Google Phone

Nokia has hit back at Google’s Android platform, with CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo dismissing the Open Handset Alliance’s OS launch with the suggestion that the Finnish company themselves have already trodden much of the software ground Google and partners are currently bringing attention to: “conceptually, we could have made that announcement a long time ago.”  In fact, with their announcement of the Ovi internet-services project - that has recently clinched the support of Vodafone, already a vocal critic of Android - that will combine their music and mapping services, as well as hints of geo-targeted advertising, their position as chief rival to the Google OS seems increasingly cemented.

“Mobile phones have two qualities that PCs don’t have: they’re always with you, and they tell other people where you are” Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO, Nokia

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Far be it from us to suggest that too much cellphone use addles the brain, but Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin seems to have taken leave of his senses with a belligerent and crowing outcry against the prospect of Android and Google’s gPhones wading into the cellular market.  In an interview [registration required] predominantly concerning Sarin’s opinion of the iPhone (unsurprisingly he wasn’t all that impressed at the device, which is available exclusively on arch-rival UK network O2) the Vodafone boss described the “unique gift” of the billing relationship between carrier and consumer:

“The simple fact that we have the customer and billing relationship is a hugely powerful thing that nobody can take away from us” Arun Sarin, CEO, Vodafone

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