.
No Comments | Tags: Android, Google Phone, HTC, rumor
Although the carriers might not want you to play with it, many cellphones on the market today have at least fledgling compatibility with VoIP protocols. Significantly absent from the Android OS, however, are the SIP and IMS stacks that facilitate IP-based call initiation and quality-of-service management. It’s an omission that has led some to question Google’s intent toward non-traditional communication on Android-powered handsets, and others to suggest that the future of VoIP standards is not so tied-up as some of the companies already using SIP/IMS might claim.
“Maybe Google wants to replace SIP and IMS — or subsume them within Android. By leaving these standards out, Google can position Android as the default platform for mobile devices and once it gets its fingers around the carriers from the device side, it can then take over the ecosystems for SIP and IMS and move the service providers onto these systems — or whatever technology Google positions in their place” Stephen Wellman, InformationWeek
From small suggestions big rumors grow; after a flippant post over at UK paper The Guardian, talk is growing of Google’s possible plans to buy out Skype from auction giant eBay. Article author, Jemima Kiss, suggests that negotiations are already in process, with eBay seemingly wanting to rid itself of the VoIP service it has found surprisingly hard to monetise:
“This makes sense on a number of levels, particularly because it fits with Google’s ambitions for disrupting the mobile industry through its new open mobile phone development platform Android, and for eBay - which was recently forced to admit that it had paid too much for Skype” Jemima Kiss, Guardian
