Todays completely unsubstantiated rumor comes from Rediff News, a usually well respected source of news based in India. Rediff is reporting that the Google Phone is set to be launched in 2 weeks time! The GPhone is said to simultaneously launch in both Europe and the United States, with the only thing standing in Google’s way being US regulatory approval.
The report goes on to claim that Google is believed to be in talks with a number of Indian telcos.
If speculation is any guidance, the certainty of there being some sort of Google mobile device in development is a given. The Register reported in March that a European Google executive confirmed the existence of the GPhone and other reports go back to 2006; Om Malik reporting in December that a Google phone was being developed for release in 2008. Engadget posted alleged pictures of the GPhone in January 07 (see pic) with notes claiming that the device was a button-less touchscreen phone that came with GPS built-in for pinpoint navigation around Google Maps. ZDNet wrote that the phone was said to be 3G with built in Wifi and was designed by Samsung. The Register again reported in early August that the GPhone would include 3G, Wifi and GPS, and that UK mobile operator Orange was in talks with Google to carry the device.
Google has continued to deny rumors of the phones existence, but has taken a more public interest lately in the mobile phone sector, confirming that it was likely to bid for a slice of the soon to be released 700mhz spectrum in the United States. Google as a mobile phone operator would make a lot more sense if Google were also preparing a GPhone that was automatically fine tuned to work with Google’s variety of applicable services, including Gmail, Maps and Google Docs.
Any Google phone will also be immediately compared to Apple’s iPhone. Whilst the iPhone provides an attractive package, it has so far only taken a small marketshare in the US cellular market, and is yet to have been released anywhere else in the world. A 3G (and therefore quicker) internet focused GPhone with a broad release worldwide could well present a strong competitor to Apple.
Looks slick. Any word on the mulimedia capabilities or battery life? Kinda seems odd they would launch it as basically a complete surprise to the public.
Btw, the engadget link is broke.
I’m glad I didn’t buy an iPhone, since I’d rather like to buy myself a GPhone! I’m looking forward to this. I hope the touchscreen won’t be as bad as the iPhone one though
I bought the iPhone.
I will buy the gPhone.
I am betting $5usd that gPhone will not be release in 2 weeks.
I know this would happen, many recurring dreams I had that a Gphone is on the market, packing along the Gtalk function, smoothly working across platforms capable of receiving and making calls from the device as well as any other machine with a browser.
ax
why hasn’t this phone been released…yesterday?
it doesn’t make much sense to me. there’ no new technology in that device…it’s all old shit, but the demand would be incredible i think.
really this phone should have been out years ago. i’m disappointed it’s been taking so long.
i don’t know about Europe, but it will not launch in the USA without FCC approval. I’m sure such a filing for approval would’ve been all over TC, Engadget, etc. but maybe while I was paying too much attention to Facebook & playing with my iPhone I just missed it.
If I didn’t miss it, the FCC doesn’t exactly move overnight on this stuff. I seem to remember the reason Apple pre-announced the iPhone @ MacWorld last January was because they were filing the FCC approval the same day and didn’t want the FCC announcing it for them. The FCC approval was granted in May about 4 months after the initial filing.
I believe that if Google is going to come up with a product, as the reports and speculation suggest, which is going be laden with cutting edge technologies including capabilities for internet search, maps, etc. This would lead to a fairly high end product not so well suited for a low-to-mid price range market that is dominant in India. Moreover, it would require a good infrastructure for the bandwidth requirements such as either wireless hotspots or 3G, neither of which are prevalent at this time in India. This makes India not such an obvious market to release the product in, suggesting that it is just a wild speculation. I could be wrong.
Truly unbelievable! Most start-ups and even established firms have all sorts of funky marketing strategies in place to spread awareness of their product and service. Struggling to figure out how to market and eventually close a sale with the customer. Google is an exception!
“UK mobile operator Orange” -> Orange is French
Actually, it’s not rediff but Business Standard, a business newspaper in India who covered it in today morning’s print edition. I blogged it today morning here:
http://www.iprash.com/2007/08/24/gphone-september/
But I don’t think, that seems to be a credit worthy news source.
I’m surprised that the Apple iPhone has taken only a small share of the market (although it is rather expensive), but I guess their is a ton of established competition out there in the cellular world, a fact that begs the question, Why would the public flock to buy GPhones when they already have Blackberries and iPhones, plus all the other mobile devices they have grown to know quite well? Switching to a new type of cellular phone means time (the learning curve) and money. How will GPhones (if they exist) improve efficiency in order to make up for the learning curve?
Releasing a phone in this manner would be a marketing disaster. There’s no hype. No one knows about it. They’d sell like 5. Besides who has ever seen a cell phone launch in less than 2-3 months from their FCC approval?
Has anyone considered the fact this may not be a phone after all? It seems to me that if the rumors of the features are correct, it will turn out to be more of an organizer on steroids than a phone. Wifi access, GPS, contacts, GTalk, etc. Is it not also possible Google could make use of VOIP technology to allow voice and video chat without being a full fledged phone?
The Gphone doesn’t fit into anything else they are doing right now, but a super palm with access to Google docs, Google maps and GTalk would be a fantastic extension of their brand.
Am I the only one who thinks the Gphone is going to be free?
I just hope the gphone doesn’t come bound to AT&T (or any other service) like iphone did…
Please god make it look like it does in that picture.
meir - i do. although i think it’ll be ad supported cell phone service… probably going to have to pay for the phone itself though - which is negligible.
how are they going to get coverage in the meantime?… is this an MVNO?
Looks like junk, I hope it’s a very early mock up. Lack of keyboard is terrible as well.
Am I the only one who thinks that Google will not make a mobile phone ever?
It is just not like them. They build services not consumer hardware.
Sam - I am tempted to agree with you.
But my never ending hope wins through. I want one. I don’t even know what it does, but I want one.
Google is great at creating the new urban legends. First GDrive, now the freakin’ GPhone.
Tim McCormack
iRent2u.com - the Online Rental Marketplace
By the way, what does that title mean? Nigh???
I had to look it up. It means near. And don’t pretend like you have ever used this word before.
I am sure there is at least one smart@ss who will respond that everyone knows the word nigh, but he would be a sequacious braggadocio (took me 5 min to come up with those words - so be impressed)
Tim McCormack
iRent2u.com - the Online Rental Marketplace
and once the gPhone is doing well, they’re going to finally release the gUllible - sign up now for the pre-beta invites
What about Yahoo!’s phone? I’d much prefer a YaPhone!
How is this imaginary device superior to an HTC 6800?
Without a keyboard it would seem quite inferior.
That thing looks awful. People would really give you strange looks for talking into something that looks like a picture frame
The GPhone will never happen because Eric Schmidt is on the board of Apple and would not come out with a competitor. However I do look for Google to get more into the wireless spectrum play and become the eventual replacement to ATTs network for the iPhone
Darn … I have a Treo, a Blackberry, an iPhone … now a gPhone??
Kurt I totally agree with you. There is no way the GPhone will come out unless either Eric Schmidt will be fired from Google or steps down from Apple’s board. And neither of them are likely to happen.
I file this under “I’ll believe it when I see it”. But then again, I did the same thing with the iPhone, for which rumors flew around for years before the announcement.
I agree with whoever said above that Google isn’t a hardware company… but I think they’re locked in a war with the telecoms right now over the future of the mobile internet - this could be an end run around them. Or just a way to threaten them by cutting them out of the picture entirely.
I kind of like the idea of Google as a Wireless ISP - their incentive is to get as many people doing searches as possible, which means offering them fast, cheap, convenient connections - the dumb pipes that everyone wants and the existing telecom industry is terrified of becoming.
Plus, I’m already in love with the *idea* of a Google oriented phone. I want a real portable internet device. The iPhone doesn’t quite cut it for me (mostly due to AT&T)
btw there is no 3G in india yet….then how can google engaged in discussions with indian telcos…
if it is completely unsubstantiated rumor,then why to publish the crap??
I want one.
Orange is owned France Télécom and, as you may or may not have deduced, is French. Not from the UK.
It just doesn’t make sense. Why not wait for FCC 700Mhz auction that Google will be participating in and then to release?
#21: Tsk, braggard. And an obsequious one at that.
Nigh: It must either be Dickens Day today, or Old Maritime Literature Day. Yar matey yar.
Orange is French but they operate a UK GSM network - http://www.orange.co.uk/
The issue is not FCC for US launch. The issue is CTIA listing which requires FCC approval and PTCRB certification before it can be consider for approval by the network operators - AT&T and T-Mobile. But then if Google buys spectrum in the upcoming auctions the rules may change.
Fresco
correct, I meant to say the UK arm of Orange: ie they operate in the UK.
Would be exciting if Google entered this market…Though their skills in the design market make it questionable how successful they would be in marketing their phone to the masses against Apple.
If true, Schmidt must be thinking is billion$ in mobile ad revenue and wireless dominance worth kicking Jobs in the nuts…hmmm didn’t he do the same thing to Wozniak at one time…
@28, …what’s the big deal? all Schmidt has to do is say he’s stepping down from the Apple board due to conflict of interest. It’s just business and you better believe Jobs would not hesitate a second to do the same if he were in Eric’s shoes..
…another thought, what if Google made this totally Ad -supported(ie, Free hw/sw/unlimited calls) it would totally turn the mobile industry upside down.
Nice point Nemrut. And what if the release of the iPhone was in some way positioned as the first step towards that mobile industry upside down turning? It’s possible Google knew to wait and see how well the iPhone launch did, and if successful (which it was and is in a very big way), Google would make it’s “800 pound gorilla” move in a similar and possibly an even more aggressive way.
But wait: the GPhone is already here !
http://techiteasy.org/2007/08/.....is-coming/
I’m thinking hard about that one KILLER feature which Gphone might possess. What’s that one feature which will make all of us line up and want one??
Check my views on this at http://techtrod.wordpress.com/.....er-feature
I this the iPhone Killer? Maybe in integrated services, but not in UI (Linux based).
very good the Gphone man.
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