I’m back on the mobile kick as of late and thought everyone would like to see this video demo, for those who have not seen it. It is very very cool. Watch out iphone is all I can say! The maps feature is extraordinary.
Tag Archives: google phone
Google will drive down cell phone costs
Consider this: Google won’t be making your phone. Nor does it plan to plaster it’s brand on the devices. Instead, it will work with four cell phone manufacturers who have agreed to use Google’s programs in their handsets. You, the Consumer, will have to buy a new phone to get the Google software because the bundle wasn’t made for existing handsets. But that’s ok right? Most people buy a new phone every year or so anyway.
Given the rush to buy the iphone, and every other smart phone, what will it be like when the Gphone is released? Even with its market debut months away, Google’s software looms as a significant threat to other mobile operating systems made by Microsoft, Research In Motion, Palm and Symbian, which is owned by Nokia and several other major phone makers.
Because Google’s software will be free, it could undercut rivals who charge handset makers to install their operating systems. It also promises to make smart phones less expensive since manufacturers won’t have to pay for software. So having said that, the other Smart phone carriers and manufacturers. They can either hold on to an already ridiculously high price point and get eaten alive, or drop their pricing to be more in line with the new phone.
Google’s system will be based on computer code that can be openly distributed among programmers. That, Google hopes, will encourage developers to create new applications and other software improvements that could spawn new uses for smart phones. Think Open Social.
The fallout from all of this though, positive as it may be, is that we are going to see an all out war when it comes to owning eyeballs and their handsets. The biggest beneficiary? The consumer.
So far, Motorola, Samsung Electronics Co., HTC and LG Electronics Inc. have agreed to use Google’s software in some of their phones. Both Motorola and Samsung already buy Microsoft’s Windows Mobile in some of their phones so the question begs, will Google force Motorola and Samsung to choose sides or can they coexist?
The list of wireless carriers that have agreed to provide service for the Google-powered phone in the United States include Sprint Nextel and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile in the United States. China Mobile, Telefonica in Spain and Telecom Italia are among the carriers that have signed on to provide service outside the United States.
They are among a Google-led group of 34 companies that have formed the Open Handset Alliance. Other key players include major chip makers like Intel Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Texas Instruments Inc., Broadcom Corp. and Nvidia Corp.
“This partnership will help unleash the potential of mobile technology for billions of users around the world,” said Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive.
Together, these companies will use Google’s Android platform –( Steven Spielberg, where are you?) Google says it will be available under “one of the most progressive, developer-friendly, open source licenses” — to develop new services for mobile devices.
In closing, watch in the coming months as the carriers and handset makers decide how they are going to price not only the new G, but also their other smart phones. They cannot possibly price the device so high that consumers start looking at the iphone as an attractive alternative. Thus this means that other smart phones have to fall in line. But I don’t think Google wants to own just smart phones. They want all consumers to use their bundled offerings on all phones. Not just the high priced smart devices. Again, know who wins? You.
Google is everywhere, you just have to look!
OK so when is Google NOT in the news? They seem to be everywhere these days. Such as the latest:
LOS ANGELES / MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—November 1, 2007—MySpace, the world’s largest social network, and Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced that they are joining forces to launch OpenSocial— The partnership spearheads an initiative to standardize and simplify the development of social applications. Today’s announcement underscores MySpace’s commitment to supporting standards that foster innovation in an increasingly social Web.
But if we delve further, I think you’ll find that Google might be getting into business partnerships and alliances that we never thought possible.
Take for instance influencing children at an early age:
Behold Jimmy, a seemingly normal kid:
But If we look closer, we can see that, yes indeed their appears to be a tattoo of sorts on his upper arm. Holding his arms in the air victorious, jimmy celebrates knowing he got in on the IPO. He has already secured his first round of funding by the way.
Next we have Google heading in to the inner city. Sensing a huge push of viral marketing and word of mouth on the latest pair of Air Jordans. Google has hitched a ride, so to speak.
Knowing that we are a sports crazed nation, Google has decided to move into the NFL and bank on the New England Patriots and their stellar QB, Tom Brady. Everyone likes a winner. Can you say bandwagon?
Look Closely, Yep you guessed it, Google sweat towels for all of you QB wannabe’s out there. BTW, Tom Brady is endorsing Google Search for 6 years and $360 million. Let’s move on.
Of course Google realizes how important brand image is and thus knowing that Chicago is making a play for the summer olympics, they have decided to buy the Olympic brand.
Shrewd move if you ask me. Google really hasn’t gotten into the sports marketing arena as much as others, so this is certainly a way to get seen, what do you think?
Speaking of shrewd, there is no one more shrewd than Larry Ellison of Oracle, don’t you think? And he’s been quiet lately, too quiet.
Lastly, we were doing a tour in D.C. the other day, and we just love those White House tours, and they brought us by the oval office. Well I know you’ve heard about Lincoln slept here blah blah blah… But how bout Segei and Larry slept here….? I knew the government was hurtin for cash when I saw this:
Maybe you can’t see what we saw up close, so we took a quick pic.
You guessed it. At least we all know who we have to answer to from now on. As if you didn’t know that already! And you thought Al Gore invented the internet!
Google Phone, fact from fiction.
Here are the Google phone facts:
According to the WSJ, Google will unveil its long-anticipated plan to bring its software to cell phones within the next two weeks. The “Google-powered” phones are expected to make it to market by mid-2008. The ad-supported phone will have services bundling Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail, the operating system would be open to developers to build additional features.
Google executives have complained that carriers have locked up the market and stifled innovation in the U.S. telephony market. They may bid on 700MHz wireless spectrum, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said last week.
Here are the Google phone rumors and speculation:
Unlike Apple’s iPhone, the Gphone probably won’t be an actual hardware device. Instead, it’s more likely to be a bundle of software and supporting infrastructure that allows a phone manufactured by someone else to access Google services, experts say.
Google will probably partner with France Telecom’s mobile-telephony division Orange and KDDI in Japan, says Stephen Arnold, author of The Google Legacy and a new book, Google Version 2.0: The Calculating Predator. Arnold has researched Google’s patents and found more than a dozen that relate to mobile telephony.
“There is going to be a Google phone as a reference device, probably more than one,” Arnold told CNET News.com. “They will hook into the Googleplex to deliver functionality that ranges from ‘search without search’ (information that anticipates what someone may be looking for), to mapping and calendar services. Google is positioned to move different ways in response to market behavior.”
UBS analyst Arthur Hsieh believes that Taiwanese handset maker HTC will ship 50,000 or so handsets by year’s end to developers with the Gphone operating system, according to a recent research note. That’s a sliver of the nearly 1.4 million iPhones that have been sold so far, of course, but it’s a start.
It’s likely the Gphone will be advertising-supported given that the company has filed a patent application for advertising-supported telephony, Arnold said. Not only has Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt expressed interest in the notion of subsidizing the cost of phones with advertising, but the company offers ads on its mobile applications today, said Greg Sterling, principal at Sterling Market Intelligence.
Look for applications like “search, mapping, communications like Google Talk instant messaging,” with ads, said Charles Golvin, an analyst at Forrester Research. “That’s their business model, selling ads.”
Don’t expect a fancy touch-screen interface that would compete with Google partner Apple’s iPhone and drive up the cost of the Gphone, experts said. Google may try to do a better version of the Windows Mobile device, only cheaper. If the iPhone is a Lexus, the Gphone will probably be a Honda, particularly if it’s supported by advertising.
Offering a low-cost or subsidized device would also fit in with the company’s strategy to leapfrog with wireless technology in emerging markets, analysts said. “There are going to be a billion or more mobile-phone subscribers in the next few years, and these are people who not only have never used a mobile phone before, but also have never used the Internet before,” Golvin said. “Their first experience of the Internet is likely to be on a mobile phone, not a PC.”
“I tend to feel it will be an operating system and they’ll partner with a handset company,” said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land. “There will be a Google phone. It will be mini-computer-like, the same way that the Windows Mobile Device is.”
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