Google’s Gphone prototype has been developed and Taiwan’s HTC is the phone’s likely manufacturer, says CNN Money.
Google is expected to unveil details later this year, and handsets with the software could appear in 2008. Approximately 30 pre-beta Gphones have been distributed to current employees for testing according to blogger Alex Lewis.
Google has developed services like Gmail, video, search and map applications for cell phones. Google said Tuesday that it had bought the Finnish start-up Jaiku. Jaiku makes a mobile phone application people can use to send short messages about where they are and what they are doing.
Now Google plans to bid on 700 MHz wireless spectrum.
But, according to International Herald Tribune, Google is not creating a gadget to rival the iPhone. Google is creating software that will be an alternative to Windows Mobile from Microsoft and other operating systems. The Linux-based operating system will provide mapping and search functions on phones. Skyhook’s WPS service has been available in the largest metropolitan areas of the U.S. in 2005 and runs on Linux. It uses WiFi for positioning.
Unlike Microsoft, Google is not expected to charge phone makers a licensing fee for the software.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin today brushed aside proposals by Verizon Wireless to modify open-platform rules. He said bidders of the 700 MHz spectrum must allow consumers to connect using any device or software.
“I don’t have any plans to try to revise our open-platform rule the way Verizon wants us to,” Martin told reporters outside a congressional hearing. The auction, scheduled to begin on January 24, is widely seen as a last opportunity for a new player to enter the wireless market.
Google’s cell phone promises to shake up the $127 billion wireless industry. The company believes mobile phones should be free to consumers, where revenues are generated through advertising and no single carrier has a lock on users.
CEO Eric Schmidt has even gone so far as to suggest that cell phones should be given away for free in exchange for targeting mobile ads to the consumer.
With statements like that, Google won’t be getting many Christmas cards from cellular operators.
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