gPhone - Google Phone

New Gphone Pictures

2007-11-20T04:33:00.000-08:00

[Via Silicon Alley Insider]More gPhone pictures have surfaced today.

Google phone is not a phone

2007-11-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

With nearly 3 billion users worldwide, the mobile phone has become the most personal and ubiquitous communications device. Google has been making noises about entering this market segment. Now, Google has unveiled its vision on how they want to enter into this lucrative market segment. It has launched a Open Handset Alliance and software stack named Android -- which is more significant and ambitious than a single phone. With the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today.

So its really not a phone, than what is it. Gigaom defines what this is :

The Google Phone is not really a phone, but instead a software stack that allows people to do cool things such as build applications and power devices that have never before been imagined. Yes, it also cleans dorm rooms and finds dates. Following the press conference call, however, here are five points about Android that remain…unclear.
Google (GOOG) says it’s open source, letting you download it and do whatever — except that carriers can create their own locked-down versions of the software with Android. That doesn’t seem very open to me.
Google says it is happy to share revenues from advertising with the carriers. Which is good news for the carriers, but if you are a Google shareholder, you want to know how much is going to be kicked back to the carriers, and if this will have a material impact on Google’s financials.
The first Android device won’t hit the market till the second half of 2008, and that, too, from one handset maker, HTC. Now as a developer, why would you opt for this platform when you have other options? (Apparently the browser inside the device will support desktop browser-compatible apps, which is a good thing.)
None of the handset partners are betting the farm on Android, but are instead hedging their bets. HTC will continue to do Windows Mobile (MSFT), an OS that makes them a lot of money. (A little arm-twisting from Redmond can go a long way). Motorola (MOT), on the other hand, is a founding member of LiMo Foundation, a rival group that has the backing of carriers looking to Linux Mobile as an OS option. So which effort are they going to put their resources towards?
With the exception of admitting that it is Linux-based and can work with Qwerty, non-Qwerty and different types of screen sizes, no real details are available on the tech specs of Android. For that we’ll have to wait. Andy Rubin did point out that it will need a 200-MHz ARM processor at the very least, so for some time it is going to be a smartphone-focused OS environment.

Google Phone ready to compete with iPhone next year

2007-10-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

Googles recent share price jump to last week broke through the 600 USD has made stock pundits to predict 700 USD to be reached in next quarter. Some pundits are even predicting 1000 USD in near future and that's not a wishful thinking at all, reason for that is, Googles anticipated entry into mobile space next year.

Google is not done with internet only, they have already diversified from their core search business (cash cow) and is producing a long tail effect for them. Now after dominating the internet, the search giant widely tipped to be launching a mobile phone next year to take the mobile communications market by storm.

As this report published in independent say:

Quote :

Lehman analyst Douglas Anmuth believes that Google will launch a mobile phone in February next year that will be similar to the recently launched Apple iPhone in that it will have "an oversized screen perhaps around 3in diagonal and with touch display" plus WiFi capability. Google's main differentiator will be on price – its phone is expected to sell at a fraction of the $400 iPhone.

According to Mr Anmuth, the device will be a simple "plain vanilla" smartphone that can be manufactured for $120-$160. But he adds: "We believe a Google phone could be marketed at a price point below $100, and potentially even be free."

The incentive for Google to offer a free phone is the online advertising revenue the company could generate with an internet-enabled mobile device. Lehman Brothers also thinks it probable that Google will follow in Apple's steps by adopting a revenue-sharing model with the carriers, and predicts that Orange will be the most likely mobile operator partner for Google in Europe.

To give more insights why this is not a mere rumor, in US Om Malik at GigaOm has already published this five facts about google phone. In concise form these are

1. Google Phone is mobile version of Linux and will Java virtual machines.
2. All applications that are supposed to be java apps.
3. The user interface is said to be done in Java and is very responsive.
4. There is a special browser which has pan-and-browse features that are common to modern browsers such as browsers for iPhone and Symbian phones.
5. Initially there was one prototype, but over past few months Google has the mobile OS running on 3-to-5 devices, most of them likely made by HTC, a mobile phone maker, and all have Qwerty apps. The model that folks have seen is very similar to the T-Mobile Dash.

And to give you the pictorial view of how it might look like engadget has this photo shown above.

More on this can be read at Independent, Gigaom, and Engadget