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gPhone rumors heating back up...

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 05:22 — Quincy Pince-Nez

Robert X. Cringley, seems to have a scoop on the Google gPhone.  He lists the following:

...But Google is not like other companies, which means they are sometimes bolder and sometimes more foolhardy, because a Google-branded gPhone — two of them, actually — is on the way.

Here is what little I know, dropped in my lap this week by a loyal reader (you know who you are). There are two gPhones slated for release with the first coming in September and the second probably not appearing until after Christmas. Given that the first is the high-end model and the second is cheaper, Google will probably expect to make as much money as possible on the higher-margin units at Christmas before revealing the budget model even exists. How Apple-like, eh?

Both will include WiFi, which makes me wonder if a VoIP client will be there, too. The high-end phone will look somewhat like a Blackberry Pearl, but the screen flips up and there is a keyboard for texting. No word on pricing for the high-end phone, but the second model is intended to be less than $100 — AFTER Christmas.

The actual manufacturer of these gPhones will be Samsung (rumors to this point had indicated HTC, so this is a change) and Google is still talking with both T-Mobile and Verizon as potential carriers (rumors also said Verizon had passed — not). That means there are both GSM and W-CDMA versions in the works. Given AT&T's success with the iPhone I can't imagine Verizon will let the gPhone pass, but it will be interesting to see if Google will be able go with a nonexclusive deal and get both U.S. carriers.

If you've followed Mr. Cringley's column over they years, you'll have noticed that his predictions aren't terribly accurate -  but he does have a good feel of the technology landscape and a well informed audience.  In his piece today he does give a interesting take on the Yahoo-Microsoft merger as well.

As a background, Google had said there was no gPhone when it announced the Android platform last year.

 

 

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Comments

Google is not THAT stupid to

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 10:19 — Oh Blah Dee Blah Dah (not verified)

Google is not THAT stupid to manufacture a phone! Google is a web/internet SOFTWARE company. It wants its Android operating system to be deployed by Nokia, Samsung, LG etc. on THEIR name brand phones.

The gPhone is no more than a DEMONSTRATION sample to show the networks and phone manufacturers how the Android software would actually work. By letting the phone manufacturers believe that Google MAY come out with its own phone, Google puts pressure on the manufacturers to adopt Android. Hence, Google lets the rumor continue because it benefits Google.

This is the same reason why Microsoft does not make its own computer. If Microsoft came out with its own computer, there would be a SWIFT, MASS migration away from the Windows OS toward Linux and its derivatives, therefore Microsoft won't destroy its steady, reliable OS income stream.

And, the self-manufactured Microsoft Zune, does NOT apply in this case. Microsoft received very LITTLE revenue from portable media players. It risked very little loss of revenue by coming out with its own brand portable media player. Even so, Google must see that Microsoft gained very little revenue with the Zune, spent a great deal of money to bring that product to the end users, upset the companies that were using Microsoft's portable media software, and has a long, hard road to travel in that market.

So...your point is that if a

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 15:52 — Ethan (not verified)

So...your point is that if a software company doesn't make much money in one product area they should feel free to experiment because they don't have a lot to lose. Yet you say that, while Google has not made a dime from Android deployment, it would be foolish for them to experiment by making their own mobile hardware? Your argument fails.

Regardless, I don't believe Google will get into mobile hardware. As far as hardware goes, I don't think they will branch out much from the search servers they offer. Android is right up their alley.

Obviously, every company is

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 21:12 — Oh Blah Dee Blah Dah (not verified)

Obviously, every company is free to experiment. However, once a company loses the TRUST of its customers, it is VERY difficult to get it back. Competing AGAINST customers, is a the corporate equivalent of an armed attack. The warm and mushy feelings a corporation may have built up over years and many millions of dollars are GONE.

Since your last paragraph states: "Regardless, I don't believe Google will get into mobile hardware. ...", you, obviously, agree with me.

>> you, obviously, agree

Mon, 02/18/2008 - 08:00 — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

>> you, obviously, agree with me.

It looks like only in that last part. Not the rest of your train of reasoning, which I too found really illogical.

RE: "So...your point is that

Mon, 02/18/2008 - 10:57 — Oh Blah Dee Blah Dah (not verified)

RE: "So...your point is that if a software company doesn't make much money in one product area they should feel free to experiment because they don't have a lot to lose."

--- Whether a company makes money in a product area or not, it MUST experiment. New product areas bring in NEW revenue. Old products can be improved to bring in ADDITIONAL revenue. Old products must be improved, otherwise they become stale in the market and competitors start to chip away with new features, new design, new technology, etc.

"Yet you say that, while Google has not made a dime from Android deployment, it would be foolish for them to experiment by making their own mobile hardware?"

--- The word "experiment" is too light a word to use in this serious situation. "Strategic change" is more accurate. Android as software only: Supplies a product or service that BRINGS revenue to a customer, gives the customer value.

Android as a gPHone: Supplies a product or service that TAKES AWAY revenue from a customer, and is an attack on that customer's market.

A move to COMPETING with customers is NOT an experiment. It is a complete shift in market strategy and has to be thought out carefully and fully. Google MAY make a gPhone, because, as Cringley said, "Google ... (is) sometimes more foolhardy," and this would risk losing its customer's trust. I actually believe that Google has contemplated making its own mobile phone as a brand name. My point it that, when all is thought out by Google, I believe that Google will realize that a gPhone would be a high risk, low return venture.

As Apple has demonstrated with the iPhone, it is the user interface that makes the experience, and not just the hardware itself. To succeed, a gPhone would have to have a superior UI (operating system), otherwise, it would be just another piece of shiny hardware in the mobile phone market. If Android is comparable to the Apple iPhone UI, THAT alone would be a remarkable achievement.

Google wants more advertising space (mobile users) in the market place. Android as "software ONLY" would serve Google faster, much less costly, and with better customer relations.

Cringley is craptastic and

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 21:42 — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

Cringley is craptastic and so are these phones.

Cringly is always wrong, and

Sun, 02/17/2008 - 23:20 — Anonymous Coward (not verified)

Cringly is always wrong, and he's starved for attention. Poor thing...

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