Report: Google phone to be announced Monday

By Michal Lev-Ram

Google is expected to unveil its mobile phone plans on Monday. That would end two years of speculation that the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant has been working on a cell phone or, as has been more recently suggested, a mobile operating system for multiple manufacturers and devices.

A source close to T-Mobile and Sprint confirmed to Fortune that the companies are likely to be the first U.S. mobile operators to carry Google-powered cell phones, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Taiwanese phonemaker HTC has been named as a potential Google partner, which sources close to the company have also confirmed.

The question, though, is whether Google can change the wireless carriers’ long-entrenched ways, in which they insist to a large degree on controlling what phones and software their customers use. Google has publicly stated that consumers should be able to download any software they wish, and use any mobile device with whatever wireless network they prefer. The company has lobbied the Federal Communications Commission to adopt such an approach in an upcoming auction of wireless spectrum. Google has also said it plans to bid in that auction, though it’s not clear what its long-term plans would be if it won.

Even if Google doesn’t become a wireless operator, getting the established carriers to carry phones compatible with the company’s software and services will be a potential boon.

“Any device Google brings would be a big positive for the entire wireless industry,” says Robert Laikin, CEO of wireless distribution company Brightpoint. “Consumer awareness would increase as it relates to what converged devices can really do.”

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G. Winslow, Las Vegas, Nevada get your head examined or please stop drinking the contaminated water.

Posted By Sam Haine, Las Vegas, Nevada : November 9, 2007 11:22 am

To the guy who said “only in America where capitalism rules and innovation thrives…” - wake up and step out of your shell. European and Asian countries have been outpacing American innovation for several years now, hell of the 10 largest companies in the world only 3 are American while 5 are Chinese! The best and brightest engineers which have traditionally been foreigners who came to America are rarely coming here anymore. There are better opportunities for them in Europe and Asia. Bill Gates himself sees this as one of the biggest problems American businesses are facing and he is constantly lobbying the government to make it easier for engineers to come here after the new immigration laws have made it harder. There are few top quality American born and bred engineers left, go to any tech company in Silicon Valley and you’ll see that right away.

Posted By James Tripaldo, Palo Alto, CA : November 4, 2007 9:17 am

I cant wait for the phone to come out. I know one thing, it will be a major disruptor in the wireless sector. This is what we need, someone who will stand up to the big boys. Only in America where innovation thrives and capitalism rules. God bless America.

Posted By david, Hampton, VA : November 2, 2007 11:56 pm

Google has proven that they can leverage open source software like the Python language. A Google branded open source platform using Python as noted above could revolutionize third party development way beyond what Microsoft has achieved in the past 10 years.

Posted By Bob, Massapequa New York : November 2, 2007 11:54 pm

It’s about time Google and Apple get together and really show the world the new paradigm shift of innovative products that make it really easy to navigate the new millennium. We are now in the second information era of our time, only this time we have computers, cell phones, the net, etc. that we didn’t have years ago. This has multiplied the amount of information to sift through exponentially.
Now who is going to save us from our eroding dollar? Gold above $800.00 today for the first time in years!! Oil at almost $96.00!! Does anyone in lala land know that if you deposit $1,000,000.00 per day… every day….. for 23,000 years that you still won’t reach paying off our national debt? Who in Tech Land has this answer, because we sure need assistance fast!!

Posted By G. Winslow, Las Vegas, Nevada:11.2.2007 5:00pm : November 2, 2007 8:02 pm

The carriers at some point, will have to open their networks to let users download any software they please and use it. In fact, it is strategic for them to do this to protect their investments against WiMax. Companies behind WiMax quote ‘Open network’ as one of the advantages.

Further, with the new Gobi EV-DO+UMTS data card from Qualcomm, customers can have universal connectivity. WiMax will have to prove: 1. That there exists a market for even higher speed data 2. That it can deliver data cheaper and with comparable QoS.

Posted By Ramki, San Diego : November 2, 2007 5:24 pm

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